Customer Reviews

Dirt Floor

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

At the time this was coming out I went to see Chris at a local club. The only problem was the boneheads that owned it forgot to advertise so It was Chris, me my 5 friends and about 10 other people. He played most of this collection along with solo version of songs from other cds and I have to say it was as emotional a music experience as I've ever had. When I put this cd on it is so alive and warm that I go back to that night. So I use this rarely. Buy This. Drop that hammer and Run!

A piece of our hearts have gone with the beloved Chris Whitley. I leave this comment here, because this is where it all started. If you go to Chris Whitley's official website you will see why as well. Also, please read the touching eulogy his daughter, Trixie has left.

I feel like I have lost a friend. A hero. A mentor. An inspiration in the truest form.

We will miss you, Chris.

The power of Chris Whitley's talent is on full display here. This album contains a broad tapestry of themes and motifs that deepen after almost every listen. Whitley's compositions are first rate, and his playing is more than up to the task. This is clearly the work of a true artist, someone who takes what he does very seriously and who respects his audience.

Most impressive.

I lost my copy of Dirt Floor, along with a few other good albums, a while ago, and while i miss them, the others dont make me feel like i feel when i rememer Dirt Floor. Today, amongst tongue-in-cheek rock and pocket-money-grabbing pop its easy to think that serious music is anal, too serious, that it misses the light-hearted point of popular music (in the general sense). But let this album stand as a testament to the fact that music can - its not a cheesy cliche - have a beauty that seeps deep into your soul like gravy into a yorkshire pudding, and makes the mundane give way to the divine (like gravy in a yorkshire pudding. Let it stand as a testament to the fact that human beings are not animals or machines or consumers or numbers or just things, but something deep and mysterious. Let it stand as a testament to the power of simple honest things that feel like reality smiling back. If that sounds over the top, you havent listened to Dirt Foor. If you've listened to it and still think it sounds over the top, you havent HEARD it (note "white men cant jump" debt). That i no longer have this album makes me feel sad, because its beauty it huge, and we all need beauty. Forget about stardom, forget about genre, forget about cool, forget about rockin', forget about fashion. Dirt Floor is just so beautiful. Thats all i have to say.

Picture this: You're a fan of authentic bluesy acoustic music. The greatest ever invites you over to his house to sip a few beers and listen to him play. You're sitting there drinking your Red Stripe and watching this guy across the coffee table put down the most incredible music on slide guitar/duolin/banjo you've ever heard. Sound like a good time? This album is just that.

Buy this CD! You'll notice some things immediately once you do: 1. It's only 26:51 long (believe me, thats enough!)

2. Each track is Whitley and the instrument of his choice. Period. One take. One guy. No retakes. No overdubs. Pure, raw, powerful, gut-wrenching landscapes of sound that are bluesy, yet defy a single categorization (For maximum effect, use good headphones!)

3. It was recorded in one day.

Ever once in a while, an artist comes along that hears the blues in a new, refreshingly innovative way - and has the skill to bring it out exactly how they hear it. Chris Whitley's such! an artist. He creates the richest, biting, lyrical sounds on his instruments of choice (duolin, triolin, national steel, banjo) of anyone in a long time - maybe ever. And his voice and phrasing is in perfect sync with the sounds he creates. This is by far his best work yet.

If you're a fan of "Phone Call From Leavenworth" and "Dust Radio" (off the first album), you'll love "Scrapyard Lullaby" and "Indian Summer" off this latest release. If you dug "Broken Crosses" off Terra Incognita, you'll be all over "Wild Country". One fan in this review list said that Chris Whitley's the best ever. Ever. And I'd have to agree. I'm a big fan of the blues masters - Duane Allman, Clapton, Johnny Winter, the "Alberts" (King and Collins), etc etc. Whitley simply blows them all away. Not in a flashy, "look I know my scales" style. A quiet masterful refreshing groove that grabs you in the gut. Yet if thi! s is "blues", Whitley continues his habit of taki! ng it new directions...exploring,reaching - yet still true to the genre. Simply incredible!

Enjoy!!

I was a tremendous fan of the "Living with the Law" album, and although I was impressed with the technicality of "Din of Ecstacy" and, more pertinantly, "Terra Incognito", "DIRT FLOOR" delivers the goods that long-time fans have been waiting for. I have played flamenco, classical, and rock guitar since I was 8, inspired by the likes of Clapton, Hendrix, Segovia, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, and Jimmy Page. Chris Whitley absolutely outshines, outshines, outshines. He is a genius, and this album is a bold testament to it. The chord schemes on "Dirt Floor" are powerful; they grab a tight hold of you in the pit of your stomach and draw you into the very heart of the song, where his unique voice complete with classic blues falsetto waits to haunt you. And I never thought I'd say this, but Whitley has illustrated that hell hath no fury like a mean banjo- as exemplified on "Ball Peen Hammer", track# 5. I can confidently recommend this album to EVERYBODY. This record is a template for others to follow, and a PERFECT specimin of American music. A classic.

