When Dirt Floor was released, i was like a kid on Christmas Morning, waiting to bust into the living room and start unwrapping that present i had been eyeing for weeks.


Only, i was 27. And had just had four wisdom teeth removed that day. And i had been waiting for about a year. It was nothing like the wait from Living With the Law to Din of Ecstasy, that was basically an eternity for the hardcore Whitley fans waiting to see what the hell was going to happen next -- an insane 4+ years.


Terra Incognita had released the year before ('97) and had some simply incredible songs on it, including one of my all time favorites "Immortal Blues" (more on that one later). Still, i was waiting for more pure National style Chris, raw resonator stuff that left nothing to the imagination. Low to no effects, just the guitar, slide, boot board, and the growling falsetto.


So i had heard from David that there was a new release coming for the purists, put out on a label called Messenger Records by a college guy named Brandon Kessler, produced by Craig Street. About the album i heard descriptions like:

• Two track analog
• Single stereo ribbon mic
• Recording in a barn in Vermont

and i just knew this was the one.

So the very day of the release i was having all four wisdom teeth extracted (as it turned out, the dentist botched the job and left a root fragment in there that just kept on going, causing an impaction-induced infection and follow-on oral surgery 14 years later).

(this is why you should [1] get your wisdom teeth extracted when you are 15 or so and [2] get it done by a bona fide oral surgeon)

Anyway, i was all drugged up and bleeding from the surgery but not even N202, Valium, and Vicodin were going to keep me from getting a hold of that CD. So i went to the music store -- slurring my speech with bloody gauze in my mouth like i had just gotten my ass kicked at Fight Club -- and demanded my copy of Dirt Floor. 

It was worth the wait.