top ten albums - no. 7

Dear Sheddists,

 

as a keen aficionado of compilations, film soundtracks and weird Americana what's not to love about, 'Music From Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus'.

 

The original concept for the film came from Jim White's debut album, which to give it its full name is, 'The Mysterious Tale of How I Shouted Wrong-Eyed Jesus!'. It features three songs by Jim together with terrific contributions from a variety of alt-country and Americana luminaries including The Handsome Family, David Eugene Edwards and Johnny Dowd.

The film is directed by Brit, Andrew Douglas and stars Jim White in a beat-up Chevy Impala exploring some of the weirder sides of the Deep South.  It just drips Southern Gothic from every pore, the atmosphere set from the very start by a short scene featuring legendary author, Harry Crews, explaining how to cook a possum.

The themes of the accompanying music appear at first-sight to be equally bleak - murder, death, unrequited love - but like the scenery that provides the back-drop to the film the songs reveal hidden beauty as they unfold.

I just cannot recommend the film and its soundtrack enough - they're both absolutely terrific!


'Truth of the matter was stories was everything and everything was stories. Everybody told stories. It was a way of saying who they were in the world. It was their understanding of themselves. It was letting themselves know how they believed the world worked - the right way and the way that was not so right.'

Harry Crews (June 7, 1935 – March 28, 2012)