It seems an odd pairing: Chris, a self-taught guitarist whose visceral lyrics were influenced by desert landscapes and an appreciation of French surrealist poets; Warren, a piano man (briefly mentored by Igor Stravinsky) whose lyrics often described viscera and whom Rolling Stone labeled “rock’s macabre jester.” Chris, the offspring of a Madison Avenue ad executive … Continue reading
Yes, it’s a long, unwieldy title, but ’tis the season of harvest and Thanksgiving here in the U.S., so ….. A few years ago, I launched an ATCW post to document song inspirations that (primarily) Hiroshi Suda and I had gleaned from reading articles and listening to bootlegs. Given that Facebook is a black hole … Continue reading
This video of Chris and daughter Trixie singing “Serve You” was originally posted to YouTube by Martin Tupper on the first anniversary of Chris’s passing (2006-11-20). I’ve tried to contact Martin to ask whether he has more video of this show, but have never received a reply. To make the video more easily accessible to … Continue reading
Thanks to Tom Jones and Ken Dudzik for making this bootleg available!
Soon after the ATCW Facebook group was formed, Christian Lacroix shared audio from Chris and the Vast Combo’s 2003 performance in Cluses, France. Christian indicated that he might have video of the full performance (devoutly to be wished!). Here are the two songs Christian shared:
The thing I hate most about Facebook as a host for our group is that the now thousands of posts are presented linearly – no feature to allow the user to group posts by topic (e.g., as one would in a discussion forum), to create a chain/thread of related posts, or to easily/quickly access posts … Continue reading
Many thanks to Andi Lechner for writing this post about one of Chris Whitley’s signature pieces of gear. Andi is a musician (singer-songwriter) based in Austria, where he fronts his band (Ghost and the Machine) playing resonator guitars. ======================== NOTE: This article should just provide information about the pick-ups that Chris used on his Nationals. … Continue reading
Here’s a short playlist of songs that Chris performed as part of his full Radio Bremen set but that were possibly cut due to length constraints. Enjoy!
Lyrics: Well I knew you’d return to the other side And the day began, I woke again and died If you don’t come around I’ll know what it’s worth How deep is the ground? As flat as the earth Well I can’t refrain from talking to myself On a crowded plane, where nothing seems to … Continue reading
