I don't remember anything much about the musicians who actually played, other than this guy who got up on stage and sang these bluesy rock songs, Chris Whitley.. He was this insanely skinny guy, singing these gorgeous, sort of mournful almost country-ish songs up on stage and I was totally transifxed. I even talked to him after his set and asked to get a picture with him. Dork.
A few months later, for Christmas, I received a copy of his album, Living with the Law. My Favorite song off of the album was "Big sky country." I also loved "Kick the stones" and "Poison girl." His music was more new territory for me. I had never heard of his most likely precursor, Stevie Ray Vaughn, or anything blues related before. My singer/songwriter tastes tended more towards female singers, and it would be another year or so before Jeff Buckley would appear with "Last goodbye" to sweep me off of my feet. Living with the Law is definitely another one of the albums I appreciate more as I grow older. Oddly enough, I never listened to any of his other albums, despite the fact that he continued recording and to great critical acclaim.
Chris Whitley passed away quite unexpectedly in 2005 and I remember finding out when I went to Academy Records on 18th street in Manhattan. They had an article taped to their front door about Chris passing away (and another for someone else who'd recently died). It was hard to believe he could have died- he was only 45 years old. Here's a video of him performing "Big sky country" in 2002:
Here's a link to the 1991 music video for "Big sky country" in which Chris looks just as I remembered him at the show.
And then there is this, which is just uncomfortable from start to finish... In 1991, Chris appeared on Arsenio Hall's show to sing the song and was introduced by Sinbad. The introduction is so awkward and Chris looks a bit bewildered to be there at all.
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