10 Questions with ... Drake White

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

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Brief Career Synopsis: Drake White is a singer-songwriter residing in Nashville, TN. The Hokes Bluff, Alabama native has a very different Country feel with a freestyle twist on many of his original songs. He ad-libs throughout a show, phrasing rhythmic lyrics as his entertaining live show unfolds. Drake frequently involves the audience in his witty craftsmanship of verbalization, as well. He was named to the CRS New Faces 2017 roster and also was one of three artists nominated as a Grammy "Artist of Tomorrow." He recently sat down with All Access to discuss both honors; his first headlining tour, "The Spark Tour;" his new single, "Makin' Me Look Good Again;" and what he sees in his crystal ball for the future.

1. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with All Access! You've been voted to the "New Faces" showcase for CRS 2017, and while you've played to most of this cast of characters before during your radio tour, this setting will be a bit different. Can you tell us what it means to be chosen to play this show, and how will you prepare for the performance?

All I've ever wanted to do was play music and write and try to help people through a hard life and maybe get some relation through it and help folks. The radio waves are a huge outlet for me, my band, and my team. To have an opportunity like radio, to have all these people that over the past three or four years I've been developing relationships with, in one place. To be able to show gratitude towards what they've helped me achieve - and helped the people and the families that are associated with me achieve - to show them that gratitude and to push a good vibe back out to them through music is going to be absolutely spectacular to me. It makes my spirit happy. As far as preparation for it, I have played a lot of ballrooms. That's how I envision it in my mind. We're going to be playing this big ballroom, and we're in the process right now of making this video. It's got elements of humor to it. I'm kind of a goofball anyway. I know 'em all. We've been doing this for such a long time, and there are so many people that have helped us along the way. My preparation for it is kind of what I do before every show. That's gratitude, gratitude, gratitude! I go into that part of my mind and start thinking about all of the great stuff that I have been able to do and that my team has been able to accomplish. As far as the songs, just really having them in a place where you can capture these people and ultimately have a moment inside of a ballroom, which is sometimes a daunting task. To have a moment is to have a memory, and that is ultimately what it's about for me, making those memories and making people say, "Wow, I really felt that. That was super real, what we experienced."

2. Where were you when you found out that you had been selected to perform at CRS 2017 "New Faces," and how did you react?

I was at my house on my back porch just sitting and chilling out. My manager called me and explained that this is radio's way of tapping you and saying, "Hey we're looking forward to what you put out this year" or maybe, "Hey you're the one to watch." That was exciting! Like I said, in the past I had been working really hard and there are a lot of people and families that have been affected by the amount of dedication that it takes to be out on the road and do what we've done for the past seven, eight, nine years. My reaction was pretty much emotional. I told my wife, "Hey, we got selected for this 'New Faces' show," and she was like, "What is that?" So I explained to her exactly what it was, because she's not in the business; she's a chef. We kind of took it from that and thanked the Lord. Heck yeah! Let's go rock it!

3. We love hearing about the first time you heard your single on the radio. Where were you the first time you heard your first single on air, and can you share with us the story about how you felt and what you thought at that moment?

My first actual single was way back - I was signed to Universal before Dot. In 2013 we released "The Simple Life." I was in between Gadsden, AL and Birmingham, AL on Interstate 59, which I've traveled my whole life. We were just driving down to a show in Birmingham. I grew up in an old CJ 7 riding around a small town listening to Garth Brooks; Pearl Jam; Sublime; and everything in between, like Ray Charles; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; all of these people on the radio. That was part of my life. It was literally the radio. To hear something that you worked on and derived from thin air - you go in and write the song and it's like this baby chick, and it blossoms into this full blown bird - to hear it come through the speakers is emotional. I just kind of smiled real big. My buddy was with me and we did a couple of fist bumps and screamed a little bit and hit the top of the truck cab. You're doing what you've seen your heroes do. I can't reiterate again. There's like 10,000 people that helped me along the way to get that on the radio. It was in good old Alabama, and I was ecstatic.

Does that feeling ever get old, still hearing your singles on the radio?