Dirt Floor is the best whitley album....Amazing songs, excellent performance...This cd is timeless. The dobro, boot board and vocal are simple, but sooooo powerful.

Probably the most difficult obstacle Chris Whitley faced during his career was that he had a hard time building a solid fan base, because his sound always drastically changed from album to album. He was an experimenter and an innovator, and his albums are very hit-and-miss for me. I liked his electric stuff OK, but I think he really shined on the albums where he threw out all the other instruments and electronic experimentation and just sang and played his heart out on slide guitar (sometimes accompanied by a straight beat from a bass drum or stomp box). "Dirt Floor" is by far the very best of his acoustic albums, and my only complaint about it would be that it is too short!!! It is not a quite a blues album, although many of the songs are definitely blues influenced, but more of a folksy, dark, gritty, acoustic singer-songwriter album. (and his lyrics are excellent, conjuring up visions of steel mills, grinding gears, hot city streets, and dusty forgotten desert towns - real genuine blues stuff!)

If you buy this album (which you should), and you love it (which you will), also try "War Crime Blues" (about 90% stripped down acoustic songs), "Live At Martyr's" (acoustic live - high energy), "Weed" (lots of his electric songs re-done acoustic), "Perfect Day" (acoustic covers, done with Madeski and Wood), and the out-of-print "Poison Girl" EP, if you can find it. "Hotel Vast Horizon" isn't too bad either, but it just doesn't seem as inspired as the others, and "Long Way Around: An Anthology" has several good acoustic demos and the better stuff from his electic experimentation.

It's too bad he had to go and die on us, before he could make more awesome music...

Dirt Floor would be a return to form for Chris Whitley after the uneven songwriting that dominated his previous release Terra Incognita. Now recording on an independent label, Chris would achieve his vision of creative control after his previous albums showed clear attempts of his label attempting to commercialize his music. It would also be a stylistic change as Chris would abandon the heavy grunge of Din of Ecstasy and Terra Incognita in favor of a softer acoustic setting which put the sole focus on his songs, much like Neil Young has done throughout his career. As a result, Whitley's songwriting abilities received a kickstart as Dirt Floor would prove to be his most consistent collection of songs and every album from here until his sudden death would be top notch.

In listening to Dirt Floor, what becomes most apparent is a newfound tenderness to his work that was only hinted at in his previous releases. Songs like the wistful "Accordingly" and the pretty "Loco Girl" are among the most heartfelt songs you'll ever hear while "Wild Country", "Scrapyard Lullaby", and the title track show a sense of reflection that would become an integral part of future releases such as Perfect Day and Soft Dangerous Shores. "Indian Summer" shows Chris' continued love of the blues albeit in a more intimate setting. However, the sorrow and decadence that dominated Din of Ecstasy and Terra Incognita are not completely abandoned as exhibited in his performances on "Altitude" and the fiery "Ballpeen Hammer." Finally, the sparseness of "From One Island to Another" is his most haunting piece and features one of his most somber vocal performances. As on most of his albums, Chris' emotional vocals as well as his mastery of the banjo remain a thing of beauty and complement the mood of each track perfectly. All told, Dirt Floor would prove to be one of the finest works of an artist that left us too soon. Highly recommended.

Chris Whitley's music is primal. On his amazing debut album, Living With the Law, and the follow-up limited-run live promotional "EP" CD, Poison Girl, he created a desolate landscape of ghosts rising out of his haunting lyrics, pounding National Triolian guitarwork, and blues-drenched singing. After his debut success, he lost himself in the joys of overdriven electric guitar on Din of Ecstasy. This new album brings him back to Earth---as the title, Dirt Floor, suggests. This CD features just Whitley armed with his trusty, battered Triolian, laying his world out naked before you. His slide and fretted guitar-playing is percussive and thunderous, accented by his amplified stomping foot. On some cuts he plays banjo, whose rinky-dink sound offers the perfect county-fair, calliope-like accompaniment to his countrified lyrics. In interviews, Whitley has consistently eschewed the "bluesman" cloak, and you can hardly blame him for not wanting to be so narrowly categorized given the range of his music. But at times his playing is as primal as the great Son House and his lyrics near the terror of Robert Johnson's best songs. Call it the blues or call it simply art, either way this is a tough, haunting album.