Searching for Something Different
I already liked the Handsome Family, especially "My Sister's Tiny Hands", but there are some other real gems here. This CD has a lot of similarities to the music from Deadwood, in terms of variety and feel, the big difference bring these musicians (and speakers) were encountered by Jim White in his tour of the South and his own soul. "First There Was" by Johnny Dowd and Maggie Brown is a great down-and-outer song (couldn't find work, robbed a store, shot someone, got hanged in the courtyard). The out-of-tune singing and simple guitar are a billion miles from American Idol and for that reason more heart-breaking than any amount of feigned passion. Excellent stuff. .
I guess I'll have to wait for the DVD
I was disappointed that so much of the good music from the film is absent from the CD. This is a fine album, but it pales in comparison to the aural experience provided by the film. Of fifteen tracks, two are extremely short, non-musical snippets from the soundtrack, and four are Jim White numbers. There is only one (albeit excellent) track by the breathtaking Handsome Family, and, thank goodness the Johnny Dowd/Maggie Brown duet is included -- these folks have voices that just plain work together! Saddest for me, the church music is missing, which is a shame -- those of us in dying so-called "mainline" churches can learn a lot from these folks! I guess I'll have to wait for the DVD!.
Soundtrack inspired by an album inspired by the South
searchingforthewrongeyedjesus. I haven't seen the movie www. com yet, but being familiar with the previous work of its narrator, Jim White, I think I've got a fairly good idea of what to expect. In listening to it, the most immediate comparison that comes to mind is the soundtrack from "Oh Brother where art thou?". I'm told that soundtrack is one of the most successful movie soundtracks of the last 20 years.
For those who cross referenced here from the "Oh Brother" soundtrack, I'm here to tell you "Searching for. . . " is just as good, and probably better. The story of "Oh Brother" is supposedly derived from Homer's Odyssey, and contains the narrative of three escaped convicts searching for a buried treasure.
While "Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus" is a documentary, and "Oh Brother" is based on a storyline, what the two movies have in common other than a strikingly similar musical thread tying them together, is that each probes and explores the underbelly of the south. If I recall correctly, the convicts in "Oh Brother" never do find the treasure, but the treasure that both of these films reveal, are the secrets of the deep south.
Visitors to, and even residents of the deep south, might not notice what lies just beneath the surface while traveling from one town to another. After all, at first glance, other than the ubiquitous kudzu and Waffle Houses, things aren't so different from anywhere else in America, with Wal Marts, strip malls and delapidated shopping centers dominating the landscape.
"Oh Brother" is set in the 1930's. In "Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus", Jim White documents how little has changed in the last 60 or 70 years, if you're just willing to come with him, and take a peek beneath the surface.
The first thing that strikes you when listening to "Searching. . . " is the intense sound of the birdlife from the south that ties the soundtrack together. It's almost like being in a jungle of South America if you listen for it closely, but most people who live in, or visit the deep south, tune this out on a daily basis. The sound of this birdlife can actually be quite eerie once you start hearing it, not only on the soundtrack, but as you move about in the south. The inclusion of it throughout the soundtrack could easily symbolize the eerieness of the poverty and despair, the pentecostal religion, sin, and the search for redemption among many people in the south. While "Oh Brother" has a lot of humorous moments in it, both movies search for, and find, then convey, the stark and melancholic beauty of the south.
For those who may not be familiar with Jim White, several of his songs are included on this soundtrack, and all of his albums are well worth exploring. It was his first record, "The mysterious tale of how I shouted 'the wrong eyed Jesus!'" that inspired the documentary in the first place, and Andrew Douglas couldn't have picked a better narrator.
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You can see a complete list of all Jim White discography, or go back to the Jim White tabs
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