Peter More

Last night may have been one of The Fort’s finest hours. In a relatively small venue – Live Oak off Magnolia — Fort Worth music heads circled up around one of the best musicians in the world — Donald Fagen … composer, producer, studio musician extraordinaire, co-founder of and singer for one of the true supergroups — Steely Dan.

Rather than some arena rock spectacle or an elaborate black-tie classic concert for PBS, it was local band — Oh Whitney — that brought the Steely one to Cowtown for a little pickup game.

So what was it that attracted Fagen to the band? One story is that an OW member spotted Fagen at a beachside resort and approached him. The two shared a drink, exchanged a disc and before you could say “Rikki don’t lose that number” Fagen agreed to produce the OhWhits.

Last night the mentor fired up his keyboard with the locals under his tutelage. Ha … tutelage, such an odd word. I digress …

Oh Whitney was really impressive, even without the added star power. Confession: I had not heard them before but the band has obviously been around based on their stage presence, confidence and music.

Oh Whitney

Always hard to describe music … easy to make comparisons. Early in the show there were certainly some similarities to the more bluegrass-ish moments of The Grateful Dead’s long strange trip — falsetto vocals, sweet mandolin. But the band is more multifaceted than that, emulating the rhythm of a train on the tracks at one point and then building into a bit of a reggae beat, showing signs of country and rock. At one point in the show, I was reminded of Denton’s Midlake, but with only about one third as many musicians.

All the while Fagen was weaving in and out with his cool, jazzy, Deacon-bluesy keyboard stylings adding yet another flavor. Improvisational. At times funky. It worked ever so nicely. One can only think the Oh Whitney-plus-one chemistry onstage will lead to great things in the studio.

Oh Whitney … all the ingredients and a master producer on board — 6 pings.

Has anyone else noted that Fagen somewhat brings to mind Ray Charles … slightly … as he leans to and fro and rocks around behind the keyboard in ever-present glasses? I digress …

Live Oak’s concert room is small enough that the show seems intimate and civil. Fully loaded last night … it probably squeezed in 300 people … I’m guessing a large percentage were Facebook followers of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram‘s Bud Kennedy, based on demographics … and considering his FB posts were one of the earliest hints of Fagen’s appearance. For the record, yes, Bud was there “reelin in the years” like the rest of us.

I might also add that for the most part, the crowd looked like a gathering of McDavid’s regulars gone south, with all ages mixed in including socialites with their grown children. Oh … this was interesting. When was the last time you met an air traffic controller at a concert? My new friend, David (I think it was), could swap Steely Dan-isms with the best of ‘em, having chilled with The Dan in concert four times — when he wasn’t doing one of the most stressful jobs known to man.

As I am prone to do, I checked for Wi-Fi at Live Oak after the warm up band and before OW+1. Good news/bad news. Live Oak is with hotspot, yet, one must hunt down a passcode to deliver their updates with Wi-Fi. Boo. - PingWi-Fi

The Donald is in town. No, not the bilious gas-bag with the orange combover. The Donald. Donald Fagen, the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame member and co-author with Walter Becker of some of the sweetest, most delicious jazz-inflected tunes in the pop music canon. (“Peg” and “Do It Again” are great, sure, but I’m keener on “Josie,” “Time Out of Mind,” and “Black Friday.”) What’s rock royalty doing in ye olde town of cow, you ask? Oh, just co-producing a record.

The legendary Steely Dan frontman is twiddling the knobs at the Near Southside’s Eagle Audio Recording on the sophomore album by indie-world rockers Oh Whitney. Fronted by Fort Worth native Peter More, Oh Whitney was once based here (and in New York City and North Carolina) and is now based in the little arty town of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where Peter and his bandmates bumped into Fagen on the street one day a while back and became friends (“Time Out of Mind,” Nov. 21, 2012).

The band began recording in Mexico in December and was making some headway before The Nightfly decided a change of scenery was in order. Enter: Fort Worth.

Over the years Fagen has collaborated with quite a few artists but has sat in the producer’s chair only a couple of times. Oh Whitney’s album will represent his first project without his name on the front cover. The band expects to release the still-untitled disc this spring and relocate from Mexico to Austin. In between laying down tracks at Eagle Audio, Oh Whitney will perform on Saturday at the nearby The Live Oak Music Hall & Lounge (1311 Lipscomb St., 817-926-0968). Cover is $5. Whatever you do, don’t drink Scotch whiskey all night long and die behind the wheel. - Fort Worth Weekly

It was the worst kept secret of the weekend.

