INTERVIEW: A Hug with Bella White
11/08 @ Levon Helm Studios, Woodstock
Photo by Bree Fish
“I love when I can apply my own circumstances to someone else's story. That's always a really comforting way to consume art.”
With some artists, listening to their work sounds like stumbling upon their open diary. The rawness about their particular situation is palpable, but there’s a beauty in that unabashed questioning of their placement in life, of that type of honesty that one so rarely encounters.
Canadian singer-songwriter Bella White’s work feels just like that. An amalgamation of bluegrass, folk, and country, her work feels like an existential talk with a good friend after accidentally staying up until three in the morning together.
“When I’m writing, I'm usually just trying to figure out my own shit and hope that somebody will relate to it,” White tells me. “I like music like that. I love when I can apply my own circumstances to someone else's story. That's always a really comforting way to consume art. I want people to feel comforted by the fact that other people might be having these same kinds of quandaries and journeys. This might sound cheesy, but I want people to feel like they're not alone in the things that they're wondering about and that my music could be a source of warmth, like a hug.”
Born to a musical and artistic family in Calgary, the 22-year-old’s first experience with music was through her parents, particularly her father who played in various bluegrass bands throughout Virginia where he grew up.
“I first learned about music through admiring what my parents were doing. When I first started writing songs, it was very much in the bluegrass vein. That's what I learned from my dad primarily. He's always been a songwriter, and he's a great wordsmith. And then, as I grew up and developed my own sensibilities, I took on my own approach.”
White’s work is a touching homage to what she grew up with while making something fresh and new. Her upcoming single, “Little Things,” which will be released later this week just ahead of her performance in Woodstock, asks questions about how to move forward.
“I wrote ‘Little Things’ in two different sittings,” she recalls. “One of them was right before I was about to go on tour. I knew I wanted to move and maybe needed to end the relationship that I was in. I was just very aware of the fact that things were going to need to shift, but it hadn't really happened yet.
“I finished it when I got back from that tour and I was like, ‘Okay, these things have happened now.’ The ball was in motion and it was scary and exciting. That song is special to me for that reason because I feel like it opened the gates for this big series of changes in my life to unfold that have ultimately been so positive."
Her next album is set to release in April — a comforting light at the end of the tunnel when we make it through winter and break into spring. This next album, her third overall, she says is her favorite work so far and she’s excited to share it.
Bella White is performing at Levon Helms Studios in Woodstock, NY at 8 PM on Saturday, November 8. For tickets click here.
Her single, “Little Things” will be released this Friday. Keep an eye out for the new song and get ready to sing along on Saturday! You can find her at bellawhitemusic.com and @bellawhitemusic on Instagram.