Music Review: Jim White Vs. The Packway Handle Band, Take It Like A Man

By Melissa Bratcher

Jim White’s collaboration with The Packway Handle Band is an early entry in the “most delightful albums of 2015” list that I am currently compiling (in my head). Full of clever, cinematic lyrics and ripping bluegrass, Take It Like A Man is a joy from start to finish.

There’s a lively feeling to Take It Like A Man. On some albums, you just know that the musicians were in separate rooms, recording their parts alone to a click track. Take It Like A Man sounds communal and live, even if it wasn’t recorded that way.

The songs alternate between White’s compositions and The Packway Handle Band’s tunes. It works surprisingly well. The opener, “Smack Dab In A Big Tornado,” is glorious. Told from the perspective of a fellow who was blown away by the titular tornado but continues to live in it, it’s a very visual, chugging bluegrass song with layers of vocals.

One of the hallmarks of Take It Like A Man is the layers: layers of vocals, layers of guitars and banjos, layers of percussion. It’s rewarding on multiple listens; there’s always something new to catch. “Breathing Room” feels like an ‘80s college radio song (think Long Ryders or early REM), jaunty and hooting with sparkling guitar and banjo. It devolves into a funky tuba and trombone duet that ends the song effectively and creatively. The layers of percussion on the ramshackle “Gravity Won’t Fail” sell the song. At one point, the drums sound like an out of balance washing machine.

The only track credited to both The Packway Handle Band and Jim White, “Corn Pone Refugee,” is a driving banjo extravaganza and a flat-out great song. The backing singers are wonderful, and get a moment to take the forefront for a verse. It’s like a freight train of bass voices roaring past an empty field. It’s loads of fun.

The sing-along “Not A Song” is a lyrical treat. Horns burble away like an undertow, and White’s voice, by this the fourth track, has become comfortable and warm. “Jim 3:16” in which “A bar’s just a church where they serve beer” is an easy, boozy sway with trombone. The backstory for it, I hope, is included in the liner notes, because it is divine.

The musicianship of The Packway Handle Band is superb. While lyrically slight, “Blood On The Fiddle, Blood On The Bow” is a showcase for fiddler Andrew Heaton. Tom Baker’s banjo on the dark beauty “Sorrow’s Shine” is marvelous and sounds excellent next to the breathy flute.

Jim White Vs. The Packway Handle Band’s Take It Like A Man has a vein of wit running through. It’s a frisky, rambunctious album that demands attention.

Take It Like A Man was released on January 27 by Yep Roc.

Tour Dates:
Fri., Jan. 30: WAVERLY, AL – Standard Deluxe
Sat., Jan. 31: ATHENS, GA – Melting Point
Thurs.-Fri., Feb. 5-6: DECATUR, GA – Eddies Attic
Sat., Feb. 7: NASHVILLE TN – High Watt
Sat., Feb. 14: BIRMINGHAM, AL – Work Play
Thurs., Feb. 19: ASHEVILLE, NC – Isis
Fri., Feb. 20: CHARLOTTE, NC – Visualite
Sat., Feb. 21: CHATTANOOGA, TN – Barking Legs
Sat., March 14: MACON, GA – Cox Capital
Fri., May 1: TAMPA, FL – Tropical Heatwave
Sun., May 17: ATLANTA, GA – Shaky Boots Festival