Relisten

1:11:51
SHNID:
cw1995-07-07.flac
Taper Notes:
View NotesAll songs written by Chris Whitley, except “Some Candy  Talkin'” by W. and J. Reid

Chris Whitley: vocals, guitar
Lee Fox: bass
Billy Ward: drums

 From an Austin Chronicle review of the July 6th show:

CHRIS WHITLEY
Antone's, July 6
This certainly wasn't the loudest or crunchiest show Antone's has seen, but it may qualify as the strangest - from the entrance music (that Fugs tune that centers around bongos and the word "nothing") to the Jesus and Mary Chain cover (a faithfully rendered "Some Candy Talking"). In case you haven't been catching Dan Rather's show since Connie Chung's dumping, Chris Whitley is sounding less and less like the son of John Hammond, Jr., these days. No, Whitley hasn't left the dobro by the roadside, but he's more likely to ram it through processor after processor 'til it sounds less like a crying piece of wood and steel than window panes being shattered against a piece of steel. Whitley took the stage in the Fugs' wake with a rhythm section, spent as much time with a number of vintage electrics as with the dobro (proving to be almost as much a guitar roadie's nightmare as Rick Nielsen), and - to coin a phrase - (ahem!) rocked. Judging by the response from the mostly collegiate audience, Whitley's conversion to dark and moody opiate rock was neither unexpected nor unwelcome. Which ensured cheers and rapt attention every time Whitley leaned his ridiculously thin frame (damn near Biafran in its emaciation) into his tortured solos, pumping away at his pedal board lewdly, making his guitar arsenal speak in tongues owing more to Killing Joke than Albert King. Thankfully, unlike most effects-happy torture rockers, Whitley edits himself mercilessly. If more industrial jokers pledged as much allegiance to three-minute AM radio time restrictions as Whitley, every last one of 'em would be a fuckuvalot more interesting. One decibel-happy hour later, he was gone. The Dylan-at-Newport style showdown one might expect never happened (though to be fair, Whitley did offer a couple more Delta-ish tunes before disappearing).
- Tim Stegall