Jim White Trio

How many times have you heard Jim White play drums? Most likely, lots. Unless you were current on the tides of the Australian underground in the mid-’80s, your first exposure might have come a decade later with The Dirty Three, the ecstatic and engrossing band whose aplomb and romanticism made them a sensation in the States and beyond. Singer-songwriters noticed White’s inquisitive and intuitive playing, drafting him to be part of several legendary records—Cat Power’s Moon Pix, Smog’s A River Ain’t Too Much to Love, Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s The Letting Go. His playful and analytical personality became cornerstones of those recordings. “Drummers always say they’re serving the song, but what’s ‘the song,’ you know? It’s a cop-out,” he once told The New York Times. “I’ve got a perspective. It’s like the theory of relativity—where you’re standing is important.”

In the last six years, White has taken the bold and welcome move of making his own records, pushing his perspective as a drummer into compositions of his own. In 2020, he was out of his apartment in New York, caring for his ailing father in Australia, when lockdowns hit. He learned how to record himself there, slowly turning his ideas into the 2024 solo debut, All Hits: Memories. Those pieces started with percussion, with electronic elements slipping between the rhythmic cracks. But 2025’s Inner Day seemed to reverse that order, with droning keyboards or murmuring guitar prompting White to respond as a drummer. With its sighing old organ chased by rapid drums, “Thanksgiving (Three Dead Walls)” felt like quiet seething. He countered woozy keys with a slow backbeat and quick minimal techno hits on “Cloudy.” He even sang, including a duet with Zoh Amba. The new Jim White Trio, which comes with him to Big Ears 2027, includes collaborator and neighbor Guy Picciotto, of Fugazi, and Colleen Burke, of We Ragazzi.