Just when you thought that there were no new ways to reinvent America's rural musical tradition, along comes Floridian Jim White and his debut album The Mysterious Tale of How I Shouted: "Wrong Eyed Jesus!" to scare the living shit out of us and remind us that hillbilly music contains themes that endure in modern times. Jim White is not a revisionist, nor is he a historian. Rather, he writes songs that echo the strange feeling that there's something lurking beneath the surface our lives that links us to the hard life of our predecessors and the art they created.
Wrong Eyed Jesus is, as the title suggests, an album pre-occupied with the demented aspects of spirituality and religion. The title comes from the White-penned short story that occupies the majority of the liner notes, a tale of hitchhiking and revelation told in such horrific detail that it leaves no doubt as to its veracity. The same can be said about the songs -- Jim White makes you believe in the unbelievable and accept the fantastic as an everyday fact of life. Comparable to the "magical realism" style of author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, White's songs are testament to the very real, yet inexplicable nature of the world we inhabit.
A stellar supporting cast (including Tom Waits sideman Ralph Carney, Victoria Williams, and Joe Henry), help provide White with a musical backing for his songs that fairly reeks of the subject matter at hand. Wrong-Eyed Jesus is a record that will grow on the listener like some sort of mysterious fungus that unbeknownst to its sufferer, protects against an illness vastly more horrible.
All this is not to say, however, that Jim White is a purely morbid artist. Wrong-Eyed Jesus is far from being a one-dimensional affair. Rich in variety, texture, and tales, Wrong-Eyed Jesus is one of the most fully realized debuts to be released in years.
If you like Jim White, check out:
Palace Music Lost Blues and Other Songs
Tom Waits Bone Machine
Emmylou Harris Wrecking Ball
Townes Van Zandt The Late Great...
