For rising country star Drake White, life is generally always busy. The singer-songwriter is constantly juggling playing live with writing, touring with finding some time to be at home, art with business. Currently on the road with his buddy Kip Moore, for Moore’s Plead The Fifth Tour, White says that even though it takes him away from home, touring with a “genuine friend” makes it all worthwhile.
“It’s about who you’re around, it’s not even where you’re at,” White tells The Boot. “Me and Kip have always been nomadic, Faulkner-esque types of characters … We’re cut from the same cloth.”
White calls touring with Moore a “schooling;” each night, he finds himself picking up new techniques for connecting with an audience.
“Kip is always innovating; he’s always pushing the envelope and trying to give his fans memories,” White notes. “Everything is a schooling for me; I don’t care who I’m watching, I’m gonna try to pick something up.”
In addition to his shows with Moore, White has also been finding time to play solo events — including a recent Live at Aloft Hotels event — and he’ll admit, he sometimes feels the burn of the busy schedule. While he misses the routine of his rural home, located north of Nashville, he knows there’s a time and place for everything.
“For me, I realize there are seasons … seasons of busy-ness, and there’s seasons of rest, and it’s very important for me to have that rest,” White says. “My wife is a good barometer of that.”
In the meantime, though, there’s work to be done. A co-writer on 11 of the 12 songs on his debut album, 2016’s Spark, White says that even when he’s taking some downtime, he’s “always writing.” A prolific songwriter, White says that he has enough music in his reservoir to build another album as soon as one is released, but timing and placement are everything.
“It’s a matter of where commerce and art line up — that sometimes is the game …,” White says, “and I respect it.”
White’s music has recently been featured in a few different TV ads. The Alabama native notes that while country music is where his heart will always be, finding ways to make non-traditionally country appearances is a good thing.
“What I do is embrace that I am country, I love country music, I love storytelling and songwriting, but those placements, yeah, it’s just kind of Godsend thing,” White says. “It all keeps the lights on, and it keeps the creative bliss turning, so we’ll take it.”
That, in turn, means more writing and, eventually, recording for White, who says the wait won’t be much longer.
“We’re getting close … hopefully we’re releasing a new single here pretty soon,” he promises. “And, hopefully very soon after the single release, we’re gonna be releasing a record.”
A list of all of White’s upcoming shows is available on his website.
This Article Was Originally Posted at www.TheBoot.com
http://theboot.com/drake-white-touring-songwriting-interview-2017/
