William Elliott Whitmore at the Codfish Hollow Barn -- May 4.
Saturday, May 4, 8 p.m.
Codfish Hollow Barn, 5013 28th Avenue, Maquoketa IA
With his most recent release Silently, the Mind Breaks hailed by No Depression as an "unsettling yet invigorating album" that blends "banjo, acoustic guitar, and kick drum with gritty, determined vocals," folk, blues, and alt-country singer/songwriter William Elliott Whitmore headlines a May 4 concert at Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn, the artist's latest also inspiring Everything Is Noise to state that the artist "sings with a gravitas indictive of the very best blues and folk singers."
The 45-year-old Whitmore grew up on a 160-acre horse farm in Lee County, Iowa, and his family was a musical one, with his dad playing the guitar, his mother playing the accordion and piano, and both his paternal and maternal grandfathers playing the banjo. Whitmore sang from his earliest years and played guitar and banjo as a teen, and after a short stint in San Francisco, he moved to Iowa City and got involved in the DIY punk-rock scene, forming the band Lost Cause. He was also a roadie for the Iowa City punk rockers of Ten Grand, and eventually started performing as an opener for the band and touring with them extensively. This led to Whitmore getting signed to the Chicago-based office of Southern Records, with whom he eventually released 2003's Hymns for the Hopeless, 2005's Ashes to Dust, and 2006's Song of the Blackbird.
In 2009, Whitmore signed with mini-major ANTI-, with whom he released three records, among them that year's Animals in the Dark, a concept album that reached number 50 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. He followed that hit with 2011's Field Songs and 2015's Radium Death, the latter's song "Civilizations" concerning how an oil pipeline running from South Dakota to Illinois was going to go through his grandmother's property on their farm. In 2018, Whitmore signed with Bloodshot Records and released Kilonova, whose covers included songs by Bad Religion, Bill Withers, Captain Beefheart, Johnny Cash, The Magnetic Fields, and ZZ Top. Since then, beyond recording 2020's I'm with You, Whitmore has toured with Chris Cornell, City and Colour, Murder by Death, Clutch, Lucero, Converge, Red Sparowes, Modern Life Is War, Frontier Ruckus, Frank Turner, Esmé Patterson, and The Low Anthem. Meanwhile, Whitmore's 2020 album I'm with You inspired No Depression to deem it "a welcome offering of rootsy and rooted songs that celebrate and contemplate the personal, present moment," while Glide magazine stated that the artist "has the rare ability to paint vivid pictures with his words."
William Elliot Whitmore plays his Maquoketa engagement on May 4 alongside guest artist Lily Stella Maris, admission to the 8 p.m. concert event is $35, and more information and tickets are available by visiting CodfishHollowBarnstormers.com.
