Off The Beaten Track Interviews:

Chris Whitley was an amazingly talented and highly influential musician. He was an obsessive musician, always experimenting, pushing the envelope...and he never stopped questioning his own purpose for writing, playing and recording the things he did. During his lifetime, he struggled for the most part to stay in the public consciousness while still being true to the artist within. It’s a tightrope walk most stay away from for fear of falling. Whitley embraced it full on. He flirted with widespread recognition, but never quite achieved it. He busked the streets of Greenwich Village. He moved to Belgium. He lived for a while in Germany. What he achieved was a body of work that inspired a certain, devoted element of the public with open minds and ears, as well as a legion of musicians that got it right away. It’s a body of work that is timeless, worldly and inspires to this day.

Just ask Daniel Lanois, the influential producer who supported Chris and helped bring him to his first recording contract with Columbia Records in the late 1980s. Just ask Dave Matthews who signed him to his ATO label imprint a dozen years later. Ask musicians who could not ignore this incredible, versatile guitar player who drew from folk, rock, jazz, equal parts Hendrix and Dylan to traditional blues and all the nooks and crannies in between those genres to formulate his own style. Whitley ranged from super produced, major label ear candy to rough, organic, primitive recordings made with a single mic in a woodsy farmhouse sporting a ‘dirt floor’. It’s no wonder Whitley drove labels crazy. To the suits, he was erratic. To the musicians who loved him, he was an inspiration. Chris Whitley’s high profile fans include such names as Petty, Springsteen, Hornsby, Mayer, Henley, Johnny A., Bonamassa and Richards. Some pretty good ears. 

This incredible talent with an endless musical appetite is why Michael decided to come out of ‘interview retirement’ to conduct this on-the-fly interview with Chris Whitley years after Off The Beaten Track was put to rest. He used the interview as the basis for a review for a local newspaper, but in all honesty, it was all an excuse to talk with Chris Whitley...because he was simply the most interesting musical stew Michael had heard in years!

Emily Lichter had recently started an independent public relations firm in New York that she named, public emily. Later, public emily would transition into artist management, but in 2004, it was strictly an up and coming public relations firm. Chris Whitley was a client. Whitley was playing a solo gig at Club Metronome, an upstairs dive in Burlington, Vermont. Whitley had Vermont roots. He had spent his high school years living with his mother and two siblings in Saxton’s River, Vermont. There was a story here. It was Whitley's revisit to a place of his past. He still had family in Vermont.  Michael wanted that story. He made a call to public emily and made his case. 

The run time is a scant 20+ minutes. There was constant prompting from club management to wrap it up almost from the moment the interview began. Club Metronome wasn’t known for accommodating the press; the environment was cramped and loud and there was nothing about the surroundings that inspired a meaningful conversation. Michael conducted one anyway.

Michael’s daughter Missie recorded the exchange, audio only, to a Canon XL1s camera at close range. Michael traded the onboard Canon mic for an Electro Voice RE 20 he hand held for the interview. Missie’s future husband Brian was there as well, helping to provide a body shield between a noisy room and the interview. 

Whitley was a bundle of nervous energy. He lit one cigarette from another for the duration. He made clear the frustrations of trying to stay true to his art. His conflicts were many, sometimes, all in the same sentence. Somehow, in 20+ minutes, all of that got captured. The interview is a wonderful snapshot of who Chris Whitley was.  He was a simple man. He was complex...and literally everything in between. The magic moment of the interview was the mention of his daughter, Trixie. He lit up. He smiled broadly for the first time. She was always first on his list of thank-you’s. As a young girl, she did guest vocals on some of his work. It’s magical. Trixie, of course, now has a substantial career of her own, both as Trixie Whitley, and as a member of Black Dub, a project of guess who?...Daniel Lanois. Insert acorn and tree analogy here. 

Extra special thanks are due Emily Lichter and her public emily crew for making the interview happen on short notice. Thanks also to Missie and Brian for being there to assist with the recording and noise control. Thanks, finally to Chris Whitley who gave of his time and spoke from his heart about the music he loved. 

Just over a year later, Chris Whitley would be hospitalized while trying to tour the US, ending up in hospice, ironically in the state of his birth, Texas. Chris Whitley died on November 20, 2005 in Houston from lung cancer. He was 45 years old.