| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| PJK |
Posted - 11/22/2005 : 07:03:26 AM
My condolences to all of you who loved Chris so much. He passed away yesterday in the arms of the one he loved. My thoughts and prayers go out to Susanne,Trixie,Dan and all who loved him.
Peace and Sympathy to Fluffy, Robin, Evergreen,Jay,Kevin and all of you who knew Chris either personally or through his music. If I could, I would be holding each one of you and giving you a big hug. Cry and grieve anyway you can. Don't hold back. The pain will never go away, but time will make it easier to deal with. The world has lost another wonderful musician.
((((((((((Chris Whitley 1960-2005))))))))) |
| 12 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 03/12/2006 : 8:27:15 PM
Reiter In is fantastic!! I have been using that to get more over the shock and sorrow of Chris' death. It has been quite a source of healing for me. It absolutely blew TR and Rew away when I played if for them on the last run of dates. |
| KevinLesko |
Posted - 03/12/2006 : 4:34:48 PM
Reiter Inn will be released in stores in the U.S. at the end of the month... 3/28/06. From what I have heard, it is amazing, which shouldn't surprise anyone. The reviews from people in Europe who already have it have been 100% positive. Apparently, some of the people who have it already have noted that the liner notes speak of this album being the first in what Chris would have wanted to be a series of albums with this band called "The Bastard Club". Very sad. |
| Robin |
Posted - 03/10/2006 : 8:19:31 PM
Thanks for posting all this...Of course now I'm crying, because I've been missing Chris a lot lately. I have to go...It was a good read and good memories, Peace, Robin |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 03/10/2006 : 4:55:06 PM
Van Gogh with a Resonator
Remembering Chris Whitley, the universal bluesman
By John Nova Lomax
Article Published Mar 2, 2006
"Willie Dixon once told me, and I know this sounds like a cliché, but he told me, 'Son, you've got to live the blues if you want to play the blues.'"
So reminisced Dan Whitley, the younger brother of Chris Whitley, who passed away here in town at the age of 45 in November of last year. And though Dixon was talking to Dan, it was Chris who seems to have taken those words to heart. As Dan puts it, "Every aspect of Chris's life was for his art."
And sadly, like all too many of the country's great musicians (and bluesmen in particular), Whitley died owning little more than the clothes on his back. "Chris died destitute – all he left behind was what was in his overnight bag," says Corinne Tames, who managed Chris the last year of his life. "And before he died I made a promise to him that I would help his daughter."
To do so, Tames, Dan Whitley and Raven Grill manager Bob Sutton have organized two Texas benefits for Chris – one this Saturday in Austin and another on Sunday at the newly opened Warehouse Live downtown. Shawn Colvin, Charlie Sexton, Doug Pinnick, the Sonnier Brothers, John Egan, Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid, DJ Logic, Arthur Yoria and NDUGU are all slated to perform, as are Dan Whitley and his band. (The Web site www.chriswhitley.com also hints at "special guest appearances," so keep your fingers crossed.)
"I wanted to have these two big benefits in Texas because everyone I loved or respected musically came from down there," says Dan. Chris and Dan were born here – two sons of a blues fanatic father who often recalled going to see Lightnin' Hopkins in Third Ward dives, and who later exposed both of them to a steady diet of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Led Zeppelin albums.
The Whitley family left Houston while the boys were still little kids – and after that they moved all over the place. They would spend a year in Dallas, the next in San Miguel de Allende, the one after that in Connecticut. If Whitley could be said to be "from" anywhere, it was Houston, even though his death here was more or less a coincidence.
Tames says she had very little trouble rounding up artists who wanted to pay tribute to Chris. "I approached some of the artists, but in most cases they reached out to me," she says. "Everybody who is playing the Houston show asked me if they could play.æ Though its street date is not until March 28, Whitley's last studio album – Reiter In – will be for sale at the event, and there will be a silent auction with items like photographs, posters and other memorabilia up for bids.
Older readers will remember the hype and buzz that followed Whitley's arrival on the national scene back in 1991. Plucked out of a New York City park by producer Daniel Lanois, Whitley signed to Columbia and moved to New Orleans. There, at the Big Easy's Kingsway Studio, Whitley cut his debut Livin' With the Law. This record birthed his one and only "hit single," the eerie and spare, yearning and gentle National steel resonator guitar-driven "Big Sky Country," one of the last songs ever to slip into the classic rock radio canon.
