I’m with You is William Elliott Whitmore’s eighth studio album and his first album of original material since 2015’s Radium Death and the follow-up to 2018’s Kilonova. The album finds Whitmore reflecting on themes like family and funerals over a set of minimalist Americana songs featuring Whitmore’s signature honesty and wonderfully weathered voice alongside acoustic guitar, banjo, pedal steel, drum, and fiddle. Album highlights include: the opening track about the wisdom passed down through generations “Put It To Use”; the moving “Solar Flare”; the upbeat pedal steel-tinged “My Mind Can Be Cruel to Me”; a recounting of how the CIA introduced LSD to soldiers on “MK Ultra Blues”; the banjo-tinged “Everything We Need”; the rumination on history and its generational effects on “History”; the atmospheric reflection on the meaning of life on “Save Ourselves”; and the infectious boot-stomping ditty “Black Iowa Dirt.” William Elliott Whitmore’s I’m With You release adds nicely to a solid collection of work that is wholehearted, honest, and down-to-earth while still being hopeful. I’m With You is a respectful tip of the hat to traditional American music and the country’s storied past. – Written by JFelton
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