Denison Witmer’s New Album Out Now

May 2nd, 2013 , by

A decade and a half into his musical career, singer-guitarist Denison Witmer has released a self-titled album, and for Witmer, Denison Witmer comes as an occasion to reflect on the unusual lessons of a life spent as a quiet, underground success.

“Looking over the arc of a career, there are moments when you got it right,” he says, “and moments where you didn’t. For me, music’s always about the process. It’s not always about the final product; it’s more about the journey. You work song by song and album by album in pursuit of something—I really try to trust that approach.”

Building the Honey Jar studio with producer and collaborator Devin Greenwood has made it possible for him to create a recording using the same patient, intuitive processes that have driven his songwriting—and his career. Witmer was able to bring in trusted performers like Greenwood, William Fitzsimmons, Dawn Landes, and Sufjan Stevens, and give them free rein to realize his music.

The result is an organic musical self-portrait, drawing inspiration and consolation from sources as different as Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet and the life of knuckleball pitcher R.A. Dickey, and weaving them into what is arguably Witmer’s most direct and personal album to date.

Denison Witmer is out today on Asthmatic Kitty Records.

Be sure to check out Denison on American Songwriter, where he’s Writer of the Week.

“One  source of inspiration for this record was the story of the knuckleball pitcher R.A. Dickey . . . He said that some days you pitch it perfectly, other days you don’t. It’s so erratic that when the ball leaves your hand, you have to immediately accept that it might not be great or go where you want it to. You have to focus on the next pitch and let go of the mistakes behind you.” Denison Witmer, speaking to American Songwriter

New EP from Denison Witmer: The Ones Who Wait Part 2

November 6th, 2012 , by

The Ones Who Wait—Part 2, a six-song EP by Denison Witmer, comes out today.  Part 2 is a follow-up to Denison’s March 2012 full-length, The Ones Who Wait.  Rather than a cohesive album, Part 2 is a collection of songs that form a concluding chapter to The Ones Who Wait, tying up loose ends in anticipation of the spring 2013 release of Denison’s tenth record.  The EP features a handful of reinvented songs from The Ones Who Wait, previously unreleased material, and a spacious, patient cover of label-mate Sufjan Steven’s “Abraham.”  The Ones Who Wait—Part 2 is available on Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon.

Choose Your Own Denison Witmer Cover

October 4th, 2012 , by

Denison Witmer is wrapping up work on his tenth record, and he’s decided to ask for your vote on the album cover. He’s provided three choices – and it’s a tough one, although perhaps a little easier than voting for president or local school board official.

Vote by liking the cover of your choice on his Facebook page here.

GET DENISON WITMER ALBUM FREE ON NOISETRADE

April 10th, 2012 , by

We released Denison Witmer's The Ones Who Wait a few weeks ago, and it's just as good sounding today as it was then. You can listen and buy here.

But Denison has a robust back-catalog, and that includes one of our favorties, Are You a Dreamer? Our own Shara Worden and Sufjan Stevens and the Library Catalog's James McAllistor make appearances on the album, as well as Karen Don Peris (of Innocence Mission). 

As of today Are You A Dreamer? is available via Noisetrade and all it takes is your email address and zip code to download the album. You can also leave a support Denison with a "tip" if you like.

Do so below, or visit the page on Noisetrade right here.

DENISON WITMER, CASTANETS ON DAYTROTTER

April 6th, 2012 , by


Illustrations by Johnnie Cluney

We've been listening to Daytrotter for a while, and have loved every moment. Their recording sessions are some of the best in the biz. The sound quality and engineering is incredible. The writing and illustration always capture the essence of an artist.

All that to say: Daytrotter gets it.

So when one of our own artists pops up with a session, we rush like lemmings (do lemmings rush?) to the site to hear and download and read. When two our artists go up in one week? Things get a little crazy.

Of Denison Witmer, Sean Moeller  writes, " The one thing that must keep him going is getting to play the songs that he writes every night – these songs that are so filled with deeply personal anecdotes and sentiments. They are the intimate thoughts that he can't bottle up."

And speaking about Ray Raposa of Castanets, Sean wrote that  he "never ceases to mystify when he writes. He never seems to give it all up and for that, he's a master of the form."

If you're not already a subscriber – hey why aren't you? – you can try Daytrotter for free and snag these sessions. Castantets is here, and the Denison session is here.

NO NEED TO WAIT FOR DENISON?S NEW ALBUM, OUT TODAY

March 6th, 2012 , by

We welcomed Denison Witmer to the AK Family just a couple of months ago. We’ve been listening to his latest record, The Ones Who Wait, for a while now, and we’re honored that we get to release to the wide world – which means you!

This record is really something special. You can read the whole story here, but suffice to say that The Ones Who Wait represents the culmination of several significant life experiences, ones that we all go through at some point. And this is what Denison has always done best: he writes and sings songs that are markedly intimate, yet appeal to all of us. They are human events, captured on tape for all of us to share.

You can buy the album on Bandcamp here or on iTunes here, or order the CD from our shop here.

Denison is touring with William Fitz Simmons – tourdates here – but he’s also touring via Skype (yes, Skype!). You can win a Skype tourdate on My Old Kentucky Blog right here.

NEW FREE MP3 FROM DENISON WITMER

February 7th, 2012 , by

As you may know, Denison joined our AK family last month, which is splendid news for everyone. And somewhere between then and there, Denison and his wife birthed a brandnew son (see here for cute proof)!

But now it’s time to get down to the work of releasing music.  And so we begin with “Brooklyn With Your Highest Wall,” a sublime and perfectly lovely track from the forthcoming record, The Ones Who Wait.

Listen. Download. Think about walking down the dusky streets of Brooklyn. Enjoy!

PLEASE WELCOME DENISON WITMER TO THE AK FAM

January 12th, 2012 , by

 All of us, staff and artist roster alike have loved Denison Witmer and his music for a long time. Most of our roster has appeared at least once on any number of his eight albums, or hit the road and toured with Denison. He’s basically family around here, so maybe it’s about time we just made it official-like. Well, ok! Let’s!

Please, welcome Denison Witmer to the Asthmatic Kitty family! (You can even tweet your welcome by clicking here.)

Maybe we should have done this sooner, because it feels like he’s come home.

Of course, there’s always business to be done and the first order thereof is to release his latest album, The Ones Who Wait. Label Mono vs. Stereo released it last year on a limited basis, but when we heard the record we wanted a shot too. A big thanks to them for letting us at it.

We’ll be releasing the record in early March. Between now and then expect some more Denison-related announcements, but for now just know that we’re glad he’s around. We hope you are too.

Read the story behind the new album here.

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