Chris Whitley 1960-2005

I am very sad to see on the BBC News website that Chris Whitley died from lung cancer. I never even knew he was sick. Back in 1998, my curiosity was piqued by an Acoustic Guitar magazine interview with Chris and I bought his excellent "Dirt Floor" album. His National steel dobro playing was something I had never heard the like of - it had such a unique style, which combined with his haunting poetic lyrics, made me realise that this was an artist of unique vision. I found out later that this was just the latest incarnation in a serious of twists and turns in Whitley's wandering musical path, everything from Hendrix-like noise to plaintive Robert Johnson slide to one of the best cover albums ever recorded, "Perfect Day" (recorded with Billy Martin and Chris Wood from Medeski, Martin, and Wood).
His was not the kind of music you put on while doing the housework. This demanded serious listening.

His obituary is here