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Don't know if you guys know this but it was posted on Tiny Mixtapes today.
Chris Whitley Dead at 45
Sometimes brilliance slips from the world, unnoticed and unappreciated. It's sad, but it's all too true. The world didn't mourn the passing of Nick Drake, simply because nobody knew who he was; Pete Ham died in relative obscurity, even though his band had topped the charts just a few years earlier; and so it is with Chris Whitley. Whitley, 45, passed away from lung cancer last Sunday, November 20th, in his hometown of Houston, Texas.
His name might not mean much to you, but that's not his fault. As a musician, he befriended Daniel Lanois and scored a record deal with Columbia at about the same time "alternative" broke. He released three intense, wonderful records, blending hard rock, swamp blues, and out-and-out disturbing weirdness. His debut album, 1990's Living With The Law, is considered by many to be his greatest work. Thanks to his label's incompetence as how to market this unique talent, very few people actually heard these records.
But label problems didn't stop Whitley; he found refuge and appreciation in Europe, where his musical eccentricities were accepted. He was a man who didn't fear fucking with the formula, and he did so on a regular basis. His albums grew odder and more intriguing -- later works, most notably 2001's utterly weird Rocket House and this year's Soft Dangerous Shores, found Whitley blending ambient tones, electronica, and noise to erotic lyrics and stark imagery -- yet these songs never strayed far from Whitley's folk and blues background, often incorporating traditional musical instrumentation with more modern, innovative and experimental arrangements. Live, he could hold an audience transfixed using nothing more than his voice and an acoustic guitar.
Whitley is survived by his daughter Trixie; fiancee Susann Buerger; his father, Jerry Whitley; brother Daniel Whitley; sister Bridget Whitley Anderson; and ex-wife Hélène Gevaert.
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