William Elliott Whitmore - Ashes to Dust [CD]

9 Tracks, 35 minutes. Samuel Beckett said "When you're up to your neck in shit, the only thing left to do is sing" Mr Whitmore agrees entirely, like the sun rising in your sorest eyes.

"This is American folk music stripped to its basics but freed of any stultifying reverence. Whitmore writes originals which sound timeless in a voice which doesn’t fit his comparative youth."
-WIRE

William Elliott Whitmore hails from an Iowa horse farm along the banks of the Mississippi River, and his intense love and spiritual understanding of the land is flawlessly conveyed on his second Southern full length, Ashes To Dust. Ashes To Dust collects nine new original songs riddled by mortality and struggling to interpret and make peace with a conflicted sense of morality.

William's voice sounds decades older than his tattered birth certificate indicates, burnished by smoke and drink and full of emotional depth. While comparisons to the gravelly voice of Tom Waits and the lyrical storytelling of Johnny Cash are prevalent (and not altogether in accurate), Mr. Whitmore is clearly doing more than just regenerating the music of the past. Dark tales of life, love, loneliness and loss are the cornerstones for his new album. These universal themes of desperation and redemption served Charley Patton, Robert Johnson and Henry Rollins well... and Whitmore has perfected his own strain of the rural folk blues.

"Midnight", the opening track, was born out of the feeling of displacement and alienation. "Diggin' My Grave" speaks of the need, for some reason or another, to kill yourself slowly. "Lift My Jug (song for Hub Cale)" is a tribute to a beloved drifter William met when he was still a young boy. The finale of Ashes To Dust is the wrenchingly poignant track "Porchlight". It tells the story of Whitmore's father; an elegy to a dying farmer and his last request.

Track Listing:
01) Midnight
02) The Day the End Finally Came
03) When Push Comes to Love
04) Diggin' My Grave
05) The Buzzards Won't Cry
06) Sorest of Eyes
07) Lift My Jug (song for Hub Cale)
08) Gravel Road
09) Porchlight
Running Time: 35 minutes

File Under: Bluegrass
For Fans of: Leadbelly, Tom Waits, Charley Patton, Micah P. Hinson, Howlin’ Wolf, PW Long, Dock Boggs, Seasick Steve

Released: February 2005