No. Absolutely not. I've been honored to construct a team that has a bigger vision and desire. Everybody in my band and in my team, we understand that big vision, and we're going to use this platform for good. I know that the radio is a great outlet, and at the end of the day, we're striving for great art. I'm making a hat rack later today that will hold like 30 hats, so it's going to be this huge thing on our wall. If you can picture a wood wall, like a barn wall and all my hats will be hanging on this one wall in our house. So later I'm going to build this - and whether I'm doing that or I'm crafting a song, I'm going to do it to the best of my ability, and everybody around me does the same thing. In radio, to hear songs on the radio is to know, man there are a lot of people that are hearing this. There are a lot of people that are being affected by this thought, by this young idea. Having people say, if you have an idea, breathe it into the world and breathe it into existence. It will happen if you just keep on and you believe and you have faith. Going through all the hard times and all the good times and hearing that on the radio, it absolutely never gets old. It just gets us closer to our ultimate goal, which is to be touring all over the world and to be packing out arenas and giving people moments. Back to the CRS "New Faces," I just want to create moments that help people through another day and create huge outlets for good, for feeding people, for teaching people music and art, and for breathing the good into the world. All this shooting bullshit - getting rid of the modern day news and saying, "Hey there is good! There is more good than bad in the world." That is my ultimate goal.

4. Zac Brown recently nominated you as a Grammy "Artist Of Tomorrow." You're one of three artists nominated. What does that feel like?

I go back to the one word, emotion. Zac is a brother. We did over 50 shows with him last year. I walked up to him and said, "Hey Zac. I don't see anybody opening up for you next year. I would love to do it. And by the way, in order to break even, this is how much I need. And would it be cool if I played 15 more minutes? 45 minutes instead of 30?" Zac said, "Yeah, dude. I don't see why not. I'll give you the extra time." This guy is the best in the world at what he does. We line up as far as our personalities. He's a very orange personality. He's a striver. He's an achiever. He's a driver. That's the same way I am. Sparks flew when we met a couple years ago. First off, the Grammys. Holy mackerel! That's something that has always been right there on my goals: win a Grammy. To win a vocal Grammy or an album Grammy, I don't care. I would win a Grammy for weaving a damn basket! Haha! It's always been a goal. I know we're not up for a Grammy. I understand that, but for us to be in that conversation is absolutely humbling and exciting, and we're going to take it and run with it. We'll just push it back into the world. So how does it make me feel? It makes me feel grateful. Just holy crap! Zac is the best in the world! For him to say that my art and what I'm creating is getting to him and reaching him, that's powerful.

5. Clearly you admire Zac as a person and an artist, but it is also evident that he admires you. You've been on the road with Zac Brown Band a few times now. What have you learned from Zac both as a musician and as an entertainer?

I could go on for an hour and just rant, but if you'll hold on to the reins I will carry you through. First of all, I wore the damn hats first! That was my deal and he stole that! Haha, I'm just kidding! He goes out like a warrior every day, like puts his face paint on and goes out. He is such an innovator. Innovation is the first thing - constantly innovating and pushing people. Don't do the easy thing; do the hard thing. That's one. Two is: he has five freaking kids. How does somebody do that? How does he keep his wife happy, band happy, and everybody on the road happy? How much does he pay them? How much does it cost to keep the bus going? This is the most important thing: every single day Zac is very deliberate about what he wants. If he's making a leather satchel or crafting a song or creating a dance move on stage, he thinks about it, writes it down, and he communicates that in a way that is very deliberate. That is so unique in 2017. There are so many text messages and emails. Zac may not answer an email or a text for like two weeks, but when he does answer it, it's a very deliberate answer. That's one of the most important things I have learned from Zac and his crew. Even though it might not be the thing that his band or wife or kids want to hear, he thinks about it and then he is very exact about what he wants. I think we can all learn something from that whether we're interviewing people like you are or out there trying to create this utopia of a world that we're living in. I want to be more exact and have less meaningless conversations and more meaningful ones. I want to keep innovating and keep moving people around. Grab a mandolin! Grab an African instrument that you've never played before! Go and whistle a solo! Write a classical piece like Beethoven or listen to that! Go to Europe. Go to Asia. Get uncomfortable. Bend your body inside out. That is what produces fire!

6. You're actually heading to Europe - Switzerland, Netherlands, and Germany - with Darius Rucker in the spring. What does it mean to you to share your music with an international audience?

