Go See Joshua Ray Walker on His “Ain’t Dead Yet” Tour
He’s one of the greatest singers of our era. It’s darn near operatic what he can do with his incredible range and yodel. His songcraft is superlative, matching or surpassing peers at the very peak of the discipline. His guitar playing is also great, and he’s played lead for others in the past. And whether performing solo or with a full band, he can fill any sized venue with sound and sincerity at a superior level that leaves audiences not just entertained, but fulfilled.
He’s Joshua Ray Walker, and only someone uninitiated with the kind of power he can conjure on stage would pass up an opportunity to see him live, especially after we almost lost him in 2023 due to Cancer.
Walker is readying the release of his new album Ain’t Dead Yet on May 29th, and will meet the release with a world tour. If you haven’t been paying attention to world events lately, gas prices are ridiculous, making it even harder for musicians to square with rigorous touring schedules. All the more reason to not pass up an opportunity to see Walker if he’s rolling though your town.
But don’t just do it out of guilt, or to “support live music,” or because we almost lost him a couple of years ago. Go see Joshua Ray Walker on tour for yourself. You will walk away confidently assured it was the best use of your time and money, exchanging them for a forever memory of seeing one of the most enthralling performers of our era.
To purchase tickets, go to joshuaraywalker.com/tour.
Ain’t Dead Yet Tour Dates:
May 26, 2026 – Knuckleheads Saloon – Kansas City, MO
May 27, 2026 – Off Broadway – St. Louis, MO
May 28, 2026 – Schubas – Chicago, IL
May 29, 2026 – Turf Club – St Paul, MN
May 30, 2026 – Appleton Beer Factory – Appleton, WI
Jun 3, 2026 – Mercury Lounge – New York, NY
Jun 4, 2026 – Iron Horse Music Hall – Northampton, MA
Jun 5, 2026 – Middle East (Upstairs) – Cambridge, MA
Jun 6, 2026 – MilkBoy – Philadelphia, PA
Jun 7, 2026 – Pearl Street Warehouse – Washington, DC
Jun 30, 2026 – Kulttuuritehdas Korjaamo – Helsinki, Finland
Jul 1, 2026 – GLive Lab – Tampere, Finland
Jul 3, 2026 – Byscenen – Trondheim, Norway
Jul 5, 2026 – Blårock – Tromsø, Norway
Jul 8, 2026 – Wiese – Lillehammer, Norway
Jul 10, 2026 – Norsk Country-Treff – Breim, Norway
Jul 12, 2026 – Ole Bulle Scene – Bergen, Norway
Jul 14, 2026 – Tou Scene – Stavanger, Rogaland
Jul 17, 2026 – John Dee – Oslo, Norway
Jul 18, 2026 – Pustervik – Gothenburg, Sweden
Jul 21, 2026 – Debaser – Stockholm, Stockholm County
Jul 22, 2026 – Garage Bar – Höganäs, Skåne County
Jul 23, 2026 – Biljardkompaniet – Kristianstad, Sweden
Jul 24, 2026 – Mojo – Copenhagen, Denmark
Jul 26, 2026 – Freideck Kantine – Cologne, Germany
Jul 28, 2026 – The Lower Third – London, England
Jul 29, 2026 – The Deaf Institute – Manchester, United Kingdom
Jul 30, 2026 – The Hug and Pint – Glasgow, Scotland
Aug 1, 2026 – Whelan’s (Upstairs) – Dublin, Ireland
Sep 9, 2026 – Bluebird Theater – Denver, CO
Sep 10, 2026 – The Rialto – Casper, WY
Sep 11, 2026 – Live From the Divide – Livingston, MT
Sep 12, 2026 – Live From the Divide – Livingston, MT
Sep 13, 2026 – The Pub Station – Billings, MT
Sep 15, 2026 – The State Room – Salt Lake City, UT
Sep 16, 2026 – Neurolux – Boise, ID
Sep 17, 2026 – The District Bar – Spokane, WA
Sep 18, 2026 – Tractor Tavern – Seattle, WA
Sep 19, 2026 – Mississippi Studios – Portland, OR
Sep 22, 2026 – Folsom Saloon – Folsom, CA
Sep 24, 2026 – Troubadour – West Hollywood, CA
Sep 25, 2026 – The Rebel Lounge – Phoenix, AZ
Sep 26, 2026 – Meow Wolf – Santa Fe, NM
Oct 8, 2026 – Chickie Wah Wah – New Orleans, LA
Oct 9, 2026 – Standard Deluxe – Waverly, AL
Oct 10, 2026 – Vinyl – Atlanta, GA
Oct 11, 2026 – The Charleston Pour House – Charleston, SC
Oct 13, 2026 – Radio Room – Greenville, SC
Oct 14, 2026 – The Pour House Music Hall – Raleigh, NC
Oct 15, 2026 – The Ramkat – Winston-Salem, NC
Oct 16, 2026 – The Grey Eagle – Asheville, NC
Oct 17, 2026 – Open Chord Music – Knoxville, TN
Oct 18, 2026 – Songbirds – Chattanooga, TN
Oct 22, 2026 – Skinny Dennis – Nashville, TN
Oct 24, 2026 – Hernando’s Hideaway – Memphis, TN
Oct 25, 2026 – White Water Tavern – Little Rock, AR
May 26, 2026 @ 6:19 pm
Cole Chaney just cut his booking agent and said he’d only do local shows for the time being.
