Zachary Cale is a singer-songwriter and musician from the United States, originally from Enon, Louisiana, and later based in New York City. His work spans folk, rock, blues, country, and singer-songwriter styles, with material that moves between acoustic balladry, instrumental guitar pieces, cosmic country, and folk rock.

Music and releases

Cale’s recording output includes Outlander Sessions (2005), Walking Papers (2008), Noise of Welcome (2011), and Blue Rider (2013). He also releases See-Saw (2008), a full-band rock record issued under the name Illuminations. Across these records, he combines stripped-back acoustic writing with electric and experimental textures.

Noise of Welcome draws on 1960s-influenced folk rock, ambient drone, acoustic songs, and power pop. Blue Rider uses country-blues tunings associated with Skip James and John Fahey, alongside Cale’s vocal style and lyrics, and adds synth lines and electric elements to an acoustic base.

Performance and touring

Cale tours in both solo and full-band formats and performs extensively in the United States and Europe. His live guitar style is linked with American primitive playing, pre-war Piedmont and ragtime influences, and comparisons to artists such as Neil Young and Bert Jansch. In a fuller rock setting, he plays electric guitar and works in a country-tinged rock mode.

He appears at festivals including No Mean City in Glasgow, Incubate in the Netherlands, Festival de Pilar in Spain, Reeperbahn in Germany, End of the Road in the UK, and Green Man in Dorset. He also tours the UK and Europe with acts including The Black Swans, Six Organs of Admittance, Crystal Stilts, The War on Drugs, and Sharon Van Etten.

Reception

After Walking Papers, WFMU describes him as a “songwriter’s songwriter” and compares his writing to Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt, and Leonard Cohen. Blue Rider receives coverage from Pitchfork, PopMatters, New York Magazine, American Songwriter, and Spin, and PopMatters calls him “the best singer-songwriter working today.”

Career notes

In 2012 he issues a 7-inch single on Dull Knife Records. He then supports Crystal Stilts on a US tour and joins them on second guitar. He also plays more than 100 shows across the US and Europe in 2014.