Casey Walker never thought she’d write an album. A novel, maybe, when she was in undergraduate school for creative writing. But music always called to her, and it wasn’t until she moved to Chicago and met a stable of musicians that she realized that recording was within reach.

Walker formed Case Oats in 2018 and turned the band into a Chicago fixture until finally, in 2025, signing with Merge Records, and releasing a debut record to critical acclaim. Chicago Sun-Times called it a “standout debut.” Rolling Stone hailed it as “a winning set of alt-country and folk songs with warm melodies, novelistic verses, and unassuming vocals that recall Daniel Johnston and Kimya Dawson.”

The album was produced by Walker’s longtime bandmate and fiancé, Spencer Tweedy (drums), and recorded in a makeshift Chicago basement studio, in the bungalow rented by Jason Ashworth (bass) and Max Subar (guitar and pedal steel), featuring fiddle work by Scott Daniel and guest pianist/organist Nolan Chin.

Walkers songs get to the heart of relationships and experience, and bring city life down to earth—to the porch swing, where Walker believes everyone ultimately belongs.

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