Randall Whitley
Randall Whitley takes a turn to a 14 episode podcast series after his first CD in 2017, and it’s a natural move even though it might seem out of left field, but Wheatley is an experience playwright, so it is more organic than it might seem. This podcast series Mary Me Margret by Whitley and Matt Smith is followed by videos of each episode, now being released every Tuesday and Friday, with five released so far. It was recorded at Six Tring Ranch in Austin, TX with words and music by both collaborators and released by Wheatley. The story is darkly humorous and suspensefully entertaining in all departments.
This is nothing like Wheatley’s first release, but it is somewhat musical and a very-dramatic display of spoken word clearly coming from a musical mind set as well as an established playwright. At the end of the day what you get is a story by someone enjoying the process of telling it. You can’t flaw it for that reason alone, but if you’re not into dry adult humor, you might not be on the right channel. There is nothing particularly shocking about this story, but it is somewhat heavy handed and lands between a murder mystery, horror, love story and theater mixed together in one package.
More on Randall Whitley: https://randallwheatley.com/home
I found this podcast easy to listen to for many reasons, right down to the philosophy of the narrator himself, as he manages to both preach his outlooks and tell the story of Mary Me Margret. The whole thing is properly sequenced once you hear it from beginning to end, and it plays over and over without getting bored. The first episode introduces the story with a short piece before the story gets going, and it seals the rest to be heard, which could fail if not done so well.
The flow of the story is an easy listening ride from the second chapter two “I Like Liquor” forward to the 14th. The humor of Whitley is something to behold, with some adult themed talk but appropriately placed wherever heard. It’s important to listen to each chapter in succession but the story does skip around but comes together by the time it’s all over. I consider it a compliment to the artist, a seasoned veteran at what he does. Chapter three, “Nomads” is one of the more entertaining episodes, with a look back into the past for this part of the mission.
I also really like chapter eleven, “The Best Job,” with its building intensity featured by a calm voice as if to almost resemble a cross between Alfred Hitchcock, Lenny Bruce and Vincent Price. The creepiness is all done in good humor, but this is also a brilliant story told by the person for it, so for all art’s sake there is nothing offensive about it and a lot about it is intentionally hilarious. Other chapters go by titles such as “Pale Blue Pillow” and “The Hand That Heals” which reveals much to be heard within the undeniably awesome story.
Joshua Beach
Melbourne, AUS
9/2020
Comments
Post a Comment