Billed as "Oh Whitney with a Very Special Guest," Saturday's lineup at Fort Worth's Live Oak Music Hall was supposed to be something of a huge surprise. But long before the headliners took the stage, several Tweets, a not-so-subtle post on The Live Oak's Facebook page and a write up in the Fort Worth Weekly made it abundantly clear that Steely Dan frontman Donald Fagen would be appearing at the venue Saturday night.

According to that Fort Worth Weekly article, Oh Whitney, who currently call Mexico home, met Fagen there, struck up a quick friendship and convinced the Steely Dan frontman to produce their next record. As of late, he's been in Fort Worth's Eagle Audio Recording doing just that.

But Fagen's appearance at this show wasn't as much of a sure thing as those outlets likely believed. A source who works at the venue told us that, when Fagen caught wind that his appearance that night was announced on sports radio station The Ticket, he nearly backed out of his planned performance. It seems there are potential legal issues involving licensing whenever Fagen's name is used to promote a show.

Still, an additional 150 tickets to the show were sold within the hour of its radio mention.

"He's a really weird guy," our source said before Fagen's appearance finally came. "He's just been drinking Cokes and wandering around all day."

Even before surprise openers Animal Spirit took the stage, the venue was already fuller than usual, and the median age of the crowd easily skewed 20 years older than a typical Live Oak show. Conversation throughout the room was rather encouraging, too. As folks sipped large glasses of red wine, they discussed Fagen's merits and legendary status, acknowledging his greatness as an instrumentalist and songwriter far more often than simply telling one another how big of Steely Dan fans they were.

And then the curtains opened. Oh Whitney performed their blend of blues rock and jazz-influenced alt-country, and somehow managed not to be overshadowed by the legendary Nightfly perched in the corner, adding his celebrated keyboard licks to the band's songs.

Largely to their credit, the crowd's enthusiasm never wavered, even though Fagen wasn't really the centerpiece of the band's performance. It was a special night, for sure --- the kind of thing that happens very rarely. Everyone in the room seemed to know it, from the guys on stage to the bartenders in the back of the room.

In the end, Fagen proved in the way that only a true legend can that he didn't need to play a single song that anyone in the room had necessarily ever heard to earn their respect. - Central Track

Time Out of Mind

Alt-Americana stylists Oh Whitney hit the road and the studio.
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Posted November 21, 2012 by ANTHONY MARIANI in Music

By the beginning of next year the peripatetic Oh Whitney will be based in Texas.
Oh Whitney frontman Peter More was born in Fort Worth, spent his formative years here, and for a little while lived here with his three bandmates. But the guy has spread roof all over the Western Hemisphere –– from New York City to Brazil –– and with his band now calls the arty, English-language-friendly town of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, home. More, drummer Adrien Fraunce (originally from France), bassist Diego Noyola (Mexico), and lead guitarist Jose Juan Poyatos (Spain) are not filthy rich –– they just work their butts off, gigging all over Mexico and occasionally the States.

“We’re not trying to make tons of money,” More said. “We just play shows and keep recording. Both of those places –– Brazil and San Miguel –– have been kind of just backdrops to writing.”

The band has been writing and recording plenty and next month will go into the studio in San Miguel with Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen. Yes. The Donald Fagen. The Oh Whitney guys and the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer came together purely by chance. Fagen and his wife, singer-songwriter Libby Titus, happened to waltz into the San Miguel art gallery where bassist Noyola works. A casual convo about art ensued, and after Noyola mentioned Oh Whitney, contact information was exchanged. A friendship quickly developed.

“He’s incredible,” More said of recording with The Nightfly. “It’s an honor to get to work with him.”

Fagen frequently collaborates with other artists but rarely sits in their producer’s chair. In addition to two latter-day Steely Dan albums and a couple of solo records, Fagen’s only other production credits include a 1978 straight-ahead jazz album and a 1988 Broadway soundtrack.

“I don’t know what to expect,” More said. “His reputation is that he’s very meticulous in the studio.”

