William Elliott Whitmore – Field Songs-
July 12th, 2011
Anti-
Score: 8.3
The stage has been set for William Elliott Whitmore to leave behind his family’s farm in Iowa, but I doubt he ever would. The success of The Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons has brought American roots music its largest audience in years. With Field Songs, Whitmore delivers one of the most authentic albums of the year. His crackling voice, warm acoustic guitar, and bright banjo are the mainstays on this pastoral journey.
The first sounds on Field Songs are birds chirping in the trees before the strings of the banjo join a crowing rooster in welcoming a new morning on a farm. In the hands of most, such an opening would feel contrived but Whitmore’s genuineness carries the album from start to finish. “I’m gonna build me a home/I’m gonna built it with my hands”, Whitmore sings on ‘Don’t Need It’, a bluesy stomp accented by a steady kick drum. This hands-on approach to labor can be felt throughout the album.
The most meaningful moments in life are the simplest and they are found in nature. Such an outlook brings Whitmore back to his earlier work after 2009’s Animals In the Dark expanded his sound and expressed political disenchantment with the world outside his farm. However, getting back to his rustic roots does not diminish his growth as an artist. Album closer ‘Everything Gets Gone’ is the sort of acoustic ballad that is born from years of living, which belies Whitmore’s age. Much like Townes Van Zandt years earlier, Whitmore sings with the wisdom of an old soul despite still being short of 35.
While his first three albums followed dark roads through death and despair, the mood on Field Songs sparkles with flecks of hope like rust on an old plow. When Whitmore sings “But still I know that all I see/Someday soon will cease to be/But I am not feeling any pain”, his voice sounds scarred and worn but ultimately resilient.
Filing Whitmore under modern folk seems almost comical. There is nothing modern about the songs on the album other than the clarity in the production. These are the field recordings that John Lomax once went in search of with his son Alan. Gospel, blues, and country music all sprang from the same soil and Whitmore’s music also grows in those fields. As a songwriter and musician, Whitmore has never put together a more complete album and Field Songs is the most significant addition to the music tradition in quite some time.
Jason Lent