Billy Joe Walker, Jr.

Billy Joe Walker Jr. was an early signer to the label, but wasn’t included in the first sampler.  His style of writing was guitar-oriented, but not as much of country as Albert Lee and not as much jazz as Acoustic Alchemy.  Walker brought a fresh sound to the label when some diversity was needed.

Treehouse

The first album on the label was reported to have strong sales, but like many MCA Master Series albums, you won’t find much discussion of it on the Internet.  By that measure, it isn’t easy to tell how much of an impact it had.  The music is hard to categorize, since it’s somewhere between an active and passive listening style.  The album was release in 1987, which was too late for the first round of artists and the MCA Master Series first artwork design style.

The artwork is in the second design style, with a large white border, color bar, and center art.  The artwork is an illustration that does not use the effect of breaking from its borders.

Painting Music

This album continues the same style and sound of the first album, which is guitar-oriented and fully-instrumented.  This album was released in 1989, two years after the first.

The album artwork is in the second design style, and similar to the first album, using a illustration with hard borders.

 

 

Universal Language

The last album by Walker for the MCA Master Series, only a year after the previous is very consistent with the prior albums in style and sound.

The artwork on the album is in the second design style, but unlike others from this timeframe, it uses an illustration instead of a photographic art piece.  The cover is also off-white, breaking from the usual pure white border.  Other elements are the same.