Joshua Ray Walker on his latest album, ‘Ain’t Dead Yet’

Joshua Ray Walker‘s new album is called Ain’t Dead Yet. The title is defiant and very literal.

Walker made the album before, during and after learning he had cancer and undergoing treatment. At one point, doctors believed the cancer may have spread from his colon to his lungs. That’s when he wrote the title track.

A couple of months later, he learned the cancer had not spread, but as he’ll discuss in today’s session, confronting the possibility of his own mortality had a profound effect on him.

His story is filled with big emotions, but it’s not all heavy. His sense of humor and deep appreciation for life shine through throughout the album.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Kimberly Junod.  Our digital producer is Miguel Perez. World Cafe‘s engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.