This is the most consistent and accessible disc of Chris Whitley's off-and-on recording career. The album is just Whitley singing and accompanying himself on banjo, guitar and foot stomp. It has a simple and wonderfully stripped-down sound that fits perfectly with the morose yet tumultuous mood of the songs, establishing a strong atmosphere that is almost as important to the work as the mood in a '40s film noir. This is an exceedingly short work, only 27+ minutes, yet it really shouldn't be much long...   [ read more ]

CD $15.18

Like Bob Dylan, Chris Whitley's music is deeply informed by the blues. But, also like Dylan, it is defined by a weird rhythmic amorphousness. What at first seems like indistinct strumming is soon brought into shape by angular melodies delivered in Whitley's unmistakable voice -- deep and seemingly sedated. Chord changes are transparent, falling in odd places and practically unrelated to his strumming. None of this is a bad thing. Whitley's music is powerfully original. On 2001's {^Rocket ...   [ read more ]

CD $14.23

Just a man and his guitar: that's all Live at Martyrs' is. Yet it is perhaps the best way to hear Chris Whitley, separated from the studio trappings that had a tendency to obscure and hinder his otherwise gutsy folk-blues on previous recordings, and planted precisely in the element that helped earn him his name in singer/songwriter and critical circles. That is part of what makes the album such a welcome addition to the cult musician's mixed catalog. Recorded in Chicago over a few nights in 1999, {^L...   [ read more ]

CD $14.23