Living with the Law is the debut album by singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 and guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

, Chris Whitley

Chris Whitley

Christopher Becker Whitley was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Whitley changed his sound frequently, and achieved modest mainstream success while maintaining a small but devoted following...

.

Malcolm Burn

Malcolm Burn

Malcolm Burn is a Canadian-born music producer, recording engineer and musician. In 2001, he won a Grammy Award with Jim Watts and Emmylou Harris for his work on Harris's Red Dirt Girl. -Biography:...

 produced, mixed and played on the album. It was co-recorded by Burn and Mark Howard

Mark Howard (producer)

Mark Howard is a Canadian record producer, engineer, and mixer. He has worked with many artistsincluding Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Willie Nelson, Marianne Faithful, Emmylou Harris, U2, Peter Gabriel, R.E.M...

 at Kingsway Studio (Daniel Lanois

Daniel Lanois

Daniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...

' home) in New Orleans.

Track listing

All tracks written by Chris Whitley.

1. "Excerpt" – 0:17
2. "Living with the Law
   Living with the Law (song)
   "Living with the Law" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter and guitarist, Chris Whitley. It was the first single to be released from his 1991 début album, Living with the Law, and became a hit single in the United States, rising to #28 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart in...
   
   " – 3:42
3. "Big Sky Country
   Big Sky Country (song)
   "Big Sky Country" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter and guitarist, Chris Whitley. It was the second single to be released from his 1991 début album, Living with the Law, and became a hit single in the United States, rising to #35 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart in 1991.-Music...
   
   " – 4:45
4. "Kick the Stones" – 4:12
5. "Make the Dirt Stick" – 3:33
6. "Poison Girl" – 3:27
7. "Dust Radio" – 5:08
8. "Phone Call from Leavenworth" – 4:47
9. "I Forget You Every Day" – 4:33
10. "Long Way Around" – 4:27
11. "Look What I've Done" - 3:23
12. "Bordertown" – 4:30
13. [unnamed] – 0:18

"Living with the Law", "Big Sky Country", and "Poison Girl" were released as singles.

Critical reception

Living with the Law was named ninth best album of 1991 in the Pazz & Jop

Pazz & Jop

The Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics...

 critics poll. It is also listed in Tom Moon's 2008 book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.

Personnel

• Chris Whitley – vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  , National guitar
  National String Instrument Corporation
  The National String Instrument Corporation was a guitar company that formed to manufacture the first resonator guitars.-National resonator guitar designs:...
  
  , acoustic guitar
  Acoustic guitar
  An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
  
  , electric guitar
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
  , bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Ronald Jones – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• Daryl Johnson – bass guitar
• Bill Dillon – guitar, pedal steel
  Pedal steel guitar
  The pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...
  
  
• Malcolm Burn
  Malcolm Burn
  Malcolm Burn is a Canadian-born music producer, recording engineer and musician. In 2001, he won a Grammy Award with Jim Watts and Emmylou Harris for his work on Harris's Red Dirt Girl. -Biography:...
  
   – keyboards
  Electronic keyboard
  An electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...
  
  , tambourine
  Tambourine
  The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
  
  

Additional personnel

• Peter Conway – harmonica
  Harmonica
  The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
  
   on 4
• Alan Gevaert – bass on 5
• Daniel Lanois
  Daniel Lanois
  Daniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...
  
   – guitar on 6
• Deni Bonet – viola
  Viola
  The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
  
  on 6
• Dan Whitley – guitar on 10