calling is to play live on a stage , but with that said I ’ m a songwriter . Am I opposed to cutting songs written or co-written with others ? Heck no ! Listen , we ’ re here in the melting pot of the greatest writers in the world . I ’ d be a fool to say I wasn ’ t going to take any outside songs .
WE : I think my readers in the Alabama based publications this will also go into , will find it both interesting and pride inducing that you have so much love for your home state , and are such a poster boy of sorts for Alabama . I mean , you can go anywhere you want , but you still vacation on the Alabama coast too . Tell me a little about that .
DW : I love Alabama ! I ’ ve gone to Gulf Shores since I was a kid . I have a cousin who lives down there , and I grew up fishing down there . I ’ m even a patron of the Flora Bama ! John McInnis [ one of Flora Bama ’ s well known and admired owners ] is a good friend of mine . We ’ ve played Memorial Day there several times , three or four in a row up until last year , when we were touring during that time . I ’ m an ambassador man ! I love Muscle Shoals and the music . Clanton and the peaches , Tuscaloosa and the Football . I went to school in Auburn . I grew up going to Birmingham , Gadsden , Anniston , Talladega , Huntsville , and Montgomery . I know roads like 431 and 21 like the back of my hand . I just love Alabama , and it will always be my home , no matter where I live .
WE : With each artist I spend any time talking to for my features , we often talk about all the changes they ’ ve seen over the years in the music industry . I know your time
-thus far anyway , though I really believe you ’ re going to be one of the long haulers — has encompassed much fewer changes than what your peers like Darius Rucker , Alan Jackson , Chesney , or Jimmy Buffett have expressed to me they ’ ve seen . Still , from your time in this industry , at the level you ’ ve now reached , what are your thoughts about what ’ s out there and where the talent and future is for country music , and music in general ?
DW : Music is alive and well . I write , and hang out with , some of the greatest musicians . And this is our time . This is our class . Willie , Waylon , Cash , Percy Sledge . All those people had their time and their class , and all I want to do is be a part of my class . Let me tell you , Nashville is alive and well with eclectic , smart , and brilliant songwriters and musicians right now . And we are making great music and trying to form that intersection where music and commerce collide and coincide . But let me tell you this too ; Nashville and the hills of these surrounding areas are full of some of the greatest music of all time … but we aren ’ t going to hear most of that music in 2017 until people get off the couch , and pay to go see that kind of music live . People have to want it , and the record companies will sell it . It ’ s out there . Write that !
WE : Anything else you would you like readers and fans to know about Drake White , maybe some random thoughts or insight you ’ d like to give us , but don ’ t get asked about often ?
DW : Yeah , man , I think so . There ’ s ten thousand million things to do . Everybody ’ s got to be entertained all the time .
INSIGHT
April 2017 35