MUSIC INSIGHT who tend the land , to the families who consumed the harvest . A lot of thought went into it , and it does for me still .
WE : Tell me a little about your background in music and how this whole journey began . You ’ ve mentioned singing in church as a child , how instrumental was that in your love for music ? When did you really start becoming involved in music to the point of writing music or playing live ?
DW : You know , the church thing , growing up going to Hokes Bluff First Baptist Church , and singing in church , that was really almost forced . My parents sing in the choir so they were like , “ you sing in the Junior Choir ”. When I was 12 there was this guy who lived near us , Mr . Brown , and he was like 70 or 80 , and he was great on the banjo , and played bluegrass . I was really inspired by listening to him play , and it got me wanting to give it a try too . My dad bought me an old Yamaha guitar , but learning to play didn ’ t initially work out well , because it was taking so much time away from my baseball . Plus I was kinda starting to get made fun of by the other kids about it [ I chime in that I guess the joke ’ s on them now ]. All that to say that my parents were trying to instill that appreciation for music in me , even way back then . The music was kind of coming easy to me , but I just kind of pushed it off , because it was cool to play football , and I was going to be a pro baseball player . But to really answer your question . I really decided to get heavily involved in music when I was at a bonfire one night , at about 16 years old , and this older kid I knew , who had a local band , started strumming out Black Crowes ’ “ She Talks to Angels ”,
and was just kind of singing it lightly . After a few beers [ citing the responsible adult disclaimer that yes , they drank beer in high school , sometimes , but don ’ t do it yourself if you ’ re under 21 ] I took it over and just tore into the chorus , and I remember all these girls were there . All a few years older than me , and one of the prettiest girls in the school , said to me , “ well , come on , don ’ t stop now , you have to keep going ”. And that was like my Ah-ha moment where I thought to myself , “ Wow , you can do this , and this is fun ”. After that I began playing a lot more and getting better . A few years later , when I got to Auburn [ though White is an Alabama football fan ] my buddy , Adam who also played , and is a great musician , convinced me to go out and buy some PA equipment
30 April 2017
INSIGHT