After flirting with country music during his days with the Civil Wars, John Paul White completely embraces the genre particularly the lushly orchestrated countrypolitan sounds of the 1960s with his newest solo album, The Hurting Kind. Its a record that looks to crooners like Roy Orbison and pickers like Chet Atkins for inspiration, shot through with the voice that helped the Civil Wars take home four Grammys before calling the duo called it quits in 2012.
As todays guest on Chris Shifletts podcast, Walking the Floor, White fields questions about his pre-Wars gig as a behind-the-scene songwriter, his rapid rise from obscurity to fame and his musical rebirth as a DIY solo artist. Highlights of the episode are listed below, followed by our biweekly premiere of the podcast.
Whites new musical direction was inspired by a genuine love of the old stuff.
Its not me looking at the musical landscape and trying to find a hole I can fill, he says of The Hurting Kinds sound. Instead, he was drawn in a nostalgic direction by his appreciation for classic crooners and orchestral country songs. I love Merle Haggard, he explains, but most of the Merle stuff I like is the earlier stuff, like Silver Wings. And with Willie, [I prefer] Crazy and Funny How Time Slips Away way more than the later stuff. Thats my bread and butter.
His solo work dates back to 2008.
My first solo record I made for Capitol Records, says White, who enjoyed a brief ride as a major-label solo artist during the late-aughts. Its a rock record. It never came out. In a classic big-label scenario, Whites album fell victim to a merger between Capitol Records and another company. The executives who had signed him wound up losing their jobs, and White eventually lost his, too. Everybody has that story, and Ive got my own, he adds. I was halfway through the mix process, and they merged with Virgin. For 10 years after that, [the album] didnt exist to the world. I half-heartedly stuck it up on iTunes, but I never talked about it. I was bitter. Things changed, of course, when White formed the Civil Wars with Joy Williams, kicking off a meteoric if brief run that resulted in multiple awards, several million album sales and a lasting legacy.
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Hes still got great taste in musical partners.
My partner is Ben Tanner, whos in Alabama Shakes, he says, referencing the business-minded keyboard player who helps White run his label, Single Lock Records. The two also have a heavy hand in the albums that their label releases, often recording them at Whites own studio. Hes got great ears, he says of Tanner, and he knows how to get great sounds from a room.
More than a decade ago, he worked as a songwriter for country artists, penning tracks for some of the genres heaviest hitters.
I was writing for [other] people, and I was trying to get on the radio, he admits. Whenever I created like that, I kept falling short. . .because I couldnt guess what they wanted to hear and I couldnt guess what radio would play. So finally I said, Fuck it, Im gonna make music for myself.' Still signed to a publishing deal, White began writing songs without any regard for modern trends and, to his surprise, people began listening. I got a Rascal Flatts cut, a LeAnn Rimes cut, a Faith Hill cut, he remembers, and it was all songs I just thought, Theres no way theyre gonna touch this; Im just gonna make them for myself.'
Hes not just a bandleader; hes a businessman, too, handling multiple aspects of his own operation.
Before the Civil Wars, I handled everything, he says, but then when the Civil Wars came along, it was just so overwhelming the rise of the band that I had to just let go of everything and say, Just tell me where to stand. After the Civil Wars, I found a happy medium. I surrounded myself with people that are really good at their job, and until they screw it up, Im gonna trust them, because they have expertise that I dont. That said, Whites day job as a record-label owner requires him to do more work than an average musician. Im probably more hands-on than most artists, he admits. Now I have my own label, Single Lock Records, and we put [The Hurting Kind] out through my own label, so I have to wear that hat, too, to figure out whats good for me as an artist and whats good for me as a label owner. . .which, more often than not, is the same thing.
Looking back on the Civil Wars reign, White credits the bands versatility for their success.
We couldnt really put our finger on what we were doing, or where we fit, he says. I dont know if it wouldve been more successful or less successful if wed been able to fit into a box. We were able to straddle the folk, country, indie pop world the southern gothic thing and we were able to be palatable for a lot of people. We went with that.
A half-decade after the bands breakup, hes happy to be paying his dues again.
I feel like a brand new baby band now, White says. I obviously have things in my corner that a baby band doesnt, but Im back in the van, and Im still playing small places. Im perfectly ok with that! In a lot of ways, its starting over and reintroducing myself to folks.