Jordan Walsh is a percussionist, audio engineer, and educator based in Austin, Texas. A proponent of electronics and theater, he strives to perform the most absurd music with the most genuine fervor. Jordan frequently commissions and performs new works in both chamber and solo settings, including recent collaborations with composers including Elainie Lillios, Akshaya Avril Tucker, José Martinez, and Sophie Mathieu. Frequently engaged as a solo performer, Jordan has recently appeared as a guest at the SEAMUS conference, the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, Purdue University, and the Bowling Green State University New Music Festival, with upcoming engagements including Columbus State University and UT San Antonio. He is principal percussionist/personnel manager for the Density512 new music collective, member of minimalist rock group Goliath Was Bigfoot, sometimes-third part of Line Upon Line Percussion, and is one half of the live-only-nonbroadcast-pirate-radio phenomenon Peach Blossom Highway.
Outside of contemporary-classical music, Jordan plays drums with the orchestral rock band Maru Haru and prepared guitar with Austin’s experimental folk band Middle Sattre. When he's not performing, Jordan spends his time teaching young percussionists & audio engineers at both Southwestern University & Austin Community College. Jordan proudly endorses Pearl/Adams Percussion, Sabian Cymbals, Black Swamp Percussion, and Innovative Percussion. His primary teachers have included Thomas Burritt, Tony Edwards, Paul Vaillancourt, Ryan Smith, and Erik Forst.
Percussionist and composer Jordan Walsh presents if it keeps on rainin’, an immersive solo performance that blurs the lines between classical percussion, electronic music, and experimental art. Evolving from his long-running Battery_Critical series, this new work shifts from inward reflection to an outward gaze, examining the role of community and creativity in an increasingly chaotic world.
“This show is a meditation on noise (and the discomfort that comes with it) in all its forms: literal, social, and experiential,” says Walsh. “With a laptop and a smattering of percussion instruments both traditional and non-traditional, I intend to overwhelm and set at ease in equal parts—and ask: what happens if it keeps on rainin’?"
The performance features several world premieres, as well as new iterations of well-known songs, including Laurie Anderson's O Superman & Memphis Minnie's When the Levee Breaks (made famous by Led Zeppelin)—crafted with the Bitklavier, an experimental digital piano tool that has never been applied to percussion instruments. Familiar instruments like vibraphone, drumset, and melodica are reimagined through live processing and electronic textures, supported by immersive visual projections from Austin-based artist S. Wallace.
The program also includes newly commissioned works by Aida Shirazi, Hunter Preuger, and Louis Raymond-Kolker, and Walsh himself; all composers with ties to our community here in Austin. Walsh will also give the American premiere of The Messenger, a new work by legendary theatrical composer Georges Aperghis.
Rooted in the energy of Austin’s creative community, if it keeps on rainin’ celebrates the people, places, and moments that shape us. It’s a deeply personal yet universally resonant performance—part recital, part sound installation—where the orchestra is a laptop, the rhythms are unpredictable, and the message is clear: expect the unexpected.
Pre-Performance Experience
Performance in the Draylen Mason Music Studio
New Music Mixer in the Coltman Shay Reception Lobby