It looked like Whitley was set to become a heritage artist. Rolling Stone called him "a visionary" and "a bona-fide poet," and Ridley Scott tabbed "Kick the Stones" for the Thelma & Louise soundtrack. Legions of critics and the suits at his label saw him as a sort of 21st century bluesman.
Nobody could ever have imagined then that this would be his commercial high-water mark. Whitley chapped at the "21st century bluesman" label, and his sophomore record Din of Ecstasy was four years in the making and a complete stylistic turnaround. John Egan, a Houston guitarist-singer and producer who calls Whitley "Van Gogh with a resonator" and his favorite artist of all time, says that execs at Columbia were awed by the album, but also flummoxed. "They knew they would have to remarket him completely," he says. "The album was full of these Hendrix-like atonal bluesy onslaughts with weird tunings, and they thought it was great but they didn't know what to do with it. As for Chris, he told me at the time that this was the same kind of music he had been making back when he was 18, 19. He was feeling boxed in, and I think he just did something to make it fun for him again."
Whitley turned in one last major label record before signing with indie label Messenger in 1998. The ensuing folk/blues record Dirt Floor – cut in a single day at his father's barn in Vermont – was the first of what would soon be ten studio albums, and Egan believes that it ranks with the very best. (Egan also recommends Perfect Day, Whitley's collection of covers. "He was a great song interpreter, almost like a jazz guy," Egan says.)
Five years ago, Whitley settled in Dresden, Germany, where he enjoyed one of his most fertile periods. Soft Dangerous Shores, the last album to be released while he was still alive, was cut there with a German rhythm section. And if Whitley never did quite accept the "21st century bluesman" tag, he did embrace what he called the "universal blues," where, as his bio puts it, "the spirits of Robert Johnson and Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards and Kraftwerk bond."
"The blues sound different in different places," Whitley said early last year. "But on a lonely, rainy night – whether you're in New Orleans or New York or Dresden – they feel the same."
http://www.houstonpress.com/Issues/2006-03-02/music/racket_full.html |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 03/10/2006 : 4:50:46 PM
Chris Whitley 1960-2005: An I.M.
words: Deniz Kuypers
Chris Whitley was a highly prolific artist who released a dozen albums over the course of about as many years (fourteen, to be exact) without the general public really noticing. His career was varied, his music ever-changing, but the core elements always stayed the same: his breathy falsetto voice and intricate guitar playing. Whitley’s music was of a rare kind. Deeply rooted in folk and blues, at times infused with 1980s German electronic music, his songs engaged the listener with melodies that often were a journey rather than merely a song. Add to this his visual, impressionistic, associative lyrics and one might begin to realize why Whitley was not for everyone. Nonetheless, he was a great song craftsman, and when he didn’t experiment with dance beats or heavily distorted fuzz rock, he wrote some of the most beautiful songs you will never have heard.
Whitley’s debut album, Living with the Law, introduced his signature National steel guitar, establishing a sound that, despite Daniel Lanois’s reverb-heavy production, became the sound most of his career would revolve around. It is the guitar featured on nearly all of his albums, and the one he invariably took with him on the road. Although modestly successful, the problem with Living with the Law was that it failed to bring together two conflicting worlds: that of Whitley’s soaked-in-blues songwriting and Lanois’s radio-ready pop production. Later, Whitley would say that, despite the acoustic feel of the record, it was his most produced effort. The follow-up, 1995’s Din of Ecstasy, saw Whitley go his own way, resulting in an album that, to this day, is hard to like. It is distortion from beginning till end, the melodies all but buried underneath a layer of noise. Third time around, he got it right: he found the perfect balance between following his vision and making his music accessible to others. 1997’s Terra Incognita, despite a few minor missteps, is a near perfect album. It offers gems such as “Weightless” and “Alien,” which made a reappearance on a later album as a duet with his young daughter Trixie. That year, however, Whitley was dropped by his label, Sony. Whatever the reason, seven years into his career it was clear that Whitley was not a money-making machine.
