''Rocket House'' is the seventh album by singer-songwriter and guitarist,

Chris Whitley Christopher Becker Whitley (August 31, 1960 – November 20, 2005) was an American blues/rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. Whitley's sound was drawn from the traditions of blues, jazz and rock and he recorded songs by artists from many g ...

. It is his sixth studio album. It was produced by Tony Mangurian and recorded primarily at Soho Music Studios in New York City. It was mixed by Tony Mangurian and Danny Madorsky at

Greene St. Recording Greene St. Recording was a New York City recording studio, located at 112 Greene Street in SoHo, Manhattan, until its closure in 2001. It was one of the early headquarters of hip hop music during the 1980s and 1990s. History Background In the ...

. Additional recording was done at Little Henri Studio in New York City, Dok Noord in

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, and by Scott Campbell in Los Angeles, California. Whitley used turntable scratchings and what he called "electronic abstraction".

Track listing

All tracks written by Chris Whitley unless otherwise noted. # "To Joy (Revolution of the Innocents)" (Chris Whitley, Tony Mangurian) – 4:26 # "Radar" (Chris Whitley, Tony Mangurian) – 4:04 # "Chain" – 5:38 # "Say Goodbye" (Chris Whitley, Tony Mangurian) – 3:37 # "Solid Iron Heart" – 3:51 # "Rocket House" – 6:09 # "Serve You" – 4:10 # "Little Torch" – 4:45 # "From a Photograph" – 3:55 # "Vertical Desert" – 3:32 # "Something Shines" # "Shadowland" (hidden track) – 9:05

Personnel

*Chris Whitley – vocals, guitar,

synth guitar A guitar synthesizer is any one of a number of musical systems that allow a guitarist to access synthesizer capabilities. Overview Today's guitar synths are direct descendants of 1970s devices from manufacturers (often in partnership) such as ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

, and

synth bass Keyboard bass (shortened to keybass and sometimes referred as a synth bass) is the use of a smaller, low-pitched keyboard with fewer notes than a regular keyboard or pedal keyboard to substitute for the deep notes of a bass guitar or double bass ...

*Tony Mangurian – drums, processing and

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

, bass, and guitar * Stephen Barber – keyboards, piano, synth bass, percussion,

jaw harp The Jew's harp, also known as jaw harp, juice harp, or mouth harp, is a lamellophone instrument, consisting of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue or Reed (mouthpiece), reed attached to a frame. Despite the colloquial name, the Jew's harp most like ...

, programming, and arrangement (10) *

DJ Logic DJ Logic (born Lee Jason Kibler, 1972) is an American DJ primarily known for his work in nu-jazz, acid-jazz, and with jam bands. Life and career Born and raised in The Bronx, New York, Kibler displayed an early interest in hip hop, funk, an ...

– turntables and electronic abstraction

Additional personnel

Dave Matthews David John Matthews (born January 9, 1967) is an American musician and the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band (DMB). Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and moved frequently between South Africa, ...

– acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and vocals (2) *

Bruce Hornsby Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, folk music, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock music, rock, heartland r ...

–

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

outro (2) *Darren Vigil Grey – percussion (1) *Jill Momaday – percussion (1) *

Badal Roy Badal Roy (; born Amarendra Roy Chowdhury; 16 October 1939 – 18 January 2022) was an Indian tabla player, percussionist, and recording artist known for his work in jazz, world music, and experimental music. Biography Roy was born Amarendr ...

–

tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

(8) *Mark Henry – programming (7) *

Blondie Chaplin Terrence William "Blondie" Chaplin (born 7 July 1951) is a South African singer and guitarist from Durban, where he played in the band the Flames in the mid to late 1960s. From 1972 to 1973, he was a member of the Beach Boys and contributed ...

– vocals and vamps (1, 5, 6, 8, 11) *

Trixie Whitley Trixie Whitley (born June 24, 1987) is a Belgian American multi-instrumentalist. As the daughter of singer-songwriter Chris Whitley, she began her musical career playing with her father, and recording on several of his albums.radio edit In music, a radio edit, or a "clean version," is a modification, typically truncated or censored, intended to make a song more suitable for airplay. It may be censored for profanity, vulgarities, or subject matter; or adjusted for length, instr ...

s, live, unreleased, outtake, and acoustic material. This package is commonly called ''Rocket House – Edition limitée 2cd''. All tracks written by Chris Whitley unless otherwise noted: # "To Joy (Revolution of the Innocents) (edit)" (Chris Whitley and Tony Mangurian) – 3:41 # "Radar (edit)" (Chris Whitley and Tony Mangurian) – 3:51 # "Radar (live)" (Chris Whitley and Tony Mangurian) – 3:45 # "Timebomb Baby" – 5:19 # "Say Goodbye (acoustic)" (Chris Whitley and Tony Mangurian) – 3:31 # "Vertical Desert (acoustic)" – 3:55 # "Invisible Day" – 3:53 # "Breaking Your Fall" – 3:11 # "Shadowland (acoustic)" – 5:01 # "Rocket House (acoustic)" – 4:41

Personnel

*Chris Whitley – vocals, guitar, synth guitar, banjo, and synth bass *Tony Mangurian – drums, processing and programming, bass, guitar, producer (1, 2, 4), and mixer (4) *Stephen Barber – keyboards, piano, synth bass, percussion, jaw harp, and programming *DJ Logic – turntables and electronic abstraction

Additional personnel

*Dave Matthews – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and vocals (2) * Heiko Schramm – bass (3) *Etienne Lytel – keyboards (3) *Darren Vigil Grey – percussion (1) *Jill Momaday – percussion (1) *Blondie Chaplin – vocals and vamps (1) *

Michael Barbiero Michael Francis Barbiero (born June 25, 1949)Infidel Biography
. Infidel Records. Retrie ...

– mixing (1, 2) *

John Alagía John Justin Alagía is an American record producer, composer, mixer and co-founder of Drive Music. Alagia has worked with artists including Lukas Nelson, Paul Simon, Herbie Hancock, Dave Matthews, John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Serena Ryder, Brett Denn ...

– recording and mixing (3)

References

{{Authority control 2001 albums Chris Whitley albums