Wrong Eyed Jesus

The haphazard nature of the rhythm, which works to lovely effect, is exemplified in track 3, Still Waters. Jim White’s voice accompanies itself with in a whispered tone, which adds to a real feeling of eeriness, as does Jim White’s vocal work at the lowest end of his vocal limit in the chorus.

When Jesus Gets a Brand New Name smacks of Tom Waits, with similar bizarre lyrical material and instrument use (such as the organ for the chirping crickets, which is quite inspired). Random, but as a fan of Tom Waits I find it a welcome addition.

Sleepy Town reminds me of getting in to Flagstaff, Arizona, just as the sun was rising, which means this song is doing something right. Jim White adopts a strangely childlike lyrical perspective and voice for this song, which makes the whole song feel innocent and summery (especially when he talks about pouring whiskey into the honeycomb and watching the bees fly away, which I think is a great image). Aided by lovely female vocals, as with many of the songs.

A Perfect Day to Chase Tornados, switches on the button marked ‘atmosphere’ once again. Dark and emotive, it’s a compelling little song which makes good use of the murder and religion theme which is so often used in this kind of folk Americana.

Perhaps the rockiest of the songs, Wordmule seems a little out of place for me. Somewhat plodding, it never goes anywhere particularly interesting.

One of my favorites, Stabbed in the Heart is brooding and musically interesting. The semi-spoken words work to create the atmosphere, along with the ghostly female backing. Very impressive.

Angel-Land is a quant little duet with Victoria Williams. Pleasant enough, in an gospel-esque Americana sort of way.

Heaven of My Heart is a rhythmic, upbeat song. If you need cheering up…

The cello opening to Road That Leads to Heaven gets me worked before Jim White even starts his beautiful vocal work. The new song of choice to put on if I was sitting looking at the stars with a girl, or in the more likely event I need to inject a bit of emotion into an otherwise sterile life! The cello, on its return in the song, does what cellos do best – pack your emotions up into a ball and slide it up your spine. A great end to a fantastic album.

Short of perfect for the one song I feel that stopped this album being a nice rounded 10 tracks of American folk gold. Still, it compares with Sufjan Stevens’ ‘Seven Swans’, and is better than ‘Illinois’. If you like the sound of this, the Handsome Family are up the same dirt track so check them out as well.

The album that defined the last month or so for me - hope you enjoy!

Moses Stevens


Inspired and emotive lyrical and musical folk Americana   March 10, 2006
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

This album is a real treat from start to finish. The opening track, Book of Angels, is suitably atmospheric, with an instant feeling that the production value is higher than that of other albums in a similar vein (I’m thinking of Sufjan Stevens, ‘Seven Swans and the like).

Burn the River Dry has a fantastic tempo, with a stabby drum part which seems to always lag behind some lovely finger work on the guitar, which makes for a lazy, relaxed sound.

The haphazard nature of the rhythm, which works to lovely effect, is exemplified in track 3, Still Waters. Jim White’s voice accompanies itself with in a whispered tone, which adds to a real feeling of eeriness, as does Jim White’s vocal work in the lower end of the spectrum in the chorus.

When Jesus Gets a Brand New Name smacks of Tom Waits, with similar bizarre lyrical material and instrument use (such as the organ for the chirping crickets, which is quite inspired). Random, but as a fan of Tom Waits I find it a welcome addition.

Sleepy Town reminds me of getting in to Flagstaff, Arizona, just as the sun was rising, which means this song is doing something right. Jim White adopts a strangely childlike lyrical perspective and voice for this song, which makes the whole song feel innocent and summery (especially when he talks about pouring whiskey into the honeycomb and watching the bees fly away, which I think is a great image). Aided in parts by lovely female vocals, as with many of the songs.

A Perfect Day to Chase Tornados, switches on the button marked ‘atmosphere’ once again. Dark and emotive, it’s a compelling little song which makes good use of the murder and religion theme which is so often used in this kind of music.

Perhaps the rockiest of the songs, Wordmule seems a little out of place for me. Somewhat plodding, it never goes anywhere particularly interesting.

One of my favorites, Stabbed in the Heart is brooding and musically interesting. The semi-spoken words work to create the atmosphere, along with the ghostly female backing. Very impressive.

Angel-Land is a quant little duet with Victoria Williams. Pleasant enough, in an gospel-esque Americana sort of way.

Heaven of My Heart is a rhythmic, upbeat song. If you need cheering up…

The cello opening to Road That Leads to Heaven gets me worked before Jim White even starts his beautiful vocal work. The new song of choice to put on if I was sitting looking at the stars with a girl, or in the more likely event I need to inject a bit of emotion into an otherwise sterile life! The cello, on its return in the song, does what cellos do best – pack your emotions up into a ball and slide them up your spine. A great end to a fantastic album.

Short of perfect for the one song I feel that stopped this album being a nice rounded 10 tracks of American folk gold. Still, it compares with Sufjan Stevens’ ‘Seven Swans’, and is better than ‘Illinois’. If you like the sound of this, the Handsome Family are up the same dirt track so check them out as well.

The album that defined the last month or so for me - hope you enjoy!

Moses Stevens


Eureka ! moment   February 16, 2006
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Like others stumbled onto the end of the TV program on one of the BBC cable channels and was won over to the charms of Jim White. Can be an uncomfortable listen at first as you're not quite sure whether or not he's out there with the loonies or if this is a mickey-take. Several listens in and there is no doubt in my mind.

If you like Americana and, especially, Jim Jarmusch films my guess is that you'll like this too. Some songs are twee & clunky but "a perfect day to chase tornados" is an instant classic. Have been experimenting with new American music for a while now (Willard Grant, Josh Ritter, Grant Lee Phillips) but I think I've found what I was looking for in Jim White.


Almost perfect - buy at once.   January 15, 2001
 2 out of 3 found this review helpful

Still Waters, Sleepy-Town, A Perfect Day To Chase Tornados and Stabbed In The Heart are 4 of THE best songs EVER recorded. I often skip both When Jesus Gets A Brand New Name and Wordmule - All other tracks, though are top draw.