CALE, ZACHARY - Walking Papers

"WALKING PAPERS, the sophomore album by Zachary Cale, marks the artists leap from a four-track-bedroom-folkie to a songwriter of visionary scope. Recorded in 2005 in the legendary Bearsville Sound Studios by Marcata engineer, Kevin Mcmahon (The Walkmen, Titus Andronicus), WALKING PAPERS was granted a belated release in December 2008 on the burgeoning Brooklyn-based label, All Hands Electric. Ghostly in sound, the album evokes the austere finger-style guitar work of John Fahey and the poetic couplets of Townes Van Zandt. Moving away from the lo-fi intimacy of his debut album, OUTLANDER SESSIONS (released on New World of Sound in 2005), Cale is accompanied by an array of musicians. Though at times classically inspired, and at others roots-based, the instrumentation is always understated, providing a focus on lyric and melody. Fittingly, the singers voice has gracefully matured into the road-weary rasp that his story-based lyrics require. WALKING PAPERS exhibits a genuine craft of American tradition; the songs are bona fide gems with every note and lyrical phrase informed by a quiet beauty, both familiar and timeless. - All Hands Electric. "Zachary Cale is a songwriters songwriter, as prolific as he is original. His voice can be delicate for love or wry for satire. The ability to hear what is in a song has guided him well in the making of his own. While the influence of traditional American music is always present in his compositions, he is able to infuse something fresh and new to the form." - John Allen (WFMU).