Laurie: You got a little Caribbean thing on one of the songs, then switch to songs with great harmony. Like you said the cookie cutter type of album that people throw out there, and yet you make transition between these tracks seem effortless. Was that a challenge for you to switch gears between songs like that, or is it just another facet to Bryan White?
Bryan: Well, it's not hard. You just gather up where you think your head is at the time. We will always cut more tracks than go on the record. You start weeding them out, and you can always work on it and tweek it, and it might not be right for this record. I always want a record (I don't think I've done a record yet) ... but each record is an opportunity to help, to heal, to encourage, to make somebody laugh, or cope. You have a huge responsibility when you make a record. I want to make every record an event. I don't want every song to be a love song. I want all the songs to touch on every area of life. I still don't think I've done a great job at that yet. The more I write, I've found that I'm really at a good place, and I think the next two records are going really good. I want a record to be something people say from top to bottom this record has really done something for me. I don't want my records to be mundane and monotonous and everything sounds the same or the subject matter doesn't really go anywhere.
There is a record out right now that is really great and does something to me. The guy's named Johnny Lang. His new record just knocked me out. It's just one of the best records I think I've ever heard. It's so honest. I want my listeners to feel like they are right there with me when I'm writing about it. I never want to have a distance between me and the listener. I think that record by Johnny Lang is a great piece of work, and it really did blast my socks off.
Laurie: Music has an affect on people and it has the power to change your mood and makes you feel things that you need to let out and help deal with emotions. Sometime it helps you connect.
Bryan: Yeah, sometimes I hear a song, and I make that connection. I remember thinking I don't know what it is about this song and why I feel the way I feel right now. It is just awesome the power that has over you. Music is powerful, and I think it can mislead people or lead people. It just depends on what you want to do with your life story. If you want to be rebellious and lead people the wrong way, or do you want to be a great influence and do something with it that is really enlightening.
Laurie: Like you said that is all part of the responsibility you feel is when you make an album.
Bryan: Exactly.
Laurie: What is your favorite song off this new album?
Bryan: From a real personal perspective, it's almost an autobiographical one. It's a song called "When You Come Around." It's a song about my dad. With the help from my two favorite people, James Dean Hicks and Derek George. With their talent and help, I don't think I could have said it in some of the great ways they did in that song. It's a song about my relationship with my dad, and him fighting alcoholism.
Laurie: It's a tough battle, and I've been there with my dad too.
Bryan: It's a common thread. I've debated for many years on whether I wanted to let people in that far, but I realized it's going to help me a lot to deal with this and get this out. I hope when it is heard, it at least gets him in the right direction. I don't believe that a song can completely alter somebody. I hope it can provoke him to think about the right things. So that is one of my favorite songs on the record. It's a real personal tune that I was completely honest with.
Laurie: It's another common thread that you share with a lot of people out there. It makes you more real to them and they can connect with you because you've lived it too. People realize oh, he knows that I'm dealing with. and knows what this feels like. That only makes me more endeared to the artist I'm listening to, or when I can share something with them and they get what I've been through.
Bryan: The challenging part of writing a song like that is, how do I write this and not sound judgmental? I don't want to be counter productive. You can really hear the grace in this song, and the human dignity. I want him to know I'm flawed, I'm not perfect, and I've got a lot to work on too. I just want him to know I'm here.
Laurie: Will you be performing at Fan Fair (CMA Music Festival) in Nashville in June?
Bryan: Definitely, at the Riverfront stages. We usually plan on the weekend, either Friday or Saturday.
Laurie: What does the song title "Out of the Storm" mean for you?
Bryan: It's a way positively looking at your future. It's about the last five years of my life. Going through my own personal struggles mentally, and dealing with the curve balls that are thrown at you, and where your career is not where it was at some point. It is about character issues where you realize how flawed you are and how much work you have to do on yourself. It's a song about being forced to look at who I was. It's a long story, and it's going to be released sometime this year, because I really what to share my life story in one interview so everybody can just pull from it. I really found a personal relationship with God through the darkest period of my life. It was 1999 through 2001. That was the toughest few years of my life. It's about finding out how you really are, and who you are not. The only way I know to be victorious in every area of my life is to have a personal relationship with God. I am not trying to sell anyone on it, but it helped me through it. That is what I've found through my struggles, and that is what that song is about. It's about finding the right path and getting on the right path, and how I was rescued. I was like a ship being tossed two and fro on the waves. The song's about God being a real lifeline for me.