Walter Salas-Humara’s new release Walterio (Rhyme & Reason Records) sports one of his own paintings of a pug on the cover, and throughout the album it’s placed in various photographic settings as backdrops. Indeed, in addition to being a musician, Salas-Humara is a painter, mainly of dogs. [For more on that click one of these words in bold; he will paint your own dog for you.] The whimsically colored pug stares at you, as a real pug is wont to do, in a pose of earnestness that’ll make you laugh out loud. And in a way, the same goes for the songs on the album. Whether he’s releasing music with his band the Silos or solo, or even when he was with the True Believers or the Settlers, Salas-Humara has a knack for simplifying serious elements of the human experience by wrapping them in the veneer of enough lightheartedness to relate and then shrug it off. [For our interview with Walter click one of these bolded words.]
“El Camino de Oro,” (the Golden Road) opens the album in a bit of an uplifting fashion. The second song, “Here We Go,” is a song of escapade and escape: “give away the car, cash out the bank account, bring the dead tapes… here we go…hiding out in paradise, now we’re free.” “I Want to Be With You,” asks the painful age old question “what do I see in you that you don’t see in me?’ as the protagonist has to watch the object of his affection with someone else.
Four of the songs on the album were written by Salas-Humara at the Steel Bridge Songfest. “Will You Be Ready” is arguably the most earnest song on the album: asking “when the government starts to fall, will you be ready?” as it also shares imagery from revolutions past, and features Jonathan Rundman on acoustic guitar and harmonica. Rundman plays throughout the majority of the album and is a touring partner of Salas-Humara. “She’s a Caveman” chronicles in ancestral fashion the vestiges of presumptions about procreation and the modern day version of that question within a relationship, all done in catchy style reminiscent of the Silos’ best songs, like “I’m Over You.” This one was co-written with 15 year-old Tarl Knight, in Wisconsin as well.
The album is a continuation of Salas-Humara’s style in fresh outtakes for his fans to enjoy. Also, to read more on Salas-Humara, click any of these bolded words to read our interview. On his website, you can order this, or any of his albums, in a “pay what you can” manner: here. https://waltersalashumara.com/news-shows
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