After a whirlwind several years, two albums, and four Grammys earned as one half of the critically acclaimed country music duo The Civil Wars, John Paul White decided it was time for him to get off the roller coaster.
“It’s a strange thing, but I really got as quiet as possible for about three years and needed to do that,” he says of his hiatus from the spotlight. He and fellow band member Joy Williams officially called it quits in 2014, after having formed in 2008. “It doesn’t really feel like switching gears as much as a bit of a starting over,” he says.
Get a guide to the region’s booming music scene
Subscribe to the St. Louis Music newsletter to discover upcoming concerts, local artists to watch, and more across an eclectic playlist of genres.
The three years that white spent out of the spotlight were exactly what he needed in order to recharge and come back strong to redefine himself in the music world as a solo artist. Earlier this year, he released his album Beulah, and, to the sure relief of many fans, is back on tour. As he prepares to make a stop at Off Broadway on Wednesday, White talks about his paced return to the spotlight, earning his fame, and the amusing way that AC/DC changed his future.
You grew upon Florence, Alabama, a city that is a stone’s throw away from Muscle Shoals, a city where numerous soul and rock music icons like Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, and Otis Redding spent time recording music. Did you know the area had that much history concentrated in it when you were growing up?
I didn’t realize it when I was growing up that the community around here was so vibrant. My parents weren’t really music people—my dad just listened to his old country records, my mom listened to her old crooner records, so they didn’t really turn me on to how important this community was. I found that out later in high school and in college, and it really lit a fire under me because I realized I don’t have to move to Nashville. I don’t have to move to LA or to New York—here is an example right in front of me of people that did it, and did it in such a way that they’re now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
How has the process felt of being back in the studio, recording music, and performing live been for you?
At times it feels like a reset; at times it feels like a realignment. There’s times when it feel completely brand new. I feel a little bit like a baby band. I feel like there’s a number of things that we’re doing because we want to make sure that we earn this—that we don’t rest on our laurels and try to just attack everybody that bought a record of mine in the past. I really want to earn it—I really want to take this in small steps and make it grow to where I can do this the rest of my life. I definitely have an advantage over many people but I‘ve been doing this for about 20 years. I feel like any advantages I have, I have definitely paid the price and earned them.
If you had not elected to pursue a career in music, what other outlet would you have wanted to pursue?
Everybody thought I was going to be a doctor. I talked constantly about how i was going to be a doctor and I was going to open clinics where my services were going to be cheaper than anyone else’s, so that I’d have a longer line around the block for my services. I didn’t really understand the business model, but you can’t really stack ‘em high and sell ‘em cheap in the medical world. But when I played at a talent show at our high school—I was 16, with some buddies of mine who actually could play. I just was a music lover—I didn’t know how to play anything. But they convinced me to do this battle of the bands and we did a lip sync of “Back In Black” by AC/DC, and I became the lead singer because I knew all the words. I stood in front of people and began to sing the one song, and I saw the way that girls looked at me. I learned how to play guitar really quickly after that. After many years of slaving through bars and writing songs I started realizing why I was actually drawn to making music for a living and figuring out the direct connection it had to who I am and to who I’ve been and where I’m heading.
Now that you are a solo artist, are things different for you now, on the road and on stage?
Well at the moment it’s all in a state of flux—try this; OK that works, this doesn’t, there’s too much of this, there‘s not enough of that. I said early on that I wouldn’t be gone for more than two weeks, and sometimes that feels too long. But so far so good. I’m traveling with a band now—bass and drums and two guitars and all that—which is a lot of fun and a learning curve. I’ve got a lot of good friends and neighbors around me all the time, and I’m purposely trying to start out with smaller shows and work my way into being comfortable in front of larger crowds. But also I like to be able to go out after the shows and talk to people after the shows. I’m enjoying that because I know if I’m going to be gone and miss my Kids and miss my wife and miss my bed, then I need to know that I’m connecting with people and that I’m doing what I set out to do which is to engage and to connect. When I go out after the shows and talk to people I have a better gauge of that.
Why should someone take the time to attend a John Paul White show?
I just know that I feel as strongly as a man possibly could about these songs and about these arrangements and about this band. If you give it a chance I will give everything in me to entertain you, to hopefully take you and make you the character in the song. Any songs I write I try to write them vague enough and blurry enough where you don’t necessarily have to stand there and wonder ‘Is this about him, is this not about him, why is this written this way?’ I try to write songs in a way that you’re the character and you can see yourself as the person in the middle of the song, in the middle of the story arc. I would like to think that what we do will be the type of atmosphere where you can let yourself go a little bit and step into some different worlds and maybe it’ll make your world feel a little bit more normal.
John Paul White plays Off Broadway (3509 Lemp), on Wednesday, November 14 at 8 p.m.; The Kernal opens. For more info or to buy tickets, go to offbroadwaystl.com.
