Reed Turchi, a Brooklyn-based poet, producer, and musician, is set to release his highly anticipated and distinctive album World On Fire on May 30. The songs on the album are drawn from classic blues and spirituals Turchi encountered during his winding journey through the music world—some traditional, with no known authors, others reshaped by countless artists over the years, making it impossible to pinpoint a definitive version.
Premiering exclusively on American Blues Scene is the album leadoff track “Walk With Me.” Built around a lulling rhythm and a gently hypnotic pulse, “Walk With Me” carries an air of vulnerability and invitation—a plea for companionship.
As Turchi articulates, “Art, for me, is always about communication. So much of life is loneliness, and so to create is to reach out, to try and touch. Maybe it’s an etching on a cave wall, maybe it’s a symphonic score crescendoing emotion.”
This notion of communication in its rawest form is central to the song. He continues, “It starts with a rhythm, built on a circling of snare-brush, upright-bass riff, and acoustic-guitar melody that spins itself in a meditative spiral as the melody-line of slide guitar and voice can float over.”
The song’s layered structure offers a sense of time passing, of moments unspooling. It’s a prayer, a lullaby that asks the listener to “walk with” the artist through the shared human experience. Turchi continues, “This song, more than any other, defines World On Fire as an album. It establishes the mood, the place, the meaning. It announces its intentions. Here we are, in the darkness, with our simple song. Where are you, and will you walk with me to light the way?”
We are also proud to share this live video of Reed and his band performing the song!
Turchi’s love affair with North Mississippi Hill Country blues began in his teenage years, drawn to its raw, mesmerizing sound. With little more than a makeshift recording rig stashed in the back of his car, he made frequent trips to northern Mississippi, determined to document the final voices of the genre’s pioneers. His field recordings—reminiscent of folklorists like Alan Lomax and Mike Seeger—not only preserved fading traditions but also shaped his own signature style of slide guitar. After earning his degree from UNC, where he studied under renowned folklorist and former NEH chairman William Ferris, Turchi founded a record label to release sessions he’d recorded with artists like Kenny Brown and Joe Ayers. That momentum soon carried him to Memphis, landing an A&R and production role at the iconic Ardent Studios.
Turchi was steadily carving out a name for himself as a solo artist, drawing acclaim from outlets like Rolling Stone and American Songwriter. But just as his momentum was building, the pandemic brought everything to a standstill in 2020. He hit the road again in the fall of 2021, only to be sidelined by an alarming and unexplained health crisis. For nearly two years, doctors were baffled by his escalating symptoms—debilitating pain, internal bleeding, and the inability to eat or drink without agony. The specter of death loomed large, reshaping his mind and unraveling life as he knew it. Eventually, he was diagnosed with a rare form of Crohn’s Disease and began an intense steroid treatment aimed at healing the severe ulcers and damage that had ravaged his digestive system.
This album is a testament to a man who stared into the abyss, facing illness, divorce, and a cross-country move—and emerged from it all stronger, wiser, and with a renewed sense of purpose.
