Secret Stratosphere

When introducing "Area Code 601," the last song of his bands set on live album Secret Stratosphere, William Tyler says "Were gonna end with kind of a Hawkwind meets Charlie Daniels Band number." As far-fetched and ridiculous as that pairing might seem at first, its a surprisingly apt description of the songs energy and a good opening line for trying to describe Tylers psychedelic approach to traditionally informed instrumental guitar music. The Nashville native was on the road and in the studio as a session player in the years leading up to when he began releasing music under his own name, and reshaping American primitive fingerstyle guitar into something more atmospheric and sprawling. Secret Stratosphere is a superb showing of Tylers style in a live setting, with seven selections from across his catalog stretching out into full-on jams with the able backing of his band the Impossible Truth. In this configuration, Tylers delay-heavy lead guitar is joined by pedal steel from Luke Schneider (who makes beautiful ambient country sounds of his own), bass from Raconteurs member Jack Lawrence, and steady rhythms from drummer Brian Kotzur. This 2021 date in Huntsville, Alabama captures the feeling of a hot night in early summer as the band drifts through lazy jams like the 13-minute medley of Tylers Modern Country track "Highway Anxiety" and a spaced-out take on Kraftwerks "Radioactivity." Elsewhere on the set list is the uptempo ramble "Whole New Dude," the slowly building "Gone Clear," and a reading of "Im Gonna Live Forever (If It Kills Me)" thats more organic and direct than its studio counterpart. Throughout the set, Tyler and his band marry their earthbound traditional styles with more intergalactic psychedelia, hitting jam band heights without ever straying too far from the red dirt of their home planet. ~ Fred Thomas