Skyway Man is singer, songwriter and producer James Wallace. He’s got a brand new album called The World Only Ends When You Die set for release on October 23rd. The album was recorded at Spacebomb Studios in Richmond VA and it’s being released by the excellent Mama Bird Recording Co label.

‘Old Swingin’ Bell’ is a great representation of the rest of the songs I’ve heard so far. It’s got a 70s Harry Nilsson, Paul Simon and George Harrison kinda vibe going on – informed by the exploratory and woody world of The Band and psychedelically filtered through a sepia-tinged, junkshop kaleidoscope. There’s funk, soul and playful acid-folk (think Devendra Banhart) in the mix too.

Because he describes his set of cosmic Americana songs so well, I’m going to let Wallace’s own words do the talking:

The World Only Ends When You Die was conceived as a tragédie lyrique – a cinematic psych-folk opera about a person rendered incapable of coping with an uncertain reality following a near death experience. Under a spell of mixed wisdom by several “trickster guides” hailing from the future, they leap back into the world of the dead only to spend a hero’s journey climbing out, finally returning to the strange American existence of 2020.