As is probably the case with most people, the summer after I graduated high school marked the beginning of several transitions. I left Pittsburgh, my home of 18 years, for Tuscaloosa, Alabama and spent a few months training for the upcoming football season and acclimating myself to newfound freedoms and life in the deep south. Music had always been important to me, but living in a college town and getting to see bands on a regular basis was a big change, as was being around people from across the country. The early 90s were of course a dynamic time, producing Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden and other breakthrough artists. But one could not survive on grunge alone, and in that spirit I bought a cassette called Living With The Law by Chris Whitley that came highly recommended. Almost 15 years later, and despite listening to almost no rock ‘n’ roll anymore, that album remains one of my all-time favorites.
Living With The Law is a masterful blend of blues and rock mixed with Whitley’s vocals that run from confident yet world-weary storytelling to howling falsetto (sometimes in the same line) and of course his trusty steel guitar. The whole album sounds like it was made running from, rather than living with, the law across a dusty plain, all the while alternately reminiscing and trying to forget times past. Malcolm Burns‘s production is described by many as cinematic, at once dramatic while remaining subtle and never busy. But it’s Whitley’s lyrics that provide the cinema in songs like “Big Sky Country” and “Phone Call from Leavenworth,” where the storyteller in him paints a picture more vivid than any video.
Living With The Law came out as I was beginning to listen to much less rock and much more hip hop and techno, so while I never stopped listening to it, I did not keep up with Whitley’s career as much as maybe I should have given his brilliant start. You may be wondering why I’ve chosen to talk about an album from 1991, of a genre I no longer follow, when I don’t even spend much time here writing about the music I listen to every day. Well, Chris Whitley died last week of lung cancer at age 45.
Some words from his family can be found here, and his obituary is here. Hopefully, he’s in his own big sky country with his steel guitar and a microphone. Rest in peace, Chris. You will be missed.
**If you want to check out Living With The Law, I have uploaded it here. If you like that, check out his other work here. I’m going to try to work my way back through his catalog as soon as possible. For his debut alone, he deserved a level of recognition much higher than he received.