Along with artists like Will Oldham and Gillian Welch, I always think of Jim White from Florida as one of those performers who straddles the creaking bridge that connects Alt.Country with the 'free/freak folk' of New Weird America.
The Southern Gothic of his first two albums had, at the time of their release, no obvious precedents and seemed to have more in common with the literary traditions of Flannery O'Connor and William Faulkner.
His debut album, The Mysterious Tale of How I Shouted Wrong-Eyed Jesus (1997), was recorded when he was already in his 40s. Prior to this, if the stories are to be believed, his jobs included 12 years as a cab driver, fashion modelling and professional surfing.
His music is firmly rooted in country traditions but takes numerous side roads into other sonic territories. He once told an interviewer that his goal was to "merge white trash hillbilly with Sufi music" and, when you hear his early albums, this actually makes some skewed sense.
Soon after signing for David Byrne's Luaka Bop label, Byrne confessed that he knew very little about who the man behind these curious songs, "I know where he lives", he commented but couldn't say much more.
Subsequently, it became apparent that White was just one of a number of musical mavericks like The Handsome Family, David Eugene Edwards and Johnny Dowd coming out of the God-fearing 'old weird' southern states of America. These were documented brilliantly in Andrew Douglas' 2005 film 'Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus' where White was the perfect choice as guide and narrator.
Time marches on and Jim's latest release 'Where It Hits You', unfortunately finds him at a low point in his personal life after his wife left him for a younger man during the making of the album.
A devoted family man, he was quoted as saying "I was ...well, what's a word lower than devastated? I was sub-devastated" and the aching quality of several songs here show that this hurt cut pretty deep.
The first track, Chase The Dark Away, opens will a melancholy piano refrain but after reflecting "life is short but on we go" it switches to a more upbeat mood.
Much the same mix of misty-eyed optimism can be found on Sunday's Refrain which begins "I got no-one to talk to, nothing to see, Saturday's rain is falling down on me" but winds up as something more nuanced that just another maudlin song.
The third track is entitled The Way Of Alone could be taken as autobiographical although the refrain "some are just born to go it alone" seems more like a general observation rather than a personal statement.
He takes his time with these songs, in no mood to make glib statements or come up with catchy hooks. At the same time, he isn't wallowing in self pity and many tracks are positively jaunty.
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For example, State Of Grace is a cock-eyed singalong travelogue through America and Infinite Wind has such a carefree feel that you imagine it must have been written prior to be bombshell of his marital crisis; "let us wear our ragged hearts upon our tattered sleeves" he sings.
Likewise, 'Here We Go', begins with a child's voice and he gets a wonky funk groove going that is unlike anything else on the album but also kind of fits right in.
Thereafter, the album takes a more serious and downbeat turn. An unhurried story song, My Brother's Keeper, has a spoken word intro and tells the sad news about the death of childhood friend, Harry Allen, who gained 300lbs and spent the last days of his lonely life in bed.
That Wintered Blue Sky includes the desolate line "no one ever got nowhere alone" while, on the self explanatory Epilogue To A Marriage, the pain of his private trauma ironically brings out some of his best writing; "on the best of days, still there's hell to pay" is as poetic as it is harrowing.
It doesn't end there though. The final track, Why It's Cool, strikes a defiantly philosophical note with the conclusion that "my heartbreaks are tools" and here he sounds like someone with the inner strength to overcome this shitty period in his life rather than a man in denial.
Certainly, from a musical standpoint, he has plenty of strong and able support. Appearing on this album are members of roots-rock band Olabelle, Orlando's Shak Nasti and Athens, Georgia's The Heap together with some beautiful vocal contributions from Caroline Herring.
It's good to report too that , at heart, Jim White remains something of an enigma. He may be more seasoned performer now but he's still the same drifter of old and still writes what he calls "coherent songs about being crazy".
Whatever road he takes I, for one, am more than happy to keep him company.
Jim White's Website
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