Jim White / Bodega / Nottingham

Jun 22

Jun 22 Jim White / Bodega / Nottingham

I’ve been waiting for the chance to see Jim White for some time. He’s a name many might not know, but a fascinating character and an incredible songwriter. There are some fascinating interviews on YouTube well worth a watch for an insight into his rich and often troubled life.

Jim is open about his lifelong struggles with mental health and his families history of bi-polar disorder. Influenced strongly in his childhood by gospel music, he embraced the southern church as an escape from his problems. He loved the shouting and arm flailing, but in interviews said he realised Jesus wasn’t the cure, but he sure liked the shouting and arm-flailing ! He’s been a comedian, a fashion model, a boxer, a preacher, a professional surfer, and a New York City cab driver, where he first came across the big influences in his music, Tom Waits and David Byrne of Talking Heads. Eventually he was noticed by David Byrne who gave him his first big break, supporting Talking Heads on tour.

First up we had a short, but excellent solo set of folk/country tracks from Paul Handyside. Paul has a fantastic voice and a great way with song writing, which can be both moving and descriptive. One of the highlights of the set was a beautiful performance of Behind Closed Doors a moving song written during the Covid lockdown about domestic violence. It describes the brutality and then the fake remorse (the next day he brought chocolates and flowers), but dressed in guilt as it was your fault for driving me to do this. Sad and moving, it ends with a conversation with a neighbour that’s worked it out, and convinces her to pack a bag… and leave him Behind Closed Doors. Beautiful.

Another highlight was Carnival Girl a song about the Hoppings, the Newcastle annual fair in June, similar to Goose Fair. The running joke is that it always rains during the Hoppings. Drawing on past experiences, Paul wrote the song, remembering a couple arguing at the fair, and about his own experiences of being in a relationship with someone famous. Great stuff.

The final song of the set was a tear-jerker in When the Good Times Roll Again written about a young man, dying on the battlefield in World War One, terrified and thinking of his family and friends in his darkest hours, and hoping they can overcome this and carry on with life. Incredibly moving, and reminded me at times (the guitar playing) of The Alarm. Dark and sombre, and incredibly moving.

In a way it was such a shame it was only a short support set. I could have listened to Paul’s voice for a full hour. One I’ll certainly be looking out for again.

Set List

New Frontier (Loveless Town 2021)

Behind Closed Doors

Carnival Girl (Wayward Son 2013)

Someone Like You

When the Good Times Roll Again (Wayward Son 2013)

Then it was time for Jim White to take to the stage. Three chairs simply set out in a line, Jim wandered onto the stage along with Nicolas Rombouts (acoustic bass) and Geert Hellings (acoustic guitar) with whom he wrote “Misfit’s Jubilee” in 2020.

They tuned the guitars settled in and it just kind of started ! Just relaxed…. Jim, Nicolas and Geert, and all of us enjoying some tunes. Jim came on at about 20:00, and had a hard curfew of 22:00. Hilariously, all through the set Jim would say, “I’m not allowed to talk, there’s a hard curfew” lol. However, and luckily enough for us….. It didn’t stop him !

As much as he is an accomplished song writer, Jim talks to the audience throughout the show, between every song, telling us tales of his struggles with mental health, the state of the world, about his stalking of David Byrne, or the stories behind the songs. It takes the full two hours and finishes dead on 22:00, but like everyone else in the room, I just wanted to sit cross-legged in front of him and listen for hours.

Jim said things were pretty fucked up in the States these days, and blamed much of it on the extreme religion we see now over there, before looking up at the crowd and saying… But you don’t have religion like we do…. Whats going on over here ? Whats your excuse ? Good point Jim ! This was the cue for one of my favourite songs from “Misfit’s Jubliee” The Divided States of America an incredible reflection on the state of things in the US. The lines “AR’s are popping, and our children are droppin’” hitting home hard about the reality.

I’m not allowed to talk…. I loved the story of this old guy he got to know in the deep south who played guitar and so and for Christmas Jim bought him a Bluegrass music book. The next year he bought him another one. Then at the third Christmas Jim realised he hadn’t heard him play any Bluegrass, so he asked him why, and he said…. I ain’t right fond of Bluegrass. Oh, Jim asked, so what are you into. Well….. Progressive Jazz !

