William Elliott Whitmore: Field Songs

Question: What impact would this artist have with the backing musicians of, say, classic Ray Price? His answer to that question would probably be this record. And I can’t take my ears off of it.

There is no Ray Price Orchestra here.  One of his most striking of Whitmore’s eight tracks is Don’t Need It, and that sets the record’s theme, if not his own mission.  The tracks contain only his voice, sparsely accompanied by guitar and banjo – on one natural sounds open and, on another track, a bass drum beat marches.

Everything Gets Gone is typical of the stark impact and powerful symbolism of his songs.

“On a gravel road, about a mile down, there’s an old farmhouse with a fence around. The windows are broken. The roof is falling in. It’s never gonna be a home again. Like shutters in the wind, I’m holding on.”

With a song collection this wonderful, it’s easy for me to imagine that the Ray Price Orchestra is here while Whitmore performs, still, silent, and hypnotized, wondering what picture the artist will show us next.

With the absence of the excessive accompaniment common today, each song’s essence is amplified for listeners.

With the orchestra ready to perform, Whitmore reminds, “I don’t need it. Don’t need it at all.”

And it's true. We don't!