Originally a prayer-like acoustic lullaby on poet, producer, and Grammy-winning musician Reed Turchi’s World On Fire, “Walk With Me” now returns electrified, unfolding new textures, dynamics, and the subtle alchemy of collaboration. Filmed in a tight, low-volume session, the video for this Wild Coyote Sessions version lets viewers witness the song’s evolution up close, from slide technique to ensemble interplay, while preserving the quiet intensity that made the original so affecting.
In this ABS-exclusive premiere, Turchi breaks down what inspired revisiting the song electrically, how his deep connection to North Mississippi Hill Country blues shaped the performance, and what new perspectives the video reveals that listeners might not catch on record. He guides us through the creative process, the lineage behind the sound, and what makes this electric incarnation both a continuation and a new chapter.
The original “Walk With Me” feels like a prayer or lullaby, while this new electric version sharpens and amplifies the song’s emotional pull. What inspired you to revisit it in this way?
We recorded this session a couple months after the album recording session, and it was our first time trying them in an electric lineup. As you can see in the video, it was a small room, everyone playing at low volumes, and I mention “a couple months” because I think that interval of time is crucial — long enough to be able to approach it fresh-ish, but short enough that everyone still had the “feel” of the album version in their hands/minds/hearts.
What I love most about this version is how we increase our dynamic range — “sharpening and amplifying” certain moments (I hear that vocally, and in the slide solo, and in the drum), and also still playing with the restraint and together-ness that makes the acoustic album version so effective, too.
You’ve described art as an act of communication, almost like reaching out of loneliness to touch someone else. Does the electric version shift that communication? Who did you imagine walking with you this time around?
Not to be overly literal, but in terms of “walking,” a big difference between the acoustic version and this is that for this recording session I was standing, as opposed to sitting, which is a huge difference from a vocal level, and also for a “vibe” level — easier to sway the hips, easier to direct the band in the room, easier to connect to more of the live-performance type of energy.
I read recently that Chris Stapleton (who I greatly admire as a singer and guitarist) can ONLY sing with a guitar in his hands, because his vocal rhythms and dynamics are so linked to what his hands are doing on the guitar. I wouldn’t describe my own technique that way, but I do think you can hear / feel the difference between a seated and standing vocal performance and delivery.
If the World on Fire acoustic version is about calling out in a moment of solitude, this “Wild Coyote Sessions” version presents a voice that has found its company — no longer solitude, but in just the right company.
Given your deep connection to North Mississippi Hill Country blues, did you draw on that lineage in reshaping “Walk With Me” electrically? Are there particular artists or field recordings echoing in your mind as you play this version?
These songs — and my playing style on them — owe almost everything to Mississippi Fred McDowell, who was my first “guitar hero,” and who I learned guitar playing along to recordings of. That goes for his acoustic and electric recordings — and I would say what I notice most about the difference in his style is (let’s get technical for a moment) how he deploys the palm-muting with his right hand. McDowell (and myself, on these sessions) plays with a thumb and forefinger pick on his right hand — which enables a lot of that amazing rhythmically-driving scratchy-percussion.
On acoustic, he lets a lot of that right-hand work ring out (making the acoustic guitar sound massive, all the strings in their open tunings resonating and exploding out), but on electric that can get muddy fast — so he presses the fleshy part of his right palm/thumb area against the strings, making the “click click” of the fingerpicks on the strings more precise, and also clearing up frequencies for the slide to cut through what would otherwise be a very messy electric sound.
Because I’m playing with an ensemble, my right hand is not as busy in these recordings — you can hear me keeping time/rhythm with it a bit in that classic open-tuning octave-drone way, but for the most part I’m able to focus on my lead lines (on slide) and singing, thanks to the band.
This song helped set the tone for World On Fire, an album born out of illness, divorce, and staring down the abyss. Looking back now, do you hear the electric “Walk With Me” as a continuation of that same journey, or as a chapter of its own?
This song, like all songs, is a river — even the recording (which you’d think would be static!) changes based on the moment and mood of your listening. So, yes, I would say this is both a continuation and a new chapter — an evolution, as is life. And I’m sure at some point, in some low or quiet moment, it will be the acoustic version I return to. But in this moment, it is the electric version, with the ensemble, that best reflects where I am.
What new layers or perspectives does the video bring to the song that listeners wouldn’t catch on record?
I think the video is great for the slide-obsessed and audio-engineering crowd in particular. You can also better appreciate the parts everyone is playing — Eric Burns on guitar, Joseph Yount on drums, and Seth Barden on bass. From the audio engineering front, you can see how small the amps are and how simple the mic’ing is (the overhead drum mic isn’t even in the mix — it’s just kick and snare).
From a slide perspective — if you want to dig in, you can see all the techniques of finger-picking and finger picks that we were just talking about. Well, and of course, you can see us together in the room! There’s no faking that. I’m the only one wearing headphones, and that’s just so I can hear my voice a little better — when I strain, vocally (without being able to hear myself), I lose my sense of pitch, so that felt like a good idea.
If the electric version of “Walk With Me” was someone’s first introduction to the song, what would you want them to understand about its heart?
I trust this version, and this song speaks for itself. That is what makes me proud of it, and makes me want to release it into the world.
