Chris Whitley “Living With The Law” by Bob Shultz

“Tape still running?”

It’s an honest question, barely audible to the human ears. A little slide guitar, two cracks of a worn snare… and then I was introduced to the guitar echo that would change my life. This was my baptism into the world of Chris Whitley.

The track was “Living with the Law”; from the album of the same name, and it set the tone for the 11 tracks that followed. It would also become my standard for all new music to come. It still does, 15 years later.

It was blues, it was rock, it was country, it was gospel and it defied being pigeonholed into any one category. It was “

To say that Whitley is a great guitarist doesn’t do him justice. He is an original guitarist. A whirlwind of blues rhythms accentuated with a southwest flavor and spiked with classical precision. He seems influenced by many, but an imitator of none. A classic blues man with a John Coltrane edge of improvisation. He could be erratic at times, but never without point or focus. It’s a unique style that bleeds into his writing and lyrics.

Hope is the common thread through the album “Living with the Law”. Hope seen through the blood-shot eyes of a narrator that has lived too much, reflected too little, and continues to find redemption through life’s next challenge. As the refrain of the opening track states… “It’s hard living with law”: The laws of social discourse, the laws of corporate capitalism, even the simple laws of being a good person in world hell bent on self-destruction.

With lyrics as layered as his guitar licks, not everything is as it seems.

“Poison Girl”, one of the album’s very few singles to be released, can be easily be understood on first listen as an up-tempo ballad for the “Just Say No” movement. But taken in context, lyrics like “Sister do medicine business. Three dollars down for a gun, she’s a poison girl” have little to do with implied chemical addiction and are more in line with the author’s true meaning: Admiration for a daughter who grew up strong despite having a wayward father. She is not a “poisoned girl” but simply… a girl with “Poise.”

Appearance is certainly not reality in the world of Chris Whitley. Tracks about lost faith (“Dust Radio”) lost love (“I forget you”) and death (“Big Sky Country”) are never quite that cut and dry.

Of course, these are all subtleties that come out upon repeated replays: the ultimate sign of a brilliantly produced work. On the surface, “Living with the Law” is a foot tapping, head bobbing, neck-tossing fusion of hooks and melodies that drifts effortlessly from track to track. But even with this golden combination of music and art, outside of a few critical notices, the album went almost completely unnoticed.

1992 was strange year for music. Nirvana killed the metal rock the proceeded it. Garth Brooks was climbing his way to “Elvis proportions” on the country charts. Rap was finally making headway in the pop mainstream.

“Living with the Law” got lost in shuffle.

Some record stores qualified it as country, others as rock, and others still, as alternative. Outside a few opening gigs for Tom Petty’s tour, Whitley had very little promotional drive behind the album and it soon found its way to the bargain bin.

But quality has its place. Word of mouth, club dates and the rise of “fusion” music has finally started to give Whitley’s “Living with the Law” a proper place among the great overlooked albums of the late 20^th century.

From the opening strings of the title track, to the “Dear Prudence” inspired closing track “Bordertown”. Generations X and Y are starting to give this epic album the full attention it deserves… and it is, sadly, due to one unexpected reason.

Chris Whitley’s chain-smoking, hard-living life caught up with him in the form of lung cancer in 2005 at the young age of 44.

Whitley’s death came as shock to die-hard fans and family members alike.

A private man and artist to the end, Whitley would leave behind several finished tracks that continue to be released posthumously, album after album.

Whitley was equally prolific in his living years following “Living with the Law”, adding his blues/jazz guitar acrobatics to projects that fused hip-hop, German techno, metal, Cajun and mainstream pop. All of which were brilliant (the 1997 release “Dirt Floor” deserves special attention).

But none reflected the all around artistry and mastery as his Sony debut of “Living with the Law.” It’s an album of strength, hope, struggle… and killer guitar work.

It sits among a handful of “go to” albums on a special MP3 play list that I call “DRIVE”.

They also include Rolling Stones “Exile on Main Street”, Elton John’s “Tumbleweed Connection”, U2’s “Joshua Tree” and Sheryl Crow’s self titled 2^nd Album. It’s a series of projects wholly original, but deeply reflecting American roots at its core (ironically, mostly coming from non-American artists).

This is an exclusive play list specifically designed for driving down blue highways with the top down and the dust blowing in your face at sunset in the summertime.

Like the other albums in this play list, “Living with the Law” is a rare, perfect mixture of crafted music, strong writing and a linking hub for country, rock, blues and gospel.

In short, it’s Americana at its best, at its roughest and at its purest. Whitley will be missed, but you can bet that the “tape is still running” for many more years to come.