Since I posted about Cake’s “Ruby,” below, I was reminded about a similar guy you need to listen to. I first heard about Jim White from my mom some years back, who had heard him on our public radio station and immediately bought his CD. I listened to it and was stunned A) because this was a type of music that I had never even contemplated before, a kind of country melody with almost a spare, hip-hop leaning, and B) that I liked music that my mom liked.
The melodies are laced with folksy Southern wisdom and stories, and a healthy sense of humor, and make you feel like you’re hanging out at a gas station on a dusty road in the middle of nowhere. And that’s a good thing.
From his Wikipedia entry: White was born in Pensacola, Florida to a Pentecostal family, and was influenced in his childhood by gospel music. According to various sources, he has been a comedian, a fashion model, a boxer, a preacher, a professional surfer, and a New York cab driver.
Maybe that explains the mash-up of genres. So if you’re in the mood for something different, download the song below, “10 Miles to Go on a 9 Mile Road.” Or just pick up his whole 2001 CD, “No Such Place.”
They tell me miracles abound now more than ever, but I don’t care.
They say it’s better to be blessed than it is to be clever, but I don’t care.
‘Cause I got 10 miles to go on a 9 mile road, and it’s a rocky rough road, but I don’t care.
For life’s nothing if not a blind rambling prayer, you keep your head held high, a’walking and a’talking ’til the power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you…you….
You don’t get nothing for free, ‘less of course you steal it, at least that’s what the people say.
The sad irony of Love is how so seldom you feel it, yet it’s all you dream about, night and day.
From the splinter in the hand, to the thorn in the heart, to the shotgun to the head, you got no choice but to learn to glean solace from pain or you’ll end up cynical or dead.
Me, I got 10 miles to go on a 9 mile road and it’s a rocky rough road, but I don’t care.
For life’s nothing if not a blind rambling prayer, you keep your head held high, a’walking and a’talking and a’talking and a’walking, ’til the power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you…THERE!!!
Sometimes you throw yourself into the sea of faith, and the sharks of doubt come and they devour you.
Other times you throw yourself into the sea of faith only to find the treasure lost in the shipwreck inside of you!
There ain’t no guarantees, none of that nonsense like on tv, just gotta roll the dice, and take your lumps.
You’re gonna get yourself knocked down, so better learn to stand back up, for those who dwell on disaster let sorrow be their master.
Me, I got 10 miles to go on a 9 mile road and it’s a rocky rough road, but I don’t care.
‘Cause life’s nothing if not a blind rambling prayer, you keep your head held high, a’walking and a’talking ’til the power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there.
My buddy Phillip works as a gas station attendant.
Strangers call his name to him a thousand times a day.
They don’t know him, they’re just asking “Phillip” for a “fill-up.”
Funny how fate plays tricks on us…that way—through the power of Love.
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See also: “Handcuffed to a Fence in Mississippi”
Type Writing 