Review: William Elliott Whitmore – Animals In The Dark

William Elliott Whitmore was born and raised on the black Iowa dirt of his farm along the banks of the Mississippi River and his distinctive raspy baritone voice seems to have soaked up every last drop of hard times over the years. His latest album Animals In The Dark is his fifth overall and his first for Anti- Records and (like the ones that preceded it) it’s packs a wallop. Whitmore looks the part of scruffy and tattooed punk but sings with the soul and conviction of a Delta bluesman decades older than he really is. He really is a bit of an enigma. Now, I’ve been lucky enough to see his powerful live show a few times and have listened to all his previous albums so I wasn’t really surprised by anything I heard on Animals In The Dark except how Whitmore is able to take lyrics like those in “Mutiny” and “Johnny Law” (lyrics that might sound hokey when sung by a lesser vocalist) and make them resonate with a depth I wouldn’t have expected.

As usual, Whitmore plays both acoustic guitar and banjo on Animals In The Dark and is also joined by a backing band that helps to flesh out his somber yet impassioned tales of gut-wrenching loss, corrupt cops, and more. It is a strange thing how he connects the earnest and honest sounds of early Appalachian folk-blues with the equally earnest (and much more modern energy) of hardcore punk but that’s just who William Elliott Whitmore is. In a world where hipsters seem to dictate what’s cool and what’s not, it only takes seeing Whitmore live one time for those so called hipsters to start seeking out Dock Boggs and his peers. Let me help.

MP3 | William Elliott Whitmore – Hell Or High Water Animals In The Dark
MP3 | William Elliott Whitmore – Old Devils Animals In The Dark