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. $15-$18. Visulite Theatre. www.visulite.com.
This article appears in Sep 6-12, 2011.
