William Elliott Whitmore | |
|---|---|
 Whitmore performing in 2015 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | William Elliott Whitmore |
| Also known as | W.E.W. Will Whitmore |
| Born | May 11, 1978 Lee County, Iowa, U.S. |
| Genres | Alternative country Blues Folk music |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals guitar banjo |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Labels | Bloodshot Records ANTI- Southern Records Scenester Credentials |
| Website | WilliamElliottWhitmore.com |
William Elliott Whitmore (born May 11, 1978) is an American blues, country, folk singer and musician.[1][2] He plays roots-folk music that is often inspired by his life on his family farm in the hills of southeastern Iowa.[3][4]
Whitmore grew up on a 160-acre horse farm in Lee County, Iowa, not far outside of Keokuk, Iowa. His parents, Elyse Whitmore (née Tweedy) and Harold Whitmore,[5] were farmers, and the farm had been in his family since his third great-grandfather, who was an immigrant from Ireland.[6] After his parents died, he converted the farm to row crops, which he leases to a neighboring farmer so he can be on the road to perform. He has an older brother and sister.[7]
While he was growing up, the family was musical, with his dad playing the guitar, his mother playing the accordion and piano, and both his paternal and maternal grandfathers playing the banjo.[8] Charley Pride and Willie Nelson were huge influences growing up. Whitmore sang from his earliest years, but when he was a teenager he began playing guitar, then eventually the banjo.[7]
In addition to playing locally with a cousin, Whitmore, after a short stint in San Francisco, moved to Iowa City and got involved in the punk rock and the DIY scene, forming a band called Lost Cause.[7]
In 1996, Whitmore graduated from Central Lee High School in Donnellson, Iowa.[9]
When he was first starting out, Whitmore was a roadie for an Iowa City punk band called Ten Grand, but he eventually started performing as an opener for the band and toured extensively with Ten Grand.[10] This led to him getting signed to the Chicago-based office of Southern Records.[7] Whitmore said he turned to songwriting as a way to deal with the deaths of his parents, who died within a few years of each other, and the deaths of his grandparents.[11]
Whitmore built a long-term relationship with Southern Records, releasing three records on the label. The three records on Southern, 2003's Hymns for the Hopeless, 2005's Ashes to Dust, and 2006's Song of the Blackbird, were a trilogy that were focused on death and his experience processing the deaths of those close to him.[12] He recorded the records with Mike Lust at Phantom Manor in Chicago.[11]
In 2009, Whitmore signed with mini-major ANTI-, where he released three records.[7] The first record for ANTI-, 2009's Animals in the Dark, was a concept album. It reached Number 50 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart.
The song "Civilizations" off his 2015 record, Radium Death, is about how an oil pipeline running from South Dakota to Illinois was going to go through his grandmother's property on their farm.[13]
In 2016, Whitmore worked with gold-selling recording artist Esmé Patterson, whom he had toured with in 2015,[14] to create a record in which they each played a song written by the other on each side of a split 7" double-sided single, released by Bloodshot Records[15] in November, 2016 and acquired by Rough Trade Records as a limited edition printing.[16] Entitled Play Each Other's Songs, the A side features Whitmore covering Esmé Patterson's song "Elysium", and Patterson in turn covering Whitmore's "Not Feeling Any Pain" on the B side.[17] The record garnered favorable reviews by critics and a video shot in downtown Los Angeles featuring Patterson dancing to her cover of Whitmore's song.[18]
In April 2018, Whitmore signed with Bloodshot Records, with a new release expected in the fall of 2018.[19][20]
The 2018 record is a covers record called Kilonova. Covers include songs by Bad Religion, Bill Withers, Captain Beefheart, Johnny Cash, The Magnetic Fields, and ZZ Top.[21]
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.[citation needed]
His live act features Whitmore's distinctive deep baritone voice,[2][22] and features Whitmore playing the banjo or guitar while singing, though on occasion he performs a cappella. He sometimes tours with a full band, but often plays roots-folk music as a solo act.[7]
Whitmore has a long-term musical relationship with his cousin Luke Tweedy, head engineer and producer at Iowa City's Flat Black Studios.[23]
In 2016, Whitmore and musician and producer David Zollo formed the folk band Middle Western.[24] An upcoming record is planned.[25] Other members of Middle Western include Stephen Howard (guitar, bass), Stevie Doyle (guitar, bass), and Brian Cooper (drums).[26]
Whitmore is married and lives on the farm where he grew up. His daughter was born in March 2020.[27][28][29]
Middle Western
