Ryan Adams & Judd Apatow love RVA’s Sleepwalkers

by | Aug 6, 2015 | MUSIC

Richmond’s Sleepwalkers dropped their album Greenwood Shade last summ

Richmond’s Sleepwalkers dropped their album Greenwood Shade last summer, Ryan Adams and Judd Apatow are both talking about them at the moment.

Apatow retweeted Adams’ the kind words for Sleepwaker’s single “Images” off their 2014 record Greenwood Shade.

Back when the album was released last summer, we were pumped for the release and dropped a single on our Soundcloud page:

Led by brothers Michael and Austin York, their shift into Sleepwalkers is analogous to the transition that occurs when a former child actor switches smoothly into adult roles. Their former group, Duchess Of York, had quite a following amongst the younger set back in the mid-2000s, and their shows were characterized by elaborate light shows, wild rockstar performances, and teenagers swooning in the front rows.

Sleepwalkers are an entirely different animal, though, and their debut LP, Greenwood Shade, proves it. The transition that’s occurred in the songs the Yorks write over the past several years is both noticeable and commendable. It has the same effect as seeing Leonardo DiCaprio in Gangs Of New York–it lets you know the young man has grown up.

They’re currently on tour with fellow Richmonder Matthew E. White. They’ve got a few dates on the East Coast before heading South to Georgia. Check out dates and tix here.

If you were lucky enough to hang through the rain at Crowfest this year, you could have caught the brother’s York under the stars:

Sleepwalkers Crowefest 14 from Todd Raviotta on Vimeo.

Kudos to Sleepwalkers and god speed on your summer tour, friends. May the blessing from Ryan Adams lead to many a sold out show.

Brad Kutner

Brad Kutner

Brad Kutner is the former editor of GayRVA and RVAMag from 2013 - 2017. He’s now the Richmond Bureau Chief for Radio IQ, a state-wide NPR outlet based in Roanoke. You can reach him at BradKutnerNPR@gmail.com




more in music

Iron Blossom is Part of a Bigger Richmond Music Story

Ahead of Iron Blossom, we talked with veteran promoter Ken Macdonald about the city’s changing live music ecosystem, from clubs to festivals and the Allianz Amphitheater. Richmond has always been a music town, but going back decades there were gaps in the local scene....

A First Look at the New Brown’s Island

Brown's Island has been closed since November 2025 for a $30 million improvement project, the largest renovation of the six-acre island in decades. It will temporarily reopen for the Richmond Folk Festival, October 9 - 11th, giving Richmonders their first chance to...

Richmond Loves Dolly Parton

I was gonna kill my husband in a cab in Peru, but “Islands in the Stream” came on the radio, and we stopped arguing and started singing. She could do that to you. You could totally be feeling some type of way, but if you put some Dolly Parton on, well, then you got a...

Night Idea Has Been Here the Whole Time.

Richmond has no shortage of bands that arrive and then disappear. Night Idea has taken the opposite approach. They’ve been around for 16 years, and keep getting better. I sat down with Joey Anderson, Reggie Pace and Reyna Pannell ahead of Night Idea’s appearance at...

You Can Kiss Off! 45 Years of Violent Femmes

You can always kiss off into the air. Behind my back, I can see them stare. They hurt me bad, and I don’t mind. They hurt me bad, they do it all the time! Yeah, yeah. You just sang that in your head, didn’t you? I believe it is impossible not to. There’s an alchemy, a...

Read the Virginia Pride 2026 Pride Guide 🏳️‍🌈

For more than a decade, RVA Magazine has worked with Virginia Pride to produce the Official VA PrideFest Guide, bringing together stories from Richmond’s LGBTQ+ community and everything you need to know for PrideFest this Saturday, September 12,...