Another great track from the new album Wonders Never Cease with it’s lrical twists and turns “Listen one man's heaven is the next man's hell, Brother, even the word love is a prison, If we're saved by grace it's just as well, In fact it's the perfect contradiction, Seeing that wonders never cease….. For God don't make the river straight -hey-hey my friend...now does he?”

However the opening verse always makes me smile with the line “Man them firecrackers in my suitcase, about set the whole damn motel ablaze, of course a motel's as good a place as any to let your demons fly, Then on the morning after, amidst the blessing of silence, I heard the policeman say it was a miracle I was alive”.

I’m not allowed to talk…..

Jim tells us the story of when he was a male model in Amsterdam and decided to apply for a place at a music conservatoire he passed every day, how he walked in bold as brass asking to see the head. In a kind of interview he said he could write songs but couldn’t read music. The ‘interview was short’ and the outcome never in doubt….. NO ! So, the next song The Hop Song was dedicated to the head of the establishment and was a giant middle finger…. I’m here performing and you’re sat at home now stroking the cat…..

Another long interlude, with Jim talking to us about how competitive the Americana scene is, and how, because it’s do dark and depressing sometimes, he likes to call it the ‘the competitive league of sorrow’ lol . He goes on to about his claim to fame of writing the two darkest / saddest Americana songs of all time. But tell you what… lets make you happy for a moment eh ? This leads us nicely into another real highlight in Sum of What We’ve Been a song about the ups and downs of life. Once again, Jim’s lyric writing skills are exceptional, with some incredible descriptive lines such as “Some days you're riding that lucky hand, Holding in your palm one grain of sand, But it's shining bright like a diamond ring, Whispering you can do anything yeah-yeah”. How gorgeous an image is that ?

I’m not allowed to talk….. So anyway, I always had a repeating dream. You get one of those ? Mine was about waking up in the halls in school, butt naked, and everyone laughing at me, and not knowing what to do or say….. and the result was another great track on “Misfit’s Jubilee” in Smart Ass Reply

Then it was time for some audience participation as we hit If Jesus Drove a Motorhome a wonderful tongue in cheek track, to which we all sang along heartily to the chorus.

I’m not allowed to talk….. but you can bit on my baseball cap and shirt, being auctioned off after for charity.

As the main set came to a close, we were treated to a wonderful homage to the great David Byrne and Talking Heads, who Jim so clearly reveres, and we all joined in as Jim put the lyrics to their classic Once in a Lifetime to his own music, and what a beautiful version it was too.

Nicolas and Geert left the stage leaving Jim to give us a two song solo encore. No phony leaving and waiting for the right moment, just a genuine, heartfelt rendition of two great songs, and it felt like he was performing one-to-one for each of us. The final song was the exceptional Chase the Dark Away from 2013’s Where It Hits You. A moving and evocative song about struggling with mental health “Smile and smile each day won't chase the dark away”.

A fitting and beautiful end to the night. The only shame (for me), was that we didn’t get either Bluebird or 10 Miles to Go on a 9 Mile Road. Both stunning songs. I asked Jim about Bluebird at the merch table and he said, yeah we played it on the tour, but we’ve played it lots and we wanted to do something different. Besides, Chase the Dark Away has the same chord structure so it was nice to do that one for a change.

And somehow, with no talking at all (!!!!!) we had got to 22:00. The two hours just few by, and I came away feeling like I hadn’t been to a gig, but more like I’d sat in a bar with an old friend, putting the world to rights.

For me Jim, keep ‘not talking’ ……. I could honestly paid good money just to be there for an “audience with”. Always interesting, often strange, and more often funny, Jim can hold your attention with words or lyrics….. or a good mix of the two.

One not to miss !

Set List

Take Me Away

The Divided States of America

Corvair

Bound to Forget

Plywood Superman

Wonders Never Cease

Static on the Radio

A Perfect Day to Chase Tornados

Hop Song

Sum of What We’ve Been