Ashes to Dust

Artist: William Elliott Whitmore
Label: Southern Records
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 718752811125
EAN: 0718752811125
ASIN: B00074WMR8

Release Date: 2005-02-22

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Listmania:

a reluctant top 10 albums of 2006
Hymns For The Hopeless
Tom Waits-esque

Tracks:

Midnight
The Day The End Finally Came
When Push Comes To Love
Diggin' My Grave
The Buzzards Won't Cry
Sorest Of Eyes
Lift My Jug
Gravek Road
Porchlight

Similar Items:

Hymns for the Hopeless
Song of the Blackbird
Tennessee
Rebels, Rogues & Sworn Brothers
When the Sun's Gone Down

Customer Reviews:

SAW HIM LIVE...UNBELIEVABLE!!!!.......2006-01-23

I just saw William Elliot Whitmore Live the other day near Chicago and I have to say he sounds exactly like his CD, but it is more amazing to see him live, he commands the audience and no one can speak a work once he opens his mouth. If you do not own any of his work then i suggest that you go and buy the best new artist around! ....and if I could give more than 5 stars I would

never heard of him before yesterday.......2005-07-08

Until last night, I have never heard of William Elliott Whitmore. I heard this cd playing at a local coffee shop, and had to ask the proprietor who this was. My husband and I both loved his sound, so bluesy, with lots of guitar. We now have the cd Hymns for the Hopeless, we really like it, but it seems a little darker than this cd. Can't wait to own it!

Impressive sophomore effort.......2005-06-09

This is powerful stuff. Whitmore has the idiosyncratic voice of an unholy fusion of Tom Waits, John Prine and Townes van Zandt. What the hell, a little of Larry McMurtry thrown in, too. His instrumental sense is reminiscent of the Harry Smith Anthology, that is sparse and unadorned. He is singing the blues but not what one would expect from a rural Iowan who is not yet thirty years old. My wife was very surprised when I told her that and she feels he is likely a reincarnated "old soul." This album is not for everybody but my wife, who despises Tom Waits and generally doesn't care for the blues, was favorably impressed as I obviously am.

redirection makes perfect.......2005-05-01

I can certainly hear the Tom Waits references, but there's no Beat Generation at work here at all. Captain Beefheart is a better click, especially thinking about CB's almost-mainstream "Clear Spot" album. WEW has a much less rangy voice than the Captain's 4 1/2 octaves, and his lyrical concerns are much less arty/underground, though burials do figure prominently...

What I liked best about this album was its fondness for the subject matter of working folks, but not in a studied, academic or ironic sense. While I like the Be Good Tanyas, for instance, they often irritate me, in part because I hear so much Holy Modal Rounders in their arrangements and even vocals. Both of these groups approach their work with an irreverence that often gets in the way of the song itself (of course, the Rounders were designed to be stoner "acid folk", which is an excuse if you actually lived through that errrrrra).

"Ashes to Dust" presents a decidedly mature take on old things. WEW is not a songster who takes on personas (Dylan, Springsteen), because there is always the sense that he is the guy in the song. Pretty hard to pull off and he does it on every cut this album. The arrangements are simple and contemporary, with his playing being noticeably improved over "Hymns." I love "Sorest Eye," "Hub Cale" and "Heart in Your Hand" in particular, with the latter's lines "You're a rainstorm, a fire and a trainwreck/All wrapped up in ribbons and lace" being up for an alltime-country writing award--both my male and female friends like the whole idea of that line, for the same reasons. This is really one hell of an album, and the growth Whitmore has shown makes me anxious to see what he does next. Duet with Gillian Welch? Mercy.

Music CD:

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

Songbook ~ Paul Brady

Wound Creations ~ Amoral

Shattered ~ Septic Cemetary

Equations of Eternity ~ Bill Laswell, Mick Harris, Eraldo Bernocchi

Celtic Impressions ~ Various Artists

Moods of Top Dog ~ Various Artists

Untiy / B'Yachad ~ Ariel Louk

Summer Jam History ~ Various Artists

T-U-R-T-L-E Power! Theme Song ~ Various Artists

Diary of a Fiddler ~ Darol Anger