Oh Whitney started out, innocuously enough, several years ago as Smooch & The Big Hug in Durham, N.C., where More and former lead guitarist Will Arnold were students at Duke University. After assuming the moniker Oh Whitney –– named after More’s mom, the musicians’ spiritual caretaker –– the band, while undergoing some lineup changes, also spent time in Puerto Rico before finally settling last year in San Miguel, where More’s parents own a home. (When tourists rent the house, which is often, More must make himself scarce.) More and Fraunce are the only remaining original members.

The young twenty-something More’s peripatetic nature informs his music, he said. “I think any time you travel, you get inspired,” he continued. “You can study the different rhythms and influences of a culture and their music even if you don’t mean to. … I think it’s a cool thing. That’s why we like to travel, for sure, to keep checking out new music, what the sound and the vibes are.”

Mainly guitar-based rock, Oh Whitney’s tuneage also brims with folky flavors (bluegrass and country primarily) and has naturally expanded to encompass the stylings of the two newcomers. Poyatos, a flamenco guitar virtuoso, is who inspired More to pick up a six-string in the first place –– the two met in Madrid years ago while More was studying abroad. Once back in the States, young Peter left college for the rose-petals-and-money-strewn path of rock ’n’ roll. Traveling all over creation has not only allowed More to shape Oh Whitney’s sound into a singular, idiosyncratic expression but also has brought him in contact with some heavy hitters, including his two new bandmates, as well as Fagen and Rick Shlosser, who produced Oh Whitney’s eponymous 2011 debut (“Say Oh Whitney,” Feb. 23, 2011). The former drummer for Van Morrison, James Taylor, and Cher will co-produce Oh Whitney’s forthcoming sophomore album. More hopes to release the record in time to make a small stateside tour, anchored by at least one Austin gig during South-by-Southwest.

The Oh Whitney fellas –– with a part-time keyboardist, New York City’s Will Armstrong –– are now wrapping up a tour of Atlanta, Charleston, Durham, New York City (with the up-and-coming Bobby Bare Jr.), and Philadelphia, bookended by gigs in Fort Worth. The tour’s first stop was earlier this month at The Flying Saucer as part of the annual Lone Star International Film Festival, and the last show will be on Thanksgiving night, Thursday, Nov. 22, at Lola’s Saloon with another peripatetic band with Fort Worth roots: New York City’s/Austin’s The Frontier Brothers. By no later than February, More said, he and his bandmates will leave Mexico behind for the not-so-sandy shores of the Texas state capital. “We’re going to avoid at all costs just falling into that Austin circuit,” More said. “We’re just going to try to live there and tour as much as possible.”

More also thinks Oh Whitney’s time will be split between the Live Music Capit - Fort Worth Weekly

THE RETURN OF OH WHITNEY

Fresh off a recent gig at the Lone Star Film Festival, Fort Worth-tied foursome Oh Whitney will play the Prophet Bar in Deep Ellum on Friday, showcasing material from its forthcoming album, which was produced by Rick Shlosser (ex- Van Morrison and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) and -- impressively -- Donald Fagen of Steely Dan fame.

Vocalist/guitarist Peter More, who hails from this neck of the woods, says Oh Whitney spent the end of last year rehearsing in Bahia, Brazil, "assimilating our new Spanish flamenco guitarist and Mexican bassist into the group."

The as-yet-untitled album is being considered for release in March, and Oh Whitney, now based in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico (where the new LP was recorded), will spend much of November touring the States.

The quartet returns to North Texas at month's end, with shows scheduled Nov. 21 at Club Dada and Nov. 22 at Lola's Saloon (they'll be supported on both dates by Fort Worth-via-Austin's the Frontier Brothers).

Get more info at ohwhitney.com.

Preston Jones is the Star-Telegram pop music critic, 817-390-7713

Twitter: @prestonjones - Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Pilaseca & Oh Whitney en el DF
Pilaseca, quienes actualmente se encuentran promocionando su nuevo disco, Mi suerte cambió, se presentarán en El Imperial este sábado 7 de julio. Además estarán acompañados de Oh Whitney, desde Nueva York... - Rollingstone

Oh Whitney, named in honor of lead singer Pete More's mother and the band's general caretaker, includes musicians from Los Angeles, Spain, France, Mexico and Texas, with their sound taking elements from each region. Blending folk, flamenco guitars and Philosophy degrees, the band released their self-titled debut in 2011, and has since been toiling away in Brazil on a follow-up. For as scattered as Oh Whitney could be, at one time even featuring a rapper, the band is a subtle meshing of all members giving them their rootsy inspired sound... (Devon Antonetti) - The Deli NYC