That is one of our grand achievements, a thing that I had on my list like eight years ago. It's such a big world out there. I'm a very nomadic spirit. I have been to New Zealand, Australia, Asia, and Africa. I did all that before music. I had the aunts and uncles that were like, "Get out of here! Go! Get out of your small town and dance with a tribe in South Africa! Do stuff that freaks you out!" I said all of that to say this: Music is so much bigger. We don't just play Country music. We play Soul, Rock, and Rhythm & Blues. I'm from Alabama, so I play Funk, Muscle Shoals, and Appalachian Bluegrass. We have all of these influences. Of course we play Country music! I'm a Country dude at my heart. If somebody looks at me, that's going to be one of the descriptive words they use to describe me. I'm a Country man. Europe symbolizes a worldly figure, to me. To go and have that #1 in Australia this year with "Livin' The Dream" was unbelievable! To be able to go back and play for those Aussies is going to be amazing! Europe symbolizes something bigger than myself and than my beloved America. There are people all over the world. What are there, seven billion people in the world? We're bigger than just the U.S. I think of U2, The Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, the Allman Brothers Band, and Willie Nelson. They're heroes. They toured all over the world. I think we just follow in their footsteps and carry our loved ones with us. I'll carry my wife with me, and show her Rome and Munich and all these places and we'll just soak it in. When we're lying on our death beds we'll be like, well we got to see all of that! That was cool! And we pass it on!

7. Back in the U.S. You're going to hit the road in February on your own headlining tour, "The Spark Tour." You've been the young one on several tours now. What is it like to be headlining your own tour?

Amazing. That is just the shit. To go out and play a club with 700 people in it. Nashville just sold out! It's three months away! There are 650 tickets that have been sold to Exit/In in Nashville, and it's three months away. That is fucking amazing! That's awesome! That many people saying, "Yep, I'm getting that ticket," because they want to be in that experience. They want to be in that room with 700 people. I want to be there. My band wants to be there. To go play that "Spark Tour" is going to be the start. The start of that 30,000-capacity arena tour. It's Drake White and the Big Fire and we're going to have our stage props and have our Nag Champa burning and our merch set up the way we want to. People are going to experience what it is to sit around a campfire for an hour and a half or two hours and hear a story and hear a piece of what these five or six souls have to offer. It was something that was taught to me by Eric Church, too. Eric Church and Zac Brown said, "After you go out and your brothers extend their arm and their tour," like Zac and Eric have, "go back to those cities in which you put 30,000." The Boston's, the New York's, the Austin's! "All of these cities that you were in front of 30,000 people, go back and play that club that is 700, 800, 1,000 capacity. Sell it out, pack it out, and make people a fan of your vision, your dream, your truth, your reality, and you'll have a fan for the rest of your life. And that is called a hard ticket." I want to be a hard ticket badass! We want to be in that realm at the end of the discussion. I want to be in the Bonnaroo discussion, Jazz Fest, CMA discussions, and all this stuff in order to influence people in a positive way.

8. We know it's going to happen. When you are the one headlining those big arenas, who are the other new faces of the industry, the guys and gals that are up and coming that impress you? Who do you want opening for you someday?

Oh my gosh! This class of artists coming up! Y'all get excited! I'm telling you. The Brothers Osborne, Maren Morris, Ryan Hurd, my buddy Brent Cobb who is a little less-known but you'll know about it - he's amazing! We've been writing for 10 years together, and we've got so many stories of us. It'll be another interview we can talk about haha! As far as opening, I love the good old '70s. We always romanticize the past, right? So think about the old Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead. There are people riding around in the band. And Jimi Hendrix. And how they played with each other! We've got a cat named Dave Kennedy that's going to be opening solo acoustic for us on the "Spark Tour." I've known him for eight years. He was with me when I got signed in that shithole bar. Dave Kennedy is going to ride our bus, write with us, and he'll probably sit in, because he's a great guitar player, and we might play some with him. That's the way the shows in my mind ought to be. There is no hierarchy here. Nobody is better than anybody. We're all trying to play music. We're all a family. That's the way I want it to come across, as a family band. We might have a gospel section. We might have a couple of ballads. We might bring out guests. I feel it as a big old family band out there playing the songs that we wrote and crafted over the years. To answer your question, I love Maren. William Michael Morgan is playing stone cold Country music. He has a great personality. He's from nowhere, Mississippi, which I can relate to. And Maren has just exploded! You've got to know this girl. She was a writer, and she was shy a year ago. She opened up for us when we were on the tour with Little Big Town, and she has still got that shy thing, which is what makes her attractive. Her music is amazing. I don't know as far as who is opening for us. I think the question is who would I want to be associated with on a tour, and that's Brothers Osborne, Maren Morris, of course, Zac, Eric. Also these new guys, Midland. You'll hear about them. They're amazing! It's just real music. There is a reality to it. When you lay your head down at night and think about real music, what do you think about? I want people to think about us. I went to Pearl Jam in like 1999, and I can still remember how I felt when [Eddie] Vedder climbed the scaffolding. I can still remember that. I want people to remember the show. "Man, do you remember when the Brothers Osborne came out with Drake White?" Or "Do you remember when Drake White came out with the Brothers Osborne and Johnny O. went into this epic guitar solo and Drake screamed over the top of it?" Those are the memories I am talking about.

