"Living with the Law" by Chris Whitley (1991) 

He had me two lines into the opening that bares the CD’s name:

Brother runnin’ powder money, daddy’s somewhere on a drunk.

In the hours after washing, I do my dreamin’ with a gun.

I had never heard anything quite like this lyrical poetry. Add to this a voice that was so touching and genuine you had to listen and resonator guitar work could make a grown man cry. I was thoroughly entranced from beginning to end of the first listen.

So I listened to it all again. And again. And, you get the idea. I couldn’t pull myself away from “Law.” I must have listened to it in its entirety at least 30 times within the first week I purchased it. In fact there is no need to break it down, track by track. It is a work that one should listen to in full.

 “Law” is beautiful, haunting, even eloquently dirty at times. Each song is a work of art and demands full attention, which I continue to be happy to give. The lyrics still leave me shaken and awed. The guitar playing is crude, yet complex. By the time he rattled off “Phone Call from Leavenworth” he had re-invented the blues. This was the closest genre I could use to describe his songs whenever I tried to explain to friends why they had to hear him. Usually, I would simply mutter, “It’s not quite like anything happening right now. You just have to listen.” There was definitely something going on with this soul that set him apart from any of his contemporaries, assuming he had any.

Daniel Lanois, who had previously produced U2 and had released his own, somewhat similar sounding “Acadie” CD, was my connection to Chris Whitley. Impressed with Lanois’ work, I was intrigued by this artist he felt compelled to produce--a young and unproven talent. So I bought Chris Whitley’s CD with warm anticipation.  In hindsight, I’m not sure whether to be thankful or bitter. This work has had a significant impact on my musical tastes, as well as on my emotional life at some level.

So struck by this effort, I followed Chris Whitley’s career closely. I made it a point to see him whenever he came to Pittsburgh and was honored to have spent a good deal of time talking with him about a wide variety of topics—even raising our children—on a number of occasions. Funny, but my wife was actually a bit intimidated by his stage presence and passed on joining me in my first meeting with him. I road the waves of change that each new CD represented, and I watched sorrowfully as he began to lose more and more of his audience. His decline, in terms of both acceptance and health were so sad to watch, and when I heard a snippet of “Law” being used as introduction to a late night, bedside radio news story announcing his death at the age of 45, I cried myself to sleep.

“Living with the Law” is a testament to Chris Whitley’s genius (a word thrown around way too easily). It is a CD I still find myself gravitating to regularly, just to remind myself how inspirational music can be. Ironically, Chris at one time had said that “Law” was one of his least favorites, due to the expectations for commercial success it set and that he fought to distance himself from ever after. I would hope Chris would find some solace in the knowledge that there is someone still around who considers this CD not only his best, but the most impactful I’ve ever heard. And it is my favorite of all time.

"Dilate" by Ani DiFranco (1996)

My first entry is dedicated to the CD that I was listening to when the idea for this blog came to me. It is not my all-time favorite, but it is absolutely worthy of being included in what will probably be just five or so that will be shared with you over the course of these posts.

If ever a homicidal maniac could write, sing, arrange, and produce a CD, the result would be something that sounded a lot like “Dilate.” By the time you have experienced the entire set of songs, you come to the conclusion that Ani DiFranco is one seriously affected piece of work. She plots. She suffers. She punishes. She screams. She beats the acoustic guitar into giving up sounds as brutal as any Metallica offering. Yet she leaves doubt about whether she is fit to stand trial or even if she couldn’t get away with her crimes as being justifiable.

The calm, but threatening, first track acts as a foreshadowing of a pent-up rage that is boiling just beneath the surface. It bursts forward at the start of the very next song, and from this point onward, I am taken on a dirt road drive-by.

Ani plays and sings with a conviction seldom heard since the early days of the blues. Her music is often classified as “punk folk,” which is an apt description. While this is mainly an acoustic piece, the CD demands to be played at a high volume.

For me, the apex of this collection of confessionals is the redemptive “Amazing Grace.” Yes, it’s the same as what you thought, but done in a way that makes it at once almost unrecognizable and uniquely powerful. It is her interpretation that seems to deliver her from any and all sins for which she may be guilty of in the rest of the CD, which might have made it better as a final track. That, however, is my only complaint.

Listening to this CD still leaves me weak, depressed, frightened, exhilarated, and alive all at once. “Dilate” is the epitome of a quote I recently read on a Facebook post: “Music is what feelings sound like.” For better or for worse.  

(coming soon)