Up-and-coming singer and multi-instrumentalist Bella White is said to have brought “old soul” insight and “intense self-awareness” to her debut album, Just Like Leaving. Her sophomore release dropping this month – the bluegrass-steeped Among Other Things – promises yet another evolution of this young artist.
“Among Other Things is a record that I’m very proud of,” White said. “I didn’t write all the songs in the same chapter of my life. It spans over the course of a couple years of writing, and I think that’s partly what bridges the gap from my last record lyrically.”
This performer from Calgary, Canada, said she experienced what many other artists have reported, that she was “inspired by spending a lot of time alone during the pandemic and inspired by watching the world around me and looking at the world within me.”
“I think that listeners have really liked it, and I think it’s exciting to evolve musically,” she explained. “I am very grateful that people were wanting to evolve with me.”
White – now in her early 20s – has been writing music for many years. When she talks about that creative process that drives her work, it sounds almost therapeutic.
“I think that because I was so young when I started writing, I didn’t really think of it as a craft as much as a way to process my feelings,” she said. “I still definitely use it as an outlet for processing, but I think now, I’ve also started exploring the depth of a single song and how I can write in ways that cover more ground and broaden the subject matter I’m writing about.”
White said anyone who wants to hear the new music live might want to catch a show this spring. She’ll be doing a few opening sets for Ashley McBryde and “playing a few headline shows as well.”
In reminiscing about what drew her to bluegrass, she cites what most folk performers mention – early childhood exposure to the music at home.
“I truly grew up on bluegrass and classic country due to my parents’ musical taste,” White said. “A huge part of what draws me to it is the comfort that I find in listening because of that.” Her father was a bluegrass musician who hailed from Virginia. The roots of her connection to the music run fairly deep for a young Canadian gal.
“I also love how ‘straight up’ it is,” she added, describing the genuine, unassuming honesty of bluegrass that attracts so many. “The lyrics are very clear in what they are trying to communicate, which is often a lot of yearning and longing.”
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