9. You released a full album on Dot Records this summer, "Spark." Without going into a long series of questions about the album, let's pick one song, and you can tell me the backstory on it. Maybe tell us about your new single, "Makin' Me Look Good Again."

"Spark" was a dream. It was the first one. All I want to do is make another one now. All the way from the album art to my grandfather's sermons splashed in there, all the ideas, all of the songs - I had written over 150 songs over the last five or six years with dozens of people. I had 45 or 50 songs that I had to narrow down to 12. They wanted me to narrow it down to 11, but I had to have "Waitin' on the Whiskey to Work" on there. "Makin' Me Look Good Again," I grew up baptized in my dad's old record collection. Literally a vinyl collection - I can remember how it smelled in the closet. I remember when I was six or seven years old, discovering it and being like, "What is this?" And Dad said, "Oh, I'll show you what this is!" he pulled out the record, the record player and put the Allman Brothers' "Eat A Peach" on. He cleaned it off and dropped the needle, and I can still remember that slide, the way it sounded right when the needle hit. So "Spark" and "Makin' Me Look Good Again," in those records was Ray Charles. I didn't have a piano song on the record. And Monty Criswell and Shane Minor wrote the song with me. Monty is a great piano player, and he's from Alabama and grew up in the church - so he's a gospel piano player like my grandmother, with a heavy left hand and a cool gospel-y piano sound, like you can feel Jesus in it or something! Monty started playing and it was Easter or something, and my wife Alex came out in a sundress and her dad - who's kind of a wordsmith, a southern debonair if you will - he said, "Man, there she goes, making you look good again!" And I was like, yeah, but I didn't think anything of it. We sat around drinking Natural Light that Sunday afternoon out on the dock around Easter, and I just remember that day being great. We listened to Ray Charles and all these records. When I came back in I had this idea of "Makin' Me Look Good Again." The idea was when I come off the road I am worn and haggard, weathered and torn, and drug through the keyhole of that back door. It's because I have a back door in the back of my house, and I always sneak in. She's asleep and the dogs are asleep. They're quiet when I get back in off the road. I probably smell. My vision was us getting out of a van, so I'm greasy and all I need is a shower and a hot meal and a couple of days at home. She burns these essential oils and plays spa music at our house! It's freakin' amazing! And she's a chef, so she makes these incredible meals! So we come in and we start crafting that song and seeing that idea. There you go baby, makin' me look good again! And then it's time to go back out on the road. That's where "Makin' Me Look Good Again" lives. It's a Ray Charles-inspired piano song -Monty and Shane and I just started telling the story of how Alex really holds me up and creates my backbone. That's why I married her and that's why I'm going to be with her forever. That's what she does. She makes me look a lot better than I actually am. She doesn't cuss, and I cuss like a sailor, and she's just like, "Hey!" It's that type of relationship, and it's awesome, so that is the spirit of "Makin' Me Look Good Again."

How did you decide on that as the next single?

People. Live shows. We played it in North Carolina one night and somebody made a YouTube video. I don't know how many thousands of people have watched that video, but it's a lot. I gave a probably too-enthusiastic performance - I spazzed out up there shaking and trembling - but people relate to it, and it's really how I feel when I'm singing the song. People started requesting it during our live show. Opening up for Zac Brown with 30,000 people when we're playing, the last thing you want to do is go to a ballad and slow it all down. But when we did that, girls were hootin' and hollerin'! If you can make girls hoot and holler, then you've got it! You've got something special. That's what happened. Girls were going nuts! Even if they hadn't heard the song. From a social standpoint, you can get on your socials and find out what the people think of the set. Over and over we started seeing it. One day, we didn't play it. And I bet we got 50 or 60 of, "Oh my God! My husband and I came and that was our song and you didn't play it!" I was like, don't worry, I won't ever do it again. So that was it. I went to Scott [Borchetta] and our A&R team and said, "Ballad or no ballad, popular or not popular, this song has balls. It has feeling. It's probably going to get a lot of people laid. We need to make it the next single." They were like, "Alright, we agree." The sales story has been amazing. You don't have to pay for the damn song. You can go to iTunes and pay seven dollars/month or whatever it is and go listen or go to Spotify or whatever else is killin' the American songwriter - or making the American songwriter. But "Makin' Me Look Good Again" is streaming very well and people are buying it. That's another story that we've created with it. It's nice to have money to buy popcorn and stuff.

