According to Maintenance Shop Co-Director Eric Hutchison, William Elliott Whitmore puts on an awe-inspiring show. Whitmore will be bringing his soulful country solo act to the M-Shop this Saturday at 9 p.m. The cost is $8 for students and for $10 public.

Hails From: “William Elliott Whitmore hails from a horse farm on the banks of the northern Mississippi River, but sounds like he was raised amid its Southern delta levees, with a hellhound for company.” – M-Shop Web site

Sounds Like: “There’s certainly a whiff of bluesy fire and brimstone about William Elliott with his John Lee Hooker-style boot-heel backbeat and the tattered, bone-dry baritone of a man at least three times Whitmore’s 20-odd years.” – M-Shop Web site

How growing up in Iowa has influenced his music: “I grew up in the woods on a farm, and that definitely influences the way I write songs. Living on a farm has given me a different idea of life and death and the circle of things. When it’s time to slaughter the chickens, as a kid that gives you a perspective on death, that things come and go and everything works in a circle.” – Whitmore

How growing recognition is changing things: “We toured the [United] States extensively, for months and months and months. In the beginning it was hard to get people to pay attention. But by the next time I came around through that town, they knew I was coming. And it turned out that lots of hardcore kids like country music. You see lots of hardcore kids wearing Johnny Cash shirts. So they were ready to accept it. And now it’s easy.” – Whitmore

Discography: “Song of the Blackbird” (to be released this spring), “Ashes To Dust” (Feb. 21), “The Day the End Finally Came” (March 15, 04), “Hymns for the Hopeless” (Oct. 7, 03)