Charles “Poppy Bob” Walker | Dirt Bike Vacation: A Journey into the Heart of Yuma’s Past
‘Dirt Bike Vacation’ is a captivating exploration of the mid-1980s sonic landscape crafted by the late amateur guitar player Charles “Poppy Bob” Walker.
This collection of instrumental pieces, recorded on a single-track Marantz field recorder, offers a vivid auditory snapshot of Walker’s life as a meatpacking employee in Yuma, Arizona. It transports listeners to the everyday moments of his existence: driving to work, lounging in his backyard, stumbling through the streets, and unwinding on the couch with friends.
Today, we are excited to exclusively share a video for a wonderful track from an upcoming release. Enjoy ‘Granite Bluffs’ from ‘Dirt Bike Vacation’ by Charles “Poppy Bob” Walker, set to be released on October 25, 2024, via Worried Songs.
What makes this project truly remarkable is its experimental spirit, with tracks like ‘Granite Bluffs’ and ‘Goodbye YMCA’ showcasing innovative tape delay techniques, while others, such as ‘Continuation to Moon Doctor,’ employ primitive overdubbing. Walker’s guitar work resonates with a melodic richness and a beautifully sober texture that recalls the emotional depth found in Bruce Langhorne’s The Hired Hand soundtrack.
The discovery of these hidden gems came about serendipitously during a musical journey from Nashville to Los Angeles, led by musician-archivist Cameron Knowler. Sifting through dusty cassette tapes at a Yuma County Library branch, Knowler stumbled upon Walker’s music through cryptic metadata that sparked his curiosity. Once he heard a sound sample, he was hooked. “I didn’t care what they sounded like at first,” he recalls. “But after just a few seconds, I had to find out everything I could about Charles—who he was, and if he was still alive.”
In a twist of fate, Knowler realized he had crossed paths with Walker more than 20 years earlier during a family trip to Quartzsite, just north of Yuma. He vividly remembers Walker, sitting in a recliner with a mid-1990s Martin D-28 guitar, his music shaped by a deep understanding of arrangement and harmony, despite his arthritic hands.
As Knowler sifted through index cards linked to the tapes, he pieced together the locations and contexts of Walker’s recordings: from the sweltering Interstate 80 to the Marine Corps Air Station parking lot, and the tranquil banks of the Colorado River. He endeavored to minimize his own biases in organizing the project, using Walker’s handwritten notes to title the tracks and shape their sequence. “I aimed to give listeners a sense of how a Yuma day might sound and feel,” he explains.
The outcome is an intensely personal project that resonates deeply with Knowler, echoing his own upbringing in a similar environment. “It feels like a part of my own journey as a guitarist reckoning with the defining marks of a gothic border town,” he reflects.
Cameron Knowler continues: “Once we secured the tapes and transferred them, I had to discern how they would be organized on the record. I scanned the accompanying notecards and decided to arrange the track sequence based on the time of day, and, if possible, the physical location where the recording was made. I felt this strategy allowed chance to take over in a way that was more representative than my own subjective opinions of how the narrative should unfold. I would like to thank engineer Joe Caithness for his expertise in restoring these recordings, which often had significant artifacts that took one out of the listening experience—it was no easy job.”
Meanwhile, the label said: “Driving from northern New Mexico to southern Arizona the day before, a long old drive—the Sangre de Cristos all the way down to the Gilas—there had been signs: a man hand-painting a sign almost no one would see, warnings of ostrich violence on the old 66, the silent hiss of the Sonoran at night, saguaros hanging above the darkness like revenants, a missed opportunity at Date Shack, those scorpions in the lollipops, the eerie beauty of Yuma at night. There was something for certain, almost like we knew what we’d find the following day.”
In its final form, ‘Dirt Bike Vacation’ emerges as a unique contribution to the realms of acoustic guitar soli, archival digs, and field recordings. More than just a collection of songs, it serves as a poignant document of one man’s life under the relentless Yuma sun, capturing the essence of the human experience in all its complexities. This album is not just a listening experience; it’s an invitation to reflect on the ordinary moments that shape our lives.
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