Dammit, guitar nuts, why didn't you mention Chris Whitley died?

[Raph]

Sigh. Happened while I was on vacation apparently.

Appreciation on my blog: http://www.raphkoster.com/?p=173

Also, they seem to have put up a whole live set he did a while back, him, his stomping boot, and his National steel guitar. Sound quality is bad, but hey. www.chriswhitley.com

[stray]

I never bought any of his albums and didn't know much about him, Raph.

All I can say is that it worries me whenever I hear of someone in their 40's die of lung cancer. It's a damn shame.

[Raph]

Well, you play bass, right? So a little farther afield for you.

Basically, he was probably the most interesting slide player around, and a "genuine" bluesman in that he managed to channel that real vibe -- you never felt like he was just playing blues to play it, you felt like it was his native country.

Try "Phone Call from Leavenworth" from his website for a sample of what I mean:

http://silicon-messiah.net/07-24-05/CW07-24-16.mp3

[stray]

Actually, I don't play bass that much, but guitar and yes, slide as well  .  I'm just totally out of the loop as far as modern blues go.

Cool track though.

[Sky]

Eh, that track was ok. The production was completely abysmal (as you do mention), I could barely hear it, and then it's blaringly loud. The song itself wasn't horrible, but a lot of it was out of tune and rambly/mumbly. Some of it just sounded bad, just jangling the strings out of key. Maybe I need to look into more of his stuff, I dunno. I like my music musical and I'm not into a lot of 'experimental' stuff, mostly from my classical background as far as I can tell (I despise 'chaotic' jazz, too).

I like a pretty wide variety of stuff, but going by that track I'm not liking Whitley, though it's always sad when a true musician who plays from the heart passes on. As I said, I should look into his stuff, because that's normally right up my alley.

I'll agree on being out of touch with modern blues, most of the stuff I listen to is 1920-1970, though I did just get a nice album by Otis Taylor (see the pandora thread). My dearest wish is that I had the coordination to sing while I play, because I'd be pretty good, too. I've got a couple slide things coming together nice, I love open D. Been leaving my old cheap guitar in open D for when the mood strikes.

[Raph]

Try finding the album track, Sky, it'll probably be more to your taste. It's off of "Living with the Law" and will be impeccably produced.

Salon has also put up the title track from "Dirt Floor": http://anon.salon.speedera.net/anon.salon/mp3s/2005/nov/whitley-dirtfloor.mp3

This is an album version, but the album was recorded in a barn with no production whatsoever. However, it's more "straight" than that live version of "Leavenworth."

[Alkiera]

Eh, that track was ok. The production was completely abysmal (as you do mention), I could barely hear it, and then it's blaringly loud. The song itself wasn't horrible, but a lot of it was out of tune and rambly/mumbly. Some of it just sounded bad, just jangling the strings out of key. Maybe I need to look into more of his stuff, I dunno. I like my music musical and I'm not into a lot of 'experimental' stuff, mostly from my classical background as far as I can tell (I despise 'chaotic' jazz, too).

I like a pretty wide variety of stuff, but going by that track I'm not liking Whitley,

I had mostly the same complaints when I listened to it.  I thought perhaps it was just me, my machine, or something.  Good to hear that someone who I trust to evaluate music feels the same way.

Alkiera

[stray]

Like I said, I thought it was cool.....But I also don't feel like criticizing a guy's music (however nicely) in his death thread.

[Sky]

I was being objective, not mean. You are what you leave behind, I would feel bad if people didn't make fun of my stuff when I died, since I have only recorded a few things I actually liked. And as Raph pointed out, the 'production' on that live track was abysmal, though some of the playing was a bit off.

The second track, with actual production, was great. Added to the IMMENSE fye wishlist. Like I said, the kind of stuff I really dig.

And when I say 'production', I just mean being able to hear a good version of the music, without stuff being uneven in volume or things buried. I had a LOT of problems being in college for studio engineering at the tail end of glam, before grunge unslickified professional production values. I was always recording hot and raw, and arguing with my teachers as to why that was good.

I just wish I had known about Whitley before he passed on to the great gig in the sky. I hope when I buy his stuff, the money goes to a good place. Thanks, Raph. That was a nice writeup on your blog, too, which was my first indication it was probably just the poor recording I was objecting to.

[Raph]

I probably should have pointed to that link first. The version of "Leavenworth" that's there is really very much a bootleg-style recording, sounds like to me, and a poor one at that. But I love the song so much that I figured I'd link to it anyway. My sense of the playing is that Whitley was known for messing about a lot, live especially; he improvised, changed songs up, played them in weird ways. What I like about even that bootleg is hearing him take familiar phrases form the album version and distort them -- but I can see that if you don't know the album version, the weird change-ups will just sound bad instead of surprising and clever.

Whitley's best known for "Living with the Law," which is a much more produiced album, in the sense that it has much more instrumentation. You'll almost certainly recognize "Big Sky Country" when you hear it. Amazon has audio samples, clicky here:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000027FZ/qid=1133383934/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl15/002-9353076-8034417?v=glance&s=music&n=507846

Sky, definitely do yourself a favor and listen to the clean version of "Leavenworth."

[Sky]

It kinda sucks when you see a band play jukebox covers of their own material. I tend toward bands that like to mix it up, it's the reason I like the Dead, despite all the hippie stuff and not owning any albums, you can hear their songs in entirely different genres depending on the night on the live cuts.

I was just talking to a blues friend and he was asking what material I know, and it's pretty much 'nothing', despite playing for over 20 years now. I just noodle and jam. I look at songs as frameworks, you use a couple hooks to keep things centered and flowing coherently, then just explore the spaces between. Still looking for some local musicians to do that with, heh, without getting into the cliche and crappy 'jam scene' around here...cliche cliche cliche, since they just listen to jam music.

[stray]

My sense of the playing is that Whitley was known for messing about a lot, live especially; he improvised, changed songs up, played them in weird ways.

I figured as much, and still liked it. If I posted some bootlegs of my favorite guitarist, I'm pretty sure it'd be hard to listen to at first as well.  

Maybe I didn't make it clear, but I've heard Whitley before. I just never bought any of his albums. I hardly buy any blues for that matter, except pre War stuff (nothing against Whitley or anything).