WILLIAM ELLIOT WHITMORE Touring behind a stripped-down set of rural folk inspired by his family's farm along the Mississippi, Iowan Whitmore's Field Songs traces its lineage through the protest music of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger: unadorned acoustic takes on the working man's blues. Whitmore's a talented storyteller, but his voice is a dealbreaker, his earnest bluesman vocal gyrations over-emote even the shortest vowels into painfully long ones, and comparisons to label-mate Tom Waits are a real stretch when he sounds (and sings) more like Darius Rucker. Opening for the Low Anthem.
— John Schacht