"A documentary feature film about the late singer-songwriter Chris Whitley... who began his career on Columbia in 1991 as a highly acclaimed blues roots-rocker, moving deeper into rock & roll and alternative rock as his career progressed. His many albums (on both majors and smaller labels) received universally good reviews and his fan base among other musicians and critical journalists was vast and well documented. Chris remained to his end, a prisoner of his obsessions and artistic ambitions. A searcher and prolific creator, forever different in his approach to music and expression. He was an outsider and a pioneer, and someone desperately struggling to carve out his own thing at at any cost. He was the consummate artist. A once in a lifetime talent with a devotion and dedication to his art that’s even harder to come by. A legend to the legends so to speak, winning fans ranging from reporters to peers; Bruce Springsteen, Keith Richards, Prince, Dave Matthews, Alanis Morisette, Johnny Lang, Iggy Pop. Whitley released records and toured extensively through the 1990’s and into the new millennium.
He spent his life recording and on the road. In mid-October 2005, after 30 years of traveling and playing, Chris Whitley, battling complications from lung cancer, cancelled the remainder of tour dates in support of then his latest record, Soft Dangerous Shores. He was estranged from his lover of many years and unclear of what his future
held.
I sat with him in New York throughout this time. The result is straight forward and intensely real. A sobering portrait of a great and widely forgotten about artist near his end; critically heralded and touted in the 90’s, now destitute and estranged." |
PRODUCTION NOTES "We're currently awaiting some old footage & scheduling final interviews. The film is cut and in good shape and should be finished sometime this summer." 02.01.10 LINKS |