Mouth Painter’s music is an exploration of an alternate, exotic form of “New Country”. The foundation of Mouth Painter is the partnership/dichotomy of Barry Walker, Jr. and Valerie Osterberg. Barry was raised in middle Tennessee where music abounded. He has played rock and roll, bluegrass, straight country, and experimental/new-age/ambient music. Valerie grew up in an isolated community in North Dakota where she learned to sing close harmony with her twin sister and play classical flute. Early Mouth Painter shows found Barry and Valerie simply singing together with acoustic guitar and flute accompaniment. Slowly, the more experimental side of their interests crept into the mix–Barry’s tectonic pedal steel guitar, and Valerie’s Flamstyle Music involving the formulation of synthetic natural sounds (the Hawaiian jungle, a buoy rocking in the ocean, meteorite impacts, etc.) using a variety of instruments. Since 2017, Jason Willmon has added a crucial melodic power and grace on the bass guitar.
Discography:
2021: Tropicale Moon (CS, Arrowhawk, LP Feeding Tube/Cardinal Fuzz)
2020: The Arkturus Suite (CS, Snake Handler)
2018: Aloha (LP+CS, Snake Handler)
Music Videos:
Tropicale Moon (editing by Barry Walker; live footage by Dr. Bob Babra)
Yesterday Said (video by Barry Walker)
A Yardin’ I Once Went (video by Barry Walker, visuals by Valerie and Barry)
2017 Total Eclipse time lapse video w/ music by Mouth Painter
Press:
“…where the overall vibe is homey and mellow, the songs on Tropicale Moon depict an ecology in crisis, a parched earth in geological distress. This is Anthropocene music.”
-Jarod Annis, Aquarium Drunkard
“An absorbing and eclectic mix of ambient country, hazy folk rambles, and dreamlike exotica. Tying it all together are Walker and Osterberg’s rich harmonies, often calling to mind the classic Louvin Brothers blend”
-Tyler Wilcox, Uncut Magazine (review of Tropicale Moon)
“You could call it cosmic country, and lots of people have, but it’s both weirder and more ingratiating than most of that category…Mouth Painter shows you the woolly unfamiliarity inherent even in warm, well-lighted spaces. There’s a cosmos in the kitchen, bubbling on the back burner.”
Jennifer Kelly, Dusted Magazine
“An all-instrumental follow-up to their great 2018 debut LP Aloha … The blend of Valerie Osterberg’s saw and Barry Walker Jr’s pedal steel is really something to behold. Shorn of vocals this time, the music is much odder sounding, with a slippery progressive edge that is wildly compelling. A splendid lateral drift through several popular dimensions”
–Byron Coley, Wire Magazine (review of the second album, Arkturus Suite)
“An infectious blend of harmony-driven psych-pop and folk”
-Portland Mercury
“Walker’s pedal steel pulses make for hypnotic listening. There’s a uniform delicacy to his soulful playing — whether he’s conjuring up pan-Polynesian exotica or stepping on the distortion pedal to provide acid-drenched country.” –Aquarium Drunkard
“The playing of Portland based pedal steel player Barry Walker Jr. … will likely confound those who feel they have a full understanding of the instrument… Both challenging and strangely welcoming.”
-Tony Rettman, WIRE Magazine
snake handler recordings 