Joshua Ray Walker Reimagines Lionel Richie’s ‘Hello’ as Country Rave-Up
Joshua Ray Walker kicked off a tour with the duo Carolina Story on Wednesday night at City Winery in Nashville, delivering a tight 30-minute set of songs off his two stellar albums, Wish You Were Here and Glad You Made It. Alas, the Texas singer-songwriter’s cover of Lionel Richie’s “Hello” didn’t make the set list.
But Walker delivers the goods on Friday with a new studio recording of the 1984 hit, along with a cheeky shot-by-shot remake of Richie’s iconic music video.
“I arranged the cover a long time ago, and it’s one of the only songs that isn’t mine that gets requested regularly at shows,” Walker said in a statement. “When I had the chance to cut it full band during the Glad You Made It sessions, I knew I had to.”
Walker’s version increases the tempo, turning the ballad into a twangy rave-up. While the cover isn’t a lark — Walker dives into the lyrics headlong as if it were one of his own compositions — the video surely is. With help from his Ottoman Turks bandmate Nathan Mongol Wells, an iPhone, and mannequin heads, he re-creates the original video by playing both parts: Richie’s theater teacher and the blind student who pines for him.
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“The idea for the video came about during the pandemic,” Walker says. “I was home alone trying to think of cheap things I could make to keep my audience engaged…. Making something with zero expectations was very freeing; the fact that anyone is going to see this is a miracle. I’m excited for people to see a more lighthearted side of me that isn’t on display in my more despondent originals.”
Walker has shows scheduled this weekend in Texas and will play a pair of gigs with the Old 97’s on June 3rd and 4th.