In December of ‘97, Whitley took a handful of new songs, set up a recorder in a relative’s store in Vermont, and in one afternoon recorded what would later become Dirt Floor. Showcasing Whitley all by himself on guitar and banjo, accompanied by his ominous foot stomping, the album might well be his finest work. It was picked up by a small, independent label that would house him for the next three years. The subsequent years, however, were less productive and saw only the release of a live album and a collection of covers. In 2001, Whitley released an album on ATO (with ATO headman Dave Matthews singing backup vocals on one track). A new label required a new direction musically, and Rocket House, therefore, is an anomaly in Whitley’s catalogue: it is a record on which he experiments with dance beats, drum computers, sampled loops. On tour that year, he was backed by a DJ. Although more successful than Living with the Law in terms of musical cross-over, it was a slightly disappointing album after the brilliance of Dirt Floor and the ensuing delay between albums - a four-year hiatus was a long wait in Whitley’s career. Setting up residence in Germany and returning to his former label, he released Hotel Vast Horizon in 2003, an album of subdued songs. The sparse arrangements on this album put Whitley’s songwriting back in the limelight, and the result was generally thrilling. His new home certainly ignited something inside him, for that year he recorded another album, War Crime Blues, in addition to a collection of old songs reinterpreted straight onto MiniDisc player in a friend’s bathroom in Germany.
This album, Weed, featured sixteen tracks from his back catalogue. Half of the songs on this collection revisit Living with the Law, perhaps out of discontent with how the originals had turned out. Or maybe, considering that Law was thirteen years old at the time, it was the album that needed touching up the most. Part of what made Whitley an extraordinary artist was how his songs would morph over time, often in the short course of one night. You could hear him play “Radar” (off Rocket House) one night and it was a roaring beast; the next night, it would sound like a 1970s funk tune. Weed is a testimony to this quality of his music, although it foregoes experimentation and presents Whitley the way he toured during the last years of his life: alone on stage with his National steel guitar. (For a real sampling of Whitley’s reworking of his songs, one can delve into the wealth of unreleased material found online. Since his passing away, his website also offers free downloads of live shows and radio broadcasts and other rare material.)
Whitley’s last album is entitled Soft Dangerous Shores. Sonically, it is the direct follow-up to Rocket House. From the beginning notes it is clear, however, that Shores is more than an experiment. The inlay shows pictures of Dresden, and unavoidably, the first track revisits the horrors of the bombing of that city during World War II. The lyrics are chilling: “In Newtown today a virus confirmed / fairgrounds revoked pleasure gardens upturned / and the prayer complied and dropped where it burned / no one was spared and nothing was learned.” Whitley was once called an urbane poet, and in a sense this was true. His folk and blues were no longer those of muddy back roads and poorly lit bars — although those bars were where he performed till the end — but of life in the city, of disorientation and loneliness, of searching for a bond with someone else, more often than not a lover. In “City of Women,” a dark, brooding piece that takes its time to establish a very delicate melody, Whitley plays with erotic imagery, singing, “Everywhere I go is wet and red”. But like on the rest of the album, there is a sense of despair to the song. The relationship examined is not one of mere sexuality; it is an intricate symbiosis, fragile and demanding, oftentimes devastating.
Lyrically, Soft Dangerous Shores is stunning. Sometimes ghostly and Biblical (“White hoofs be rising from the sand / wild blood be passed from heart to hand / the weed will fly the cloud will land”), at other times exploring (“How long I be chased / fore the earth take me in / from the valley I taste / whole futures on her skin”), the album stands as a fine study of (sexual) love. Musically, however, the album does not match its lyrical content. The problem is not the melodies so much as the production. Whitley’s guitar playing has been pushed to the background and way has been made for electronics and sonic adventures. The melodies, already fairly complex, are all but lost to layers of drumbeats, drones, and reverb. Some songs hold their own despite the harangue of sounds, most notably the aforementioned opening track, “Fireroad,” and closer “Breath of Shadows.” Yet, most songs suffer from the fact that there is too much going on at the same time. If Whitley had chosen to pair the music down, to keep it bare, room would have been opened up for his voice to step forward and for his lyrics to have their full effect. Instead, he has opted to create a mood piece. Mood is what this album is all about, and in that respect, it succeeds. Yet, as it stands, Shores is hard to swallow whole. It is a demanding listen and one of the least accessible albums of Whitley’s career.
I saw Whitley perform three times: once in Amsterdam, in San Diego, and in San Francisco. I went up to him after two of the three shows and spoke with him, but it was never very long. He seemed very shy and reserved, yet at the same time a very warm and gentle person. It was like he wanted you to approach him, but when you did he didn’t know what to say. Even during performances, he would not look at the audience. When he addressed them directly, he would keep his eyes down, on his guitar. Not long after the San Francisco show, which proved to be one of his last, I read in an article that Whitley viewed every person who talked to him and told him how much they loved their music, every person who came to his shows, as a little gift.
