Calgary, Alberta, Canada native Bella White may be in her early 20s, but her songwriting shows a maturity well beyond her tender years. Raised by a father who came from Virginia and played bluegrass and influenced by the songwriting of John Prine and fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell, White signed with Rounder and made her first album, 2021’s Just Like Leaving, while she was still a teenager.
Two years later, after moving to Nashville, she released her second record, Among Other Things, produced by Jonathan Wilson with Big Thief’s Buck Meek on guitar, to strong critical response. She recently made her return to the DMV, playing the sold-out Pearl Street Warehouse.
White’s version of country music looks to both the past and the future. Sonically, she takes a rustic, traditional approach that lands in the folk-Americana space, rather than the glossy, electronics-filled mainstream of contemporary Nashville. The emphasis on songcraft in her work also belongs in that tradition, too. Bella writes about classic country themes, heartbreak in particular, but she doesn’t traffic in the cliches and stock images that can make country music seem trite — there are no pickup trucks or beers here. On April 6 at Pearl Street Warehouse, her sole cover was of “Concrete and Barb Wire,” a track on Lucinda Williams’s Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, one of the most important and influential albums in the Americana genre. She also mentioned how a line from Williams served as the impetus behind “Stuff.”
While the music may be called Americana, it’s worth noting that White is far from the only Canadian who plays this type of music. The Band, who are considered by some to have “invented” the genre (I don’t think that’s a good way to put it, but that’s a topic for another time), come from north of the border. But so do a number of musicians who are active today: Kathleen Edwards, Colter Wall, and fellow Albertan Corb Lund are just a few; the Cowboy Junkies, who draw from both Townes Van Zandt and Lou Reed, roll into town this week.
Bella opened with “Numbers,” followed by “Broke When I Realized,” then “Flowers At My Bedside,” “Break My Heart,” and “Little Things.” “Dream Song 2,” she explained, is the sequel to “Dream Song,” which she’s never released. After “Dream Song 2,” her band left the stage. “I’ve been playing my older songs by myself,” she said, “as a way to reconnect with them.” She did “Gutted” and “Now She Knows What It Feels Like” solo acoustic. The crowd got very quiet during this portion of the set, respectfully giving White’s songs the attention they deserve. “Now She Knows What It Feels Like,” she said, is “one of the only songs I ever wrote feeling really angry and spiteful,” to which I would respond: Just wait till you get older, there’ll be plenty more.
Watch the official music video for “Rhododendron” (Alt. Version) by Bella White on YouTube:
The band came back for the Lucinda cover, then “Maryland.” Maddy Kirgo, who opened the show, joined her for a duet on “Two Times.” After “Stuff,” the set rounded out with “Do You Think About Me At All?” and “The Way I Ought To Go.” When she came back for her encore, she noted that, while she was this the Rhododendron Tour, she hadn’t been including that song in her sets. After playing it, we were treated to a display of gymnastics by her gym manager, who walked across the stage on her hands. This was particularly impressive to me, as I can barely manage to walk on my feet. White and her band ended the evening with “Just Like Leaving.”
New Orleans-based singer-songwriter got the evening started with a solo electric set. I wasn’t familiar with her work, but she impressed me with song songs and an engaging personality. After her opening number, she mentioned she’d quit smoking. She followed that with what she called a “breakup lullaby,” then one about family. She finished her set with “Crush.”
Bella White is already an accomplished musician and performer, but she’s barely started her journey. She has, hopefully, many decades of writing, recording, and performing ahead of her. She’s already shown a willingness to grow and develop, and I can’t wait to see what directions she chooses to go in in the future. However she chooses to evolve her music, we can sure she’ll do with great taste and talent.
