2 keepers
keeper avg .222
Consisting of just voice and guitar, banjo, or Dobro, Whitley's fourth album is the opposite of his radio-ready debut. With no other instrumentation to fall back on it's starkly beautiful or menacing at its best, or at worst intimately loose. Though usually described as a blues artist, Whitley utilizes melodic bluegrass textures on a good part of the album, including "Scrapyard Lullaby", "Accordingly", and the title song; a circular banjo riff provides the menace I mentioned in the hypnotic "Ball Peen Hammer"****. The poignant "Wild Country"**** is more straightforward folk, similar and worthy of comparison to Bob Dylan (like "Desolation Row" or "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"). Whitley's slide gives "Indian Summer" a bluesy feel, while the almost too-loose "Altitude" would sound mean with a Led Zeppelin-influenced backing band. By limiting the modest album to just over 27-minutes Whitley manages to provide enough variation in approach and instrumentation to avoid being boring, and presents an album of songs with consistent depth.
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