Chris Whitley passed away on November 20, 2005, at the age of 45. He recorded one last album. Reiter In will be released in Europe at the end of February of this year; here in The States, we’ll have to wait until the end of March. Whitley also teamed up with Jeff Lange, the result of which, Dislocation Blues, is said to be released sometime this year.
Whitley’s music means many things to me in as many ways. Like the paint on a bedroom wall, his music colors and, therefore, to an extent defines the framework of my life. This might sound more emotive than I mean it to. Trying to explain why a song or an artist’s work moves me, I am left with particulars that are dead on the page and in my hands: a certain line, the catch in the singer’s voice, a chord progression. The magic just isn’t there. I can’t say why I find “New Lost World” heartbreaking, but there it is, in my mind at the strangest times. Returning to some of his older songs, I am amazed as always by the openness of his lyrics and the longing so powerfully expressed in them.
Whitley leaves behind a treasure chest of songs, waiting to be marveled at and cherished by anyone fortunate enough to stumble upon it.
"We trace them engines in the sand
We taste them tensions on the wind
Divined to run a highway raw
Desire alone against the law
In the new, the law in the new lost world."
http://www.looserecord.com/Feature/Feature_Main.php?docid=36
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| Fluffy |
Posted - 03/10/2006 : 4:14:04 PM
(merged from a duplicate thread posted by Rubylith)
quote:
This is from his official website. My deepest condolences go out to Fluffy.
Chris Whitley 1960-2005
Words from Trixie Whitley:
My father took his last breath last night the 20th of November. I would like to make it clear that the people he needed and loved the most were with him while and when he left in peace. Those were Dan, Susanne, me and Chorinne. I would also like to ask you guys to understand there is a very fine line between Chris Whitley the legendary musician and Chris Whitley the Father, Brother, and Lover.
This was my Dad's favorite line from the first song I ever wrote, this is for you Daddy:
"Like the feather we blow away, in the thoughtlessness of words others say."
All faith and peace,
Trixie Whitley
Words from Dan Whitley:
I just wanted to add Chris passed over surrounded by lots of love. The time we spent with Chris in these last days were something I'll never forget and these woman whom I shared Chris's last moments with were just amazing.
Susann Buerger who was by his side nonstop (Chris planned to marry Susann) held him in his arms the moment he passed in absolute and total peace, the reason I mentioned this is I always felt being held by someone you love while you passed over was a truly special thing. Trixie my niece is one of the strongest young woman I have ever met and Chris was always so proud of her whenever we spoke, Im also incredibly proud to be her uncle and love her beyond words.
Chorinne gave her home to Chris and the rest of us in this time of need and didnt stop taking care of things that needed to be taken care of the entire time, she gave us all a sanctuary to take care of Chris in and went way out of her way to help from the beginning and is still helping.
Me, I pretty much just cried my ass off when I wasn't helping Susanne with Chris....still crying.
I hope you all will mourn my brothers death but more important celebrate his life as Chris was all about life and living... I started the celebration by cranking up Dirt floor in his honor...crying still.
Chris Whitley's Legacy will no doubt transcend all time.
Love and Light,
Daniel
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| Arthen |
Posted - 11/28/2005 : 4:23:45 PM
This reminds me of when Elliott Smith died two years ago, and like CW the music is always there. Thank God for that. It's better than a photograph, the songs are pieces of his heart and soul and we'll have it forever. Thank Chris Whitley that he was kind enough to share it with us all. |
| Kenneth |
Posted - 11/28/2005 : 2:59:54 PM
I must admit that I'd never heard of Chris Whitley before I heard discussions of him on this board. I bought my first cd of his last week and I really like it a lot. I love his style. Ben, aka, Arthen recommended "Live at Martyrs" to me so I tried that one out first. I'm very impressed and will definitely be buying more of his music.
This story saddened me even before I had gotten into his music or really knew who he was. Just from reading what you’ve all had to say about Chris it's obvious he has touched your lives in a positive way. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts on Chris. Like Arthen said, "45 is far too young". This is so sad and I just realized that his passing was on my birthday, 11/20.
To me, the good news is that no one will ever be able to take away his music and all that he has left for us. And in no way am I trying to make light of his passing but just think of all the wonderful things he has done that has enriched our lives and helped to shape us as individuals and he will continue to do so for many years to come. I’m sure Chris knowing that he has had that kind of impact on people most definitely brings a smile to his face.