Oh Whitney (Austin) - Listening to Oh Whitney is like taking a ride through a wormhole. In one song, they harken back to the hard-hitting style of Led Zeppelin, speak to the likes of Wilco and The Black Keys, and still resonate a distinct sound all their own. In another tune, the band will subtly draw you into an elegiac acoustic number reminiscent of Townes Van Zandt or Fleet Foxes, before Oh Whitney itself goes electric, reinforcing its unique place in the aural landscape. - Desert Star Weekly

Every band should have a patron saint like the one that watches over alt-Americana outfit Oh Whitney. She lets the band members live in her Fort Worth house, feeds them, and offers constant encouragement while they try to launch full-time music careers. She also happens to be the mother of Oh Whitney lead singer Peter More.

“Her name is Whitney, and six months ago we renamed the band in homage to her,” said lead guitarist Will Arnold, 25. “She provides us room and board. She’s eccentric and artistic and wonderful. We couldn’t do this without her.”


If the lead singer’s mum serving as den mother to the band sounds decidedly un-rock ’n’ roll, the members of Oh Whitney don’t care. They’re far more interested in meticulous musicianship than flashy reputation, as their self-titled debut album reveals. Arnold, More, bassist and singer Peter Holland, and drummer Adrien Faunce play the kind of pop-bred folk-country that Fleet Foxes and Wilco specialize in. But there’s a mischievous bounce and somber beauty to tunes like “Vultures” and “Time Apart” that instantly hook the listener. The album is an assured, joyful, memorable debut.

Arnold, who was born in Los Angeles, and More, a Fort Worth native, met four years ago at Duke University. Arnold studied jazz guitar at a magnet high school in California but gave that up for a major in philosophy and public policy at Duke. He returned to the instrument when he joined a band that included More, an art major, as its vocalist. Arnold and More soon formed their own group, Smooch and the Big Hug, and started playing two- and three-hour sets at campus bars and frat parties in the Durham and Chapel Hill areas of North Carolina.

“Our music was completely different then,” Arnold said. “We had a rapper, and we played rock, but it wasn’t exactly rap-rock. We covered Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, and Outkast. We added some rap lines to Dylan songs.”

While commuting to New York City to play gigs, Arnold and More found an old loft apartment in Brooklyn and moved there in 2008. That’s where they eventually met Holland and Faunce. With the new lineup, their music began to drift toward influences like Wilco, Neil Young, and Jimi Hendrix, whom Arnold has always loved. The new sound was definitely unlike the hipster, shoe-gazey style that dominated the Big Apple’s indie music scene, but Smooch and the Big Hug found an audience thanks to the former Duke students who had relocated to New York and remembered the group’s campus shows.

The band finally recorded its first album last August with famed session drummer Rick Shlosser (Van Morrison, Alice Cooper, Art Garfunkel) as producer at a studio in Queretaro, Mexico, not far from a house owned by More’s family. Soon after that they relocated to Mama Whitney’s Fort Worth digs and rechristened themselves Oh Whitney. Since then, they’ve played dozens of gigs around town, including at Lola’s Saloon and The Where House.

One of the most evocative sounds on the album is provided by an octophone, an eight-string mandolin-like instrument that Arnold, More, and company discovered in a Brooklyn music shop. “It was manufactured in 1927,” Arnold said. “At the time, they advertised it as ‘eight instruments in one’ because you can tune it to sound like a guitar or a mandolin or other instruments. It sounds like a 12-string, with a fuller, shimmery sound.”

Oh Whitney’s debut album will be released on Sat., Feb. 26, and be available on iTunes, CD Baby, and Amazon.com. The band will play a release party in New York, several dates in Durham, and then head back to Texas for some area shows and also, in March in Austin during SXSW, some house parties. After that, Arnold said the band will focus on promoting the new album through Oh Whitney’s web site, the indie-music blogosphere, and social media outlets like Facebook. The assumption that internet marketing should be a snap for people in their 20s isn’t true for this band.

