William Elliott Whitmore – Kilonova
Bloodshot Records – 7 September 2018
Hailing from Iowa, this is William Elliott Whitmore’s ninth album under his own name and something he’s wanted to do for some time, namely record a collection of the covers he’s been performing as part of his live sets.
It is, to say the least, an eclectic selection in terms of artists and sonic styles, ranging from a strum-a-long of Johnny Cash’s Five Feet High And Rising to a full-on baritone rasp through Captain Beefheart’s Bat Chain Puller with a swirl of sluggish drum rhythms, alarm siren guitars and squalls.
It opens with my personal favourite, a terrific country roots reinvention of Magnetic Fields’ story-song Fear of Trains that calls to mind such icons as Clark, Kristofferson and Newbury. He also offers an equally radical rework of Bad Religion’s Don’t Pray On Me, transforming it into a banjo-led bluegrass stomp.
Drawing directly on the country archive, Harlan Howard’s Busted gets a swampy waltzing treatment while reaching back in further he takes Country Blues, a 1920 number from Dock Boggs and gives it a powerful work song a capella reading and, keeping the banjo to the fore (and losing the jews harp of the original), from the late 50s comes Run Johnny Run, a number written and recorded by cowboy folk singer Jimmy Driftwood (who also wrote Johnny Horton hit Battle of New Orleans).
Of the three remaining tracks, two come from very well-known artists and the other rather less so. The latter is San Francisco country bar band Red Meat, their honky gem One Glass A Time given a slightly slower, less twangy treatment but hopefully now giving it the exposure it and they deserve.
ZZ Top’s Tres Hombres album provides Hot Blue & Righteous, transfigured from a Texas boogie into a soulful slow gospel number while Bill Withers’ classic Ain’t No Sunshine is imagined as it might have been recorded by Cash at his soulfully, bluesy best.
The mark of a successful cover is to take the original and, rather than treat it over reverentially, ruffle up its hair, give it a new wardrobe and make it your own. Whitmore has full possession here.