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| Robin |
Posted - 11/22/2005 : 7:16:19 PM
Yes, Fluffy knows...Peace, Robin |
| Arthen |
Posted - 11/22/2005 : 4:58:32 PM
45 is far too young. I'm deeply saddened by this news, and hope that Chris' family is coping well. Time to go put some CW on the stereo... |
| enthuTIMsiast |
Posted - 11/22/2005 : 2:05:23 PM
I guess there's no solid way to know, but does anyone know if Fluffy knows yet? I'd like to give him a call, but I would rather someone closer to the situation explain it to Fluffy. So, has anyone talked to Fluffy?
Right now I want to buy all the CW cds that I don't have (and there are a few). And listen to them all. At once. Just absorb them. |
| KevinLesko |
Posted - 11/22/2005 : 1:31:53 PM
Thank you for posting this Pam, your post was the first I saw of the news. I just put Terra Incognita in, and turned the volume nob way up.
As you all know from my earlier posts, I had a very hard time dealing with this news when it first came out that was Chris was very ill, and under hospice care. I've just now started crying... not sure if it is the cd playing, or me writing about this... at first I was almost upset that they announced that Chris was terminal. I kept thinking that knowing he would die is harder to deal with, than simply learning of his death, and maybe it was for me... I can't speak for others. However, one thing that it also did was prepared me for his death. Every day over the past two weeks I woke up, immediately turned on my computer and fully expected to read of Chris' passing. Today was that day, so in a strange way I was ready.
I was first turned onto Chris Whitley by Fluffy. I remember sometime 1999 or so when they first started up the website, and email list, one of the very first emails from Fluffy (I found the email in a n archive) he wrote this:
quote:
Speaking of recommendations, How many of you are familiar with Chris Whitley? Another great guitar player. A little more in the blues realm but still worth a listen. He also has an amazing, unique style of playing. Tim is a big fan. Chris' album "Din of Ecstasy" had a big impact on Tim as well. He really loves Chris' diversity. They are very similar in that way. Great acoustic records to start with are "Live at Martyrs" or the solo acoustic studio album
"Dirt Floor"
At the time, I was probably about 18? and was really just starting to become the avid music fan/listener that I am now at almost 24. As such, I was (and still am) very influential, and always looking for suggestions on new music to check out. I made a mental note of Fluffy's suggestion, and a few months later when I was in Lou's Records (a favorite of mine located in San Diego, just minutes away from the Belly Up where I've seen Chris Whitley play) I found a used copy of "Din of Ecstasy" for about five bucks. I listened to it, and was immediately hooked. I loved it. I had never heard anything so RAW and emotional before. To this day it is one of my top 5 albums of all time. Jump ahead to today, and I own just about everything there is to own from Chris Whitley minus a few rare imports and other hard to find collectables. I've seen Chris live 4 times. 3 solo, and one with the Vast Combo on the Hotel Vast Horizon tour that had Fluffy in charge of two Germans that spoke no English  . The last time I saw Chris was just months ago. Friday July 22, 2005. (I just found the ticket stub). It seems so strange that a man that just months ago played in front of me with such power and emotion (despite being obviously frail) is gone. I often consider Chris Whitley to be my 2nd favorite artist behind Tim Reynolds. These two stand out above superstar acts like Peter Gabriel/Genesis, Fleetwood Mac, NiN, Tool, DMB, System of a Down... etc because on numerous occasions I've met both, and am still floored by the generosity, sincerity, and pure warmth that was shown to me when I shook their hands. I saw Chris at the Brick by Brick about 2 years ago, and at the end of the night Chris shook my hand and thanked me for working the merch booth for the show. I thanked him for everything as well. He started to walk towards the van, and about half-way to the van, he stopped, walked back to me grabbed my hand again, looked me in the eyes, and thanked me again. The sheer amount of sincere honesty and gratitude that was shown at that moment is not capable of being translated through words. It is something I’ll never forget,
The point I'm trying to get to here is that for everything I listed above AND A WHOLE LOT MORE, I WOULD LIKE TO THANK CHRIS FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART FOR EVERYTHING THAT HE HAS GIVEN TO ME.
I hope this isn't taken out of context and doesn't seem inappropriate, but they say that death does wonders for your career. I only say this because I hope that the acclamations that Chris will be getting today from his fans will one day be shared by a world-wide audience. Chris deserves that, and his music will live on forever. Thank you again Chris.
-Kevin. |
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