“People tell us it’s more important to esta - Fort Worth Weekly

t’s not often that we get to interview by committee. Usually we talk with one member of a band, who speaks for the whole. A frontman for a collective voice. Yet with Oh Whitney, the sometime Texas, sometime New York, sometime Mexico based collaboration of Will Arnold, Peter Holland, Peter More, and Adrien Lorca Faunce, that’s exactly what we got. A running dialogue between members, a conversation between parts. What emerged was a discussion of roots, pasts, and influences that is mirrored in the group’s music…a mix of rock, blues, and folk sprinkled with trials, tribulations, and always a hint of humor. The group recently worked its way to New York City and performed for a packed house at the Living Room. The show was to mark the release of their debut, self-titled album, Oh Whitney [buy it here]. The band was kind enough to talk with us in anticipation of the album’s release, and as always, we thank them for their time and hope that all of you will send your support to Oh Whitney…buy their album, see their show, and enjoy!

TN&TG: How did the group together and what were you doing before you started playing as Oh Whitney?

ARNOLD: Peter More and I met at Duke. I was studying public policy, philosophy, and economics. Though I’d grown up playing music, I was pretty busy with school, and my guitar had been sitting in its case for about two and a half years. Then I met P-Mo and joined the forces of Smooch And The Big Hug…

MORE: It was kind of a one-note-joke college-band-name that unfortunately stuck. I’d been studying abroad in Spain, studio art and art history, and started jamming with my friend, Edward, a drummer. When we returned to Duke, we picked up a few more members, including young Willie Arnold, and formed Smooch. After that we left for New York City, we shifted our sound and lineup a bit, and changed our name to Oh Whitney…

LORCA: Before I joined the band I was musically inactive for a good two years, living in Yonkers, New York, going to school at SUNY for literature studies, but most of my time was spent smoking and watching Scarlett Johansson movies. Then my friend Drew called me up and said, “My friend’s band just moved here and needs a drummer”…

HOLLAND: Drew was the glue, as Texans tend to be. Pete and I grew up in Fort Worth, and we’d always played music, but it wasn’t until New York that we got to be in a band together. I was teaching in Brooklyn when I got the call. We jammed for a week, and they taught me the entire Smooch back-catalogue in time to travel to the Marfa Film Festival that weekend…

Oh Whitney – “Vultures”



Oh whitney – “These Bees”



TN&TG: You have just released your self-titled album, Oh Whitney. The tracks are a mix of pop rock, blues, and, at times, even southern folk. This variety makes for an exciting and entertaining mix of sounds. What sorts of influences are you all pulling from? Do you find that you all bring a little something different to the table, or are your interests and preferences similar? How does this affect how you play and write?

ARNOLD: I think of our personal influences as wavelengths of different frequencies. At a certain point we can all converge on some sound that we appreciate together. That we come from such different places musically makes for a diverse sound, not to mention really disparate songs…

MORE: You nailed it with the “wavelengths of different frequencies,” Will…

HOLLAND: We hate to admit it, because you know, Adrien’s from a metal background, Will is jazz, Petey’s blues and country, and I love surf rock, but really this band owes its existence to a shared love of Ben Harper. I’d like to say ‘unabashed love’, but I can’t…

MORE: We do occasionally stay up late playing 47-minute long versions of “Waiting On An Angel” —> “Another Lonely Day” —> “Touch From Your Lust”…

HOLLAND: Ha…

TN&TG: Along the same lines, what sorts of things are you listening to, reading, or watching at the moment? Does this impact how and what you play?

LORCA: Omar Rodriguez Lopez is playing with a new drummer, Deantoni Parks, who is incredible. And Tom Waits, always. I’m reading Gary Snyder, “No Nature” [buy it here]. The Heart Sutra [here]; A Separate Reality, by Carlos Castaneda [here]. Film-wise, Herzog and Bergman…

HOLLAND: Gary Snyder always…

ARNOLD: P-Ho has gotten me into African jams. Tinariwen “Radio Tisdas Sessions” is what I’ve been listening to lately. I just read The Little Prince


MORE: I think it’s pretty safe to say that we’re all influenced by a lot of older music. Only the greats of course: Diamond, Fogerty, Mellencamp…

LORCA: …and Frampton, naturally…

MORE: Naturally…

HOLLAND: I keep an ear on Panda Bear and Bill Callahan…

TN&TG: In your live show, you mix together new material and covers including a track from The Basement Tapes and one of the songs from “Crazy Heart.” How do you go about picking which songs you cover? Any other songs you would like to cover in the future?

AR - The Needle in the Groove