10. As a "New Face," you have a bright future ahead of you in the industry. If you were to look into a crystal ball, where would you like to be - both personally and professionally, by CRS 2020? CRS 2025?

This is totally a Drake White question! I've got a mission statement written down. That is, "Follow your true heart by creating unforgettable moments through art that leave folks with passion, hope, and faith." That's the mission statement. I tell it to my band; I tell it to my people. If you can buy into this - it's written on our bus on a wooden sign - that's it. That's the mission statement. Going back to stealing Matthew McConaughey's thunder at that speech he gave a couple years ago, when he was like, I just want to be better and I want to compete with my five year self. When I sit here, I want to be in five years that husband that my wife thinks I'm going to be; I want to be that father; I want to be that creator; I want to be that artist. That is me. I want to elevate the platform of what it means to carry the torch of artists. Country music? Yeah. Let's rock and roll with Country music. Let's call it Country. I see maybe 2017 a Male Vocalist of the Year. I see Entertainer of the Year by 2020. I've got that in my mind. Ultimately, I see building what I'm calling Exodus right now. I love the whole story of Moses and how he goes in with a staff and he is spirited. He has passion, he has faith, and he has hope. That is part of the mission statement. Go in, create a bed that is inviting to people to come in, and heal and prosper and elevate what it means to be an artist in 2017. Go out, continue our philanthropic efforts, create our 501(c)(3). My wife Alex is a great chef and she wants to feed a million people in the next three years - I want to help her do that! Create music that spans all these genres! I love Rock & Roll, Soul, Funk, Country, R&B, even some freakin' Electronic and some R&B and Rap, like old school Run DMC rap. Just keep experimenting. Travel. Go off the rails. Be weird. Be quirky. Be funny. But ultimately, do things out of love. Don't do things for myself. Give to people. Create this live show. Put 30,000 people in arenas. Have your cake and eat it too. Give other people cake and let them eat it. I have a very exact answer, but that's it. I've got this year, one-year, two-years, and three-years. They all include that stuff I mentioned. I want to win awards, of course. I want to go to the next level with my band and with my wife and with my health. That's a huge one - health. I want to enter the stage by jumping out of an airplane and hang-gliding into the stage, and when my right foot hits the stage, the first note hits. I want to do that by 2019. That involves learning how to skydive - I'm serious! How badass would that be? I went to Auburn - you know the eagle that flies around the stadium before the game starts? Why haven't we done that as Country music artists? I want to get a bald eagle, and I want to name him Turbo and we're going to have someone that takes care of him - it's going to cost way too much money and everyone is going to tell me not to do it. I'm gonna get Turbo out there, and before every outdoor show, we're going to say "Big Fire." Everyone is going to start by saying, "Biiiiiiiiiig." And that eagle is going to start going around and around and around. Then he's going to land on my arm, and they're going to say "fire." We're going to hit that first note and the eagle's going to go off. It's ideas like that that I want to blow people away with. We have a bank of ideas. Don't tell anyone that - Zac Brown will steal it. Just kidding haha! That's the kind of idea that I want to share with people. We've got ideas! We've got an obligation to go out here and raise the bar. I've given you those two ideas. Musically, we're always trying to strive and collaborate and create those moments musically. Those ideas with the eagle and the skydiving -- that would definitely elevate music. It would elevate a live show to where people are like holy crap!

After countless radio visits and radio shows, is there anything that radio does NOT know about you that you'd like to share?

I'm really good at waterskiing. I love African tribal music. Man, I had one a while back, I busted my left eardrum one time and had to get a graph off my back, because I busted it wakeboarding. I tried to do a backflip and hit on my ears, and I was deaf in my left ear for like a year until that graph healed up. I had trouble when I was a baby - my mom says the reason I can sing so well is because my lungs weren't fully developed. I was like six or seven weeks premature, and I was in the incubator for about four or five months waiting for my lungs to develop. She said for me having to fight to breathe and her praying is what made my lungs so strong and what makes me such a strong vocalist.

How dedicated I am to the big fire community - the fans - it's not just me. It's the big fire band. I've always been a strong advocate of a band and I want to share that with people. We are powerful together and weak alone. I want to create moments like I've said. I've said all this, really. But it's been good!