analoghog wrote:..he was one of my all-time Favorite artists!...i never missed a show when he came thru Chicago, even when he would play here twice in a summer...he was one of nicest people on the planet....i loved that he was never afraid to take an artistic risk and i looked forward to each album, and show...I miss him alot!...
check this Video out below...
M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6DzLsfwe4U
i met CW after his album "DIN" came out, his second one.
i was a "record label geek" then.
it was the CMJ conference in NYC.
We had an artist I was working with called Dan Zanes, ex Del Fuegos leader, and a GREAT guy.
after his set (there were only 14 people in the club, since Clive at Arista had basically hooked us all up with passes to go see Annie Lennox, but I wanted to see DAN ZANES.....so I was THE ONLY guy there from the labels)
Dan comes out and says "I have a special treat for you tonight.....ladies and gentlemen, please welcome CHRIS WHITLEY"
I nearly fell off my barstool.
I had only heard "Din of Ecstacy" -- I sent this album to BJ, because HE will UNDERSTAND it.
I did not know Chris could play National resonator guitars solo like this.
He comes out, has a female guitar tech who tunes his guitars, lights candles and incense, and lights smokes one after another for CW as he plays.
For an hour, it was as if TIME STOPPED. He completely DESTROYED me. I had never seen ANYONE do anything like that with one of those old Nationals. And sing songs like that.
I could not move, I could not speak, I could barely even order a beer.
After his set, he came over to the bar and sat next to me. I was scared to even TALK to him, but I bought him a beer and we started to talk. For over an hour.
a music journalist friend had given me a copy of "din", explaining to me that "YOU are one of the only guys I know that would understand this album"
That started a sort of friendship between CW and I that night.
a few years later, my album LVX Nova came out. CW featured that album ON HIS OWN website, much to the displeasure of SOny, as it was from BMG, and the two companies were years from the merger they now are.....
And then when SOny DROPPED him after his third album "Terra Incognita", this was around the time that I resigned from the major labels. They gave me a choice -- when I got signed -- I could either work for them, OR I could be a recording artist. Guess which one I chose?
So, I already had a large network of contacts in Florida, so the next few CW records that came out on Messenger, like "Dirt Floor".....I promoted them FOR FREE......got it reviewed, got it into stores, got it radio play, etc.
I did this as much as possible for CW up until his death.
I never got to hang out with him a lot, nor did I get to record with him. But he knew me, and I knew him, and we both appreciated each other.
I spent the first anniversary of his death with his brother Dan, who is an amazing guitarist and very cool guy in his own right. DAN is a guy who will dig BJFE pedals, I can assure you. I may have to stop and see him again when I am close to his house.
Tonight I am playing a "charity" show for a bunch of us military veterans, and it is an HONOR to do so.
I will do a few clips to post on youtube of me doing a few Chris songs, in honor of his memory. I am one of a handful of people who can actually do justice to his songs. They are difficult, in a variety of strange open tunings, and not exactly "mustang sally".......
I have not been able to make it to one of the memorial concerts yet, but maybe the next one....but every time I play one of his songs, I remember him.
by Bobby D » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:02 am 
