Wrong-Eyed Jesus! (The Mysterious Tale of How I Shouted)

Personnel: Jim White (vocals, guitar, banjo, keyboards, percussion); Ralph Carney (vocals, saxophone, clarinet, slide clarinet, trombone, musical saw); David Pilch (vocals, acoustic & electric basses); Danny Frankel (vocals, drums, percussion); Victoria Williams (vocals); Bill Elm (guitar, pedal steel); Paul Rabjohns (guitar, keyboards, percussion); Joe Henry (guitar, background vocals); Martin Tillman (cello); Eddie Baytos (accordion).
Jim White's debut album is a cinematic collection of Appalachia-inspired country-folk rendered with a gothic sensibility and junkyard atmospherics (the inclusion of Tom Waits collaborator Ralph Carney on several tracks lends the record a distinctly Waits-ish veneer). Drawing on his bizarre life experiences and troubled Pentecostal upbringing, White's narratives are surreal and crazed, shot through with disturbing spiritual imagery and backwoods dementia; a strangely beautiful record, Wrong-Eyed Jesus! is a fine introduction to a uniquely twisted talent. ~ Jason Ankeny