Biography
Chris and Ken Whiteley have long ranked among the most recognizable names on Toronto’s blues circuit and throughout Canada at large. Born in the United States, the siblings established their permanent base in Toronto in 1956. Serving as blues historians, studio proprietors, and event promoters, the Whiteley Brothers combine deep command of acoustic and electric blues with abiding dedication to the music. Their command extends across jug-band traditions, electric Chicago urban styles, and acoustic approaches in the manner of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee.
The brothers first attracted notice across Canada in the early 1970s through performances with Tom Evans under the name Original Sloth Band. Their sets at the time drew on traditional folk material, vintage jazz and swing, country, and gospel, yet blues remained the form that most engaged them. Festival bills placed them alongside Roosevelt Sykes, Bukka White, Sam Chatmon, Yank Rachell, Johnny Shines, and John Hammond. They formed a lasting friendship with Chicago pianist Blind John Davis and collaborated on tours and recordings until Davis’s death in 1985. In his own studio, Ken Whiteley produced John Hammond’s 1985 Flying Fish release Nobody But You.
Collectively the brothers have appeared as sidemen on more than 100 albums, among them projects by John Hammond, Blind John Davis, Leon Redbone, Tom Paxton, Stan Rogers, Cathy Fink, and Sylvia Tyson of Ian & Sylvia. They have played over 80 folk festivals and dozens of clubs across the United States and Canada, receive regular CBC Radio exposure, and delivered the first performance by any Canadian blues ensemble at the 1993 Chicago Blues Festival.
In 1993 the pair issued Bluesology: A Journey Through the Blues on the Toronto label Pyramid Records. The album presents their versions of Perry Bradford’s “Crazy Blues,” the first blues song ever recorded, and acquaints listeners with compositions by Willie Brown, Sonny Terry, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Willie Dixon, and Big Joe Turner. Conceived as a journey through the music’s development, the recording explores numerous styles in both acoustic and electric settings. One notable inclusion is Ken Whiteley’s original piece “We Don’t Talk.” Any listener seeking a blues album by Canadian artists will find this recording indispensable for its detailed liner notes, empathetic treatments of classic material that remain close to the source arrangements, and excellent fidelity.
The Whiteley Brothers continue to appear at coffee houses, clubs, and festivals in Toronto and across Canada while making occasional trips into the United States for folk and blues events.
The brothers first attracted notice across Canada in the early 1970s through performances with Tom Evans under the name Original Sloth Band. Their sets at the time drew on traditional folk material, vintage jazz and swing, country, and gospel, yet blues remained the form that most engaged them. Festival bills placed them alongside Roosevelt Sykes, Bukka White, Sam Chatmon, Yank Rachell, Johnny Shines, and John Hammond. They formed a lasting friendship with Chicago pianist Blind John Davis and collaborated on tours and recordings until Davis’s death in 1985. In his own studio, Ken Whiteley produced John Hammond’s 1985 Flying Fish release Nobody But You.
Collectively the brothers have appeared as sidemen on more than 100 albums, among them projects by John Hammond, Blind John Davis, Leon Redbone, Tom Paxton, Stan Rogers, Cathy Fink, and Sylvia Tyson of Ian & Sylvia. They have played over 80 folk festivals and dozens of clubs across the United States and Canada, receive regular CBC Radio exposure, and delivered the first performance by any Canadian blues ensemble at the 1993 Chicago Blues Festival.
In 1993 the pair issued Bluesology: A Journey Through the Blues on the Toronto label Pyramid Records. The album presents their versions of Perry Bradford’s “Crazy Blues,” the first blues song ever recorded, and acquaints listeners with compositions by Willie Brown, Sonny Terry, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Willie Dixon, and Big Joe Turner. Conceived as a journey through the music’s development, the recording explores numerous styles in both acoustic and electric settings. One notable inclusion is Ken Whiteley’s original piece “We Don’t Talk.” Any listener seeking a blues album by Canadian artists will find this recording indispensable for its detailed liner notes, empathetic treatments of classic material that remain close to the source arrangements, and excellent fidelity.
The Whiteley Brothers continue to appear at coffee houses, clubs, and festivals in Toronto and across Canada while making occasional trips into the United States for folk and blues events.
Albums
