"I'm always looking for something melancholy …"
Chris Whitely
Chris Whitely
His sinewy, taut and lean muscular frame always seemed to twitch as if he were uncomfortable in his own skin, his face appearing almost haunted. Punctuated by his dark and brooding eyes, Chris Whitley gave the impression of being a more deliberate and exacting doppelganger of frenetic madman Iggy Pop. And yet the similarities were purely physical. Whitely was looking for something melancholy and he often found what he was looking for. Armed with a National Resonator guitar, a born and bred rock and roll voice and powerful songwriters sensibility, Whitely easily crossed genres making his mark in the blues, folk, rock, alternative country and the underground adult alternative market places. And it was this genre hopping ability that seemed to keep Whitely just outside fame in any genre.
Born in Houston, Texas in August of 1960, Whitley was raised on the road through the Southeastern United States, moving frequently throughout his youth. When his parents divorced when Chris was 11, he moved with his mother to Mexico City. Eventually they found their way back to the U.S. where they moved into a log cabin in Vermont. Inspired by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Johnny Winter and Jimi Hendrix, Whitely took up the guitar at the age of 15. It was the dobro opening on Winter's 'Dallas' that caught his attention and cemented his desire to play slide guitar. He purchased his National steel guitar and taught himself to play the bottleneck blues.
In two years, he had relocated to New York City where he busked on street corners, subway platforms and parks. It was during one of his street corner performances Whitely ran into a man who owned a travel agency. The man, a newly converted fan, offered to pay his way to Belgium thinking that Whitely's fortunes would be found in Europe. With nothing to lose, Whitely accepted the offer. Not long after his arrival, he was a minor star, recording a series of albums. But Whitely decided to return to the United States and in 1990, he relocated again to New York City.
During his second stint in America, a chance encounter with U2 producer Daniel Lanois brought him to the attention of Columbia/Sony Records where he signed a deal. In 1991 Columbia released Whitely's much heralded debut album Living with the Law (recorded at Lanois' New Orleans mansion). An absolutely scorching album of blues and blues orientated rock, 'Living With The Law' was a critics favorite and brought Chris to the attention to a small but increasingly devout cult following. The positive reviews of Living with the Law helped Whitely secure the much sought after position of opening for Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers in 1991-1992.
It took Whitely four years to deliver his follow up album, Din of Ecstasy and instead of simply regurgitating the style and substance of Living with the Law, Whitely tried to move into the more adult alternative direction. More grunge in flavor and style, Din tended to alienate the fans of the first album and failed to deliver the promise of his debut. It took Whitely another two years to release his next disc, Terra Incongnita which was more a fusion of his first two American releases.
Columbia/Sony released him from his contract following Terra Incongnita leading him to sign with Messenger Records. In 1998, Whitely released Dirt Floor (supposedly recorded in a barn with only Whitely, his guitar and occasionally a banjo) returned Whitely to the critics radar and restored his fan base. He had returned to the soulful, sparse and haunting sound of his debut release. In the spring of 2000, he released Live At Martyrs, another solo effort that captured Whitely at his best – live, raw and powerful. He followed Martyrs quickly with the haunting and sparse Perfect Day on Valley Records. Perfect Day was an all covers disc in which Whitely demonstrated his incredible guitar and vocal skills with reworking of such classics as Muddy Waters "She's Alright," Bob Dylan's "Fourth Time Around," and Robert Johnson's "Stones In My Pathway."
2001 proved to be a pivotal year for Whitely. His record Rocket House was the first disc cut on Dave Matthews fledgling ATO label and included collaborations with Bruce Hornsby, Blondie Chaplin, and Matthews himself.
After his follow up Hotel Vast Horizon, Whitely chose to release two internet/gig releases only titled Weed and War Crimes Blues. Weed, War Crimes Blues, and 2005's Soft Dangerous Shores were written and recorded during what has been called Whitely's "Dresden Period." When not on the road performing, Whitely spent a great deal of time in Dresden, Germany and it was this period where Whitely was the most prolific writing exquisite songs and writing them quickly. Of his time in Dresden, Whitely said "Even being Texas trash, I've realized things living in Dresden, for instance, how much people from other cultures have had to deal with so much for far longer than we have -- from the worst war crimes to being thrown into jail for playing music on the street, which happened to Heiko and Matthias (his German band members) when they were teenagers."
Whitely toured for most of 2005 but had to cancel his remaining gigs in October due to complications from lung cancer.
Whitely died on November, 20th, 2005 at his home.
Although Whitely may never be considered a huge mainstream act, he impacted music perhaps even more than he realized. Counting as admirers of Whitely's music are artists as diverse as Bruce Springsteen, Keith Richards, Bruce Hornsby, Tom Petty, John Mayer, Don Henley, and Dave Matthews.
Reflecting on the passing of this somewhat obscure talent, Dave Matthews said "I feel more passion for his music than I do for my own. I have a fervent, religious devotion to the magic that Chris Whitely made." But perhaps Rolling Stone said it best when reviewing his work: "The post-Hendrix explosion of whammybar wankers hasn't produced a single axeman who can compare to Chris Whitely. His eerie, bluesy voice and American gothic tunes frequently draw attention from the fact that he picks like a pissed off Doc Watson jacked through a Marshall stack." A fitting tribute to perhaps one of this generations most under appreciated guitarists – he was only here for a relatively short time and yet he proved to be influential and inspired and his skill at drifting between genres and developing a clear style of his own was something rare.
He will be missed and admired for quite a long time to come.
[FONT=Tahoma]"All I can do is be me ... whoever that is". Bob Dylan [/FONT]