Drayton Farley just cancelled a run a shows due to low sales.
Obviously, we all saw JRW’s instagram post from the weekend.
Independent country music is as popular as ever. I don’t get why these incredible acts are barely hanging on. Bums me out.
May 26, 2026 @ 6:29 pm
I have a theory beyond a bad underlying economy and high gas prices that I hope to share more in-depth here very soon. But I’ll just say this as a member of the media: the implosion of local media and music publicity is at least partly to blame here. Media outlets need to step up and start offering more tour support as opposed to chasing celebrity gossip clicks.
May 26, 2026 @ 6:46 pm
Ella Langley sucked all the air out of the room.
May 26, 2026 @ 7:01 pm
You clearly have a better view of the industry than most, and especially me in a small market lucky to catch as many acts as we do. Something feels different right now. I saw Tommy Prine a week and a 1/2 ago and I’d be surprised if there were 25 people in the entire theatre in Baton Rouge.
May 26, 2026 @ 7:21 pm
This is similarly anecdotal, but my wife sells clothes on Poshmark as a side hustle to her day job and in the last month orders have…just stopped.
The President can lie all he wants to the American people about the state of the economy, but the evidence is pretty clear that folks ain’t experiencing what he is trying to sell.
May 26, 2026 @ 7:07 pm
Trigger, I anxiously await your article on this.
May 26, 2026 @ 7:25 pm
I think this is where local radio is sorley missed. Active listeners and DJ’s helped create markets that aided in touring.
May 26, 2026 @ 7:38 pm
You used to have tour publicists that reached out to national outlets like Saving Country Music to push the tour. Then they would reach out to local outlets to do features on artists touring through and to make sure the dates were on calendars. Then you had local radio that played the songs, did ticket giveways, partnered with local venues to promote their calendar. Now everything relies on social media, and if the algorithm isn’t feeding it to you, you never see it.
Nobody reached out to me about the Joshua Ray Walker tour, or the Cole Chaney or Drayton Farley tour. Granted, there’s so few outlets left that promote tours, it might be worth a publicist. But then you’re cooking your own goose before the tour even starts.
Specifically, Joshua Ray Walker is also starting his tour before the release of the album. This is what hurt Post Malone too. Once the album is released, that will help stir interest.
May 26, 2026 @ 6:24 pm
I saw the instagram posts with his mother. He’s laying it all out, not just about what’s going on with him, but what seems to be going on in the live entertainment industry right now. He won’t be back around my neck of the woods until Oct, but I’ll be there. Tickets are only $26 a person for the NOLA show. Even if it takes a tank of gas, it’s by far the best priced show I’ve seen in a long time.
I hope he starts selling some tickets for these shows he has scheduled in the near future.
May 26, 2026 @ 7:17 pm
For those of us without an account on Zuckerbergs spy platform, care to loop us in?
May 26, 2026 @ 6:25 pm
We just saw him in Glasgow, KY on May 15. It was a great show, but a shame how poorly attended it was. The next night, he was playing at the Grand Ole Opry.
May 26, 2026 @ 6:43 pm
Maybe he could go on Hook.
May 26, 2026 @ 8:24 pm
Pure poetry.