Michael Whitmore

Composer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalists Michael Whitmore in days past led the edgy, somewhat de-constructionist collective ‘the Some’tet’, but now prefers the simpler life of performing sans band. His instrument of choice: a ten string classical guitar. This behemoth has the usual six strings + four extra bass strings, the sound is big and dark, and is the perfect voice to take a crooked chord for a crooked walk.Whitmore plays something akin to an abstract avant-folk-jazz, where slices of lost songs live just outside both the sensibly safe pop world and the experimental hinterlands. For MW it’s all about beauty and adventure and soul. Some listeners have suggested he's channeling an executed 1930's avant-garde Russian composer, or perhaps he's just the product of Catholic school music lessons. But most probably, and even here its speculation, Whitmore’s dirty and wrecked musical liking was hatched way back when as a reckless young musician he briefly found refuge and sanity out in the high desert north of Los Angeles. Was it the dusty heat, the numerous motorcycle accidents, the weird silence, alien abduction … kismet?Michael Whitmore is a third generation Angelino and is a veteran of the Los Angeles music scene, performing without the obligatory electric guitar strapped to his back. He has performed or recorded with many of music’s finest and most adventurous musicians. Recently, finally, he vacated the city which always had a hold on him, shoring up on a quiet island in the Puget Sound with his wife and son.Occasionally he receives a grant (an NEA Composers grant or a song writing grant or some oddball performance grant). But more often then not, Whitmore can be heard on a soundtrack or on various independent recording projects playing vibes, or percussion, or tenor guitar, banjo, or mandolin.He has two critically acclaimed solo CD’s, “Warm in My Pocket” from 1998 and 2002’s “Juggling the Thing of a Thing of a Thing”. A new CD, “walk through the pitch dark”, is due out in early 2008 (on True Classical CD’s). In between his solo gigs and recordings, he also plays in the unconventional folk rock ensemble ‘Listing Ship’ as their multi-instrumentalist or better yet, utility infielder. He's got a thing for baseball, Irish whisky, dada, bass marimbas, Myrna Loy, Brigitte Fontaine, Esp/Disk Records, feedback, obscure 45’s, and sad dark songs. Favorite words include: ‘blather’, ‘pariah’, ‘yegg’ and ‘callipygian’…