This is my 'desert island' CD. It appeared as if a missive from 'the other side of the world' one month short of 3 years after Chris's passing. And it contains the Chris Whitley track I've probably played most often over the more than a decade since I first purchased it: Chris's cover of JJ … Continue reading On Air Media
Category: Albums
Weed & War Crime Blues Media
Because "straight from the horse's mouth" is my preferred way of understanding Chris and his music, I've gathered some of Chris's musings about each of these albums below. I've also included excerpts from some of my favorite reviews. To read the full articles, reviews, and interviews from which these excerpts were taken, go here. War … Continue reading Weed & War Crime Blues Media
Dislocation Blues Media
I've written a separate post examining the songs Chris and Jeff Lang covered on Dislocation Blues. Here, I've compiled the articles, photos, etc. that I've collected over the years. Read over a dozen articles/reviews. Listen to an interview Chris gave while in Australia recording the album. Listen to a podcast from Jeff Lang about the … Continue reading Dislocation Blues Media
Long Way Around: An Anthology 1991 – 2001
In the liner notes for this anthology, Bradley Bambarger wrote "The most compelling, communicative music resonates with a 'cry,' whether it embodies a wail of pain and despair or the not-so-dissimilar shouts of spiritual elation and sexual healing. ... [E]nduring music often echoes the real, remembered or empathetic cry of the listener. Chris Whitley's music … Continue reading Long Way Around: An Anthology 1991 – 2001
Reiter In Media
Reiter In was recorded as a band featuring Chris Whitley & "The Bastard Club": Heiko Schramm – bass guitar and backing vocals; Brian Geltner – drums, vibes, acoustic guitar, and backing vocals; Tim Beattie – harmonica, lap steel, and backing vocals; Kenny Siegal – baritone guitar, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and backing vocals; Sean … Continue reading Reiter In Media
Soft Dangerous Shores Media
Whitley recorded Soft Dangerous Shores with bassist Heiko Schramm and drummer Matthias Macht, the supple German rhythm team on board for Hotel Vast Horizon (Messenger, 2003). Malcolm Burn was at the helm, producing and engineering the record in his Kingston, N.Y., studio. Burn's sepia-toned keyboards were also the source of the album's hovering atmospherics. … Continue reading Soft Dangerous Shores Media
The Evolution of “New Machine”
Very few articles, interviews, or reviews of the Din of Ecstasy album mention New Machine - a song that many Whitley fans count among his best. Geoffrey Himes in The Washington Post gets the title wrong and misses the point: "'The New Machine' is a nightmarish vision of Orwellian technology." A review of the Din … Continue reading The Evolution of “New Machine”
Terra Incognita Media
Articles You can access a few dozen articles here. You can also learn more about Clear Blue Sky and its many iterations here. Bootlegs and Other Audio 1997 bootlegs on the Live Music Archive Radio Show at Studio Brussel (Belgium) 1997-03-13: Radio Show at River Music Hall (Boston) 1997-03-19 - includes a rare performance … Continue reading Terra Incognita Media
Hotel Vast Horizon Media
As Heiko "Hesh" Schramm recalls, "The whole HVH record is played live at Helicopter Tonstudio in Dresden together at the same time, including Chris's vocals. Nothing added, no overdubs and no pre-recordings. In a way it's a live album. On Insurrection M* (Matthias Macht) played a cymbal ON his snare - how hurried Chris was, … Continue reading Hotel Vast Horizon Media
Dirt Floor Media
"Seeing somebody like Chris Whitley sitting in a tool shed in the back of his father's house, just possessed, and you realize that you are in the presence of nature at its purest, you're in the presence of the divine." ~ Craig Street, as quoted in Producing Hit Records by DJ Farinella Craig Street, who … Continue reading Dirt Floor Media
All Things Chris Whitley 