As Dallas-based singer-songwriter Joshua Ray Walker was battling Stage 3B colon cancer last year, his mind wandered, unsurprisingly, to a happier place.
Now, after treatment, he’s putting cancer firmly in the rear-view. Though Walker won’t be fully in remission for another five years, that happier place is moving from fantasy to reality. Walker has announced a surprise new album, Tropicana, due out June 13. “It’s country music in a Hawaiian shirt,” Walker wrote on social media.
The 10-song collection follows his 2024 LP, Thank You for Listening.
“I was at home for a year without the ability to play shows or even take a vacation,” Walker said in a statement. “Since I couldn’t leave town and go see a palm tree in real life, I started writing about them.”
Walker cites the influence of Jimmy Buffett’s sun-kissed catalog, along with George Strait’s escapist tunes (think “Ocean Front Property” and the like) and a general laid-back vibe inherent to 1990s country music as the engine behind the creation of the fictional Tropicana hotel: “The sort of place where you can order a pina colada at the pool bar and go wander down a nondescript beach,” Walker said in a statement. “I couldn’t go to the beach, so I decided to bring the beach to me.”
Fresh from paying homage to Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger in Garland last month, Walker will tour behind the new record, starting Aug. 14 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Before that, he’ll play gigs in Austin, Los Angeles and New York City.
No local dates are scheduled yet, but it likely won’t be long before he’s on a stage somewhere in North Texas.
Preston Jones is a North Texas freelance writer and regular contributor to KXT. Email him at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky (@prestonjones.bsky.social).Our work is made possible by our generous, music-loving members. If you like how we lift up local music, consider becoming a KXT sustaining member right here.
