Jim White Tells Us How The Duo Came About…

“George Xylouris came to Australia for the first time when he was a teenager when he would accompany his father Psarandonis, playing largely to the Cretan and Greek diaspora. He met his future wife and lived there for a approximately 8 years. It was during that period we became friends; we would see each other socially and we’d watch each other play. After my band, Venom P. Stinger, returned from America the Dirty Three was formed and we invited George to play with us. I would also see the Xylouris Ensemble when George and I were living in Crete, listened to Psarantonis CDs and when back in Australia our bands would play together.”

“At the same time George recorded with the Dirty Three for the Sharks EP. When the Dirty Three curated ATP in England Psarndonis came with musicians including Labis Xylouris, George Xylouris and Nikki Xylouris. George also played with the Dirty Thee a few years later when Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds curated ATP at Mt Buller in Australia and invited the Dirty Three to play. Psarandonis and George invited me to play with them. That continued into a number of shows after which I went to Crete when George and I began playing together. The first studio practice we recorded Goats and eventually had an album ready to go and people interested. But we decided to record more and in the meantime George and I accompanied  his father on an Australian tour last year. George came to the USA when did some more recording and played our first few small shows.”

“During the trip I met Matthew from Fat Possums House in Oxford, Missisippi and he asked to hear what I’d been doing. I had with me an early recording which I played to him and he put us together with The Other Music Recording Company who also saw the band around that time. George and I decided to keep recording and playing the odd show in Athens, Cyprus, London and the USA as we worked on sorting through the recordings.”

“The Goats album is mostly recorded in  Guy Picciotto’s studio and a couple of tracks in  Crete. Many people have helped us along the way - with recordings and other kindnesses. We built a great relationship with Guy who played a big part in helping us shape the final record which includes songs by George, traditional songs, dances, and spontaneous taxidi.”

Dog /Duo Photo by M. Mathioudakis
Black/White Photo by Ben Searcy