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Editorial Reviews
On his 2011 album Field Songs, Iowa troubadour William Elliott Whitmore documents a vanishing American landscape with all the heartfelt soul and quiet fury one could hope for. "Heartland firebrand blows fuse, fights for truth" heralded Spin Magazine when describing Whitmore, who utilizes a powerful singing voice beyond his years and a stark dramatic sound rooted in bluegrass, blues and folk protest music. These songs vividly evoke a life of struggle, humble resilience and family bond inspired by life on his family s farm along the Mississippi River. Whitmore has made a name for himself both within the punk movement, where his populism and sincerity resonate with alienated urban kids, and the roots community, where writers like Andy Downing in the Chicago Tribune have placed him within the "new pastoralism" of Bon Iver and the Fleet Foxes.
Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Armed with only an acoustic guitar, a banjo, and a world-weary voice that belies his thirty-three years, William Elliot Whitmore has released his second CD for the Anti label.
At little more than thirty minutes and eight songs, Whitmore speaks to the hard times facing most Americans. Check out the album's closing track, the stark "Not Feeling Any Pain":
My sweat and blood are spilling out, no bandages can mend;
And in my mind there is no doubt that none of this trouble will ever end.
I've had my days, I've had my doubts
Of how this whole thing will play out;
But still I know that all I see
Someday soon will cease to be;
But I am not feeling any pain.
I saw Whitmore perform last year in a venue that barely accommodated three hundred people. It was an amazing show. He's coming back next month. (I've already got my tickets!) Listen to the samples; then get this album. You won't regret it. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED [Running time - 34:09]
At little more than thirty minutes and eight songs, Whitmore speaks to the hard times facing most Americans. Check out the album's closing track, the stark "Not Feeling Any Pain":
My sweat and blood are spilling out, no bandages can mend;
And in my mind there is no doubt that none of this trouble will ever end.
I've had my days, I've had my doubts
Of how this whole thing will play out;
But still I know that all I see
Someday soon will cease to be;
But I am not feeling any pain.
I saw Whitmore perform last year in a venue that barely accommodated three hundred people. It was an amazing show. He's coming back next month. (I've already got my tickets!) Listen to the samples; then get this album. You won't regret it. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED [Running time - 34:09]
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Those of you who have played the innovative Xbox 360 game "Red dead redemption" will have already heard the deep raspy voice of William Elliott Whitmore singing without accompaniment a haunting Western lament "Bury me not on the lone prairie" which in terms of tradition owes a much greater debt to Tom Waits than it does Hank Williams. His latest album is firmly located in that unflinching commitment to raw frontier folk and throughout its basically Whitmore's voice, assorted banjo's and guitars. William Elliott Whitmore was formerly a hunk core punk and that ethic can also be found in the sparse songs of this vocalist and musician from Lee County, Iowa. In this album he rails agains the "manifest destiny of factory farms" on the powerful title track and states a powerful case for American individualism in the pumping "Don't need it".
This is by no means a long album and in one sense it might start to jar if it was. Whitmore makes little concessions to any explicit modern influences although strangely the banjo introduction to opener "Bury your burdens in the ground" does remind this reviewer of the melody of The Beta Bands "Dry the Rain" (that said the old "hearing" is playing up at the moment!). When Whitmore does introduce the greater warmth of an acoustic guitar he also tends to counter this with a darker set of lyrics not least in "Everything gets gone" where he intones that like "shutters in the wind I'm just holding on" reminding all that we are just here for a little while. It is somewhat of a relief then when the mood lifts to something more uplighting in "Let's do something impossible", while the albums concluding song the primal "Not feeling any pain" would not go amiss being sung to a gospel gathering in a chapel within the deep south.... Read more ›
This is by no means a long album and in one sense it might start to jar if it was. Whitmore makes little concessions to any explicit modern influences although strangely the banjo introduction to opener "Bury your burdens in the ground" does remind this reviewer of the melody of The Beta Bands "Dry the Rain" (that said the old "hearing" is playing up at the moment!). When Whitmore does introduce the greater warmth of an acoustic guitar he also tends to counter this with a darker set of lyrics not least in "Everything gets gone" where he intones that like "shutters in the wind I'm just holding on" reminding all that we are just here for a little while. It is somewhat of a relief then when the mood lifts to something more uplighting in "Let's do something impossible", while the albums concluding song the primal "Not feeling any pain" would not go amiss being sung to a gospel gathering in a chapel within the deep south.... Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By T. L. Starks
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
William Elliott Whitmore sings with the birds, the tin roof, the rooster, the fence posts and muddy rows of a field. I've never heard someone's heart so close to home in a song, it's almost as if the rhythm of the beat of that heart keeps time with an old Ford 8N.
Give this music a chance, rustic poetry; everyone I've shared this CD with, after a slow time- asks who this is or WHAT this is...and if they can sit on the old swing a little longer and hear more.
Give this music a chance, rustic poetry; everyone I've shared this CD with, after a slow time- asks who this is or WHAT this is...and if they can sit on the old swing a little longer and hear more.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Backwoods baritone hangs up the heartache to sing songs of home and hope
July 20, 2011
Format:MP3 Music
William Elliott Whitmore is a beast, and Field Songs is his burden lifted. The record keeps his stark style intact with simple, traditional instrumentation and his booming baritone, while in the background, the ambient sounds of birds, roosters, frogs and insects form the perfect choral section. He's been through tough times. He's spent years and albums dealing with pain. And now he's finally emerged from the dust to sing and strum about loss less like a farmboy and more like a man. Whitmore will forever be toiling away on the farm, and Field Songs gives us yet another reason why - there's no place like home for healing the soul.
Full review:
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Full review:
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Claudio RX
Format:Vinyl
William Elliott Whitmore plays fantastic songs with passion and soul.Field Songs is the proof than is
possible write amazing songs with simplicity,humility and country roots.The guitar and banjo never sounded
so sweet in the darkness.Album of The Year in my opinion!!!!!!!!!
possible write amazing songs with simplicity,humility and country roots.The guitar and banjo never sounded
so sweet in the darkness.Album of The Year in my opinion!!!!!!!!!
By Asherville
Format:MP3 Music
Went into my local music store and heard this playing. Had gone in with my son to buy "his" music - and left with this one in my pocket. I've already ordered all the others. This is powerful music from the gut - and it makes me want to put it on - loud - and take a long drive.
By Tom
Format:MP3 Music|Amazon Verified Purchase
Really great album by an amazing musician. Definitely a must have if you are into any of his other albums
By Peter
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Ther are very few albums that I can put in and listen through the entire thing. This is one of them.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Whitmore is the real deal.
There is nobody in this genre doing music this good, period. As real as it gets. A fantastic record with a lot of thoughtful stories to tell.
Published 11 months ago by Record Collector
4.0 out of 5 stars
The sound of the Earth
William Elliott Whitmore is one of the most soulful sounding, mid-30s white dudes from IA you'll ever hear. Read more
Published 12 months ago by M. Moss
5.0 out of 5 stars
Field Songs by William Elliot Whitmore
Very interesting, sparse cd. It may take a few listens to adapt to the simplicity of the songs, but the songwriting is excellent. Read more
Published 19 months ago by E. Wayne Adkins
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