We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Drew White a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Drew, appreciate you joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I ask myself this question often, which I think is pretty natural. For example, a few weeks ago, I was playing at a bar where I have a residency in Nashville, I usually frequent this spot once a week, and play an hour each time. These gigs are just for tips, and normally I do pretty well, but this night, despite putting on what I felt was a great show to a decent sized crowd, I was driving home with $23 dollars in my pocket. I felt almost embarrassed leaving. Just kind of sat in my car for a while. That’s the thing though, I had a lot of odd jobs growing up working in construction, a kitchen, a FedEx warehouse, and now I do have a regular job to provide health insurance to take care of my diabetes supplies. I work a 9-5 as a technical recruiter working with software engineers, electrical engineers, and all kinds of really wicked smart individuals. It can actually be really cool and rewarding in a way totally different than my music career. Through all of this I’ve figured out nothing is easy. No job has all good days. Our woundedness and insecurities as people can show up in any field, so it’s honestly very validating to have my “regular” job. It just further pushes me in music to work hard for what, despite it’s relentless and brutal nature as an industry and career field, is something I want to continue to get better at and share with my community and pursue as a passion. So if there is any insight to be taken from my experience, do it, life can be hard, make sure that you are doing what you love.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a Rock Americana Singer / Songwriter, Guitarist, and Recording Artist in the Nashville music scene. I started playing guitar as a kid which evolved into a high school cover band which turned into performing bar gigs for the duration of my time in college. After recording a few songs in my early twenties, I decided to move to Nashville and give it a shot. In the 3 and a half years I have been here, I have released a studio album, formed a band of my best friends (Shout out to Kenny Bryan, Austin Allen, Jamie Glasgow, and all the other folks who have been a part of the mayhem), and really just done my best to get better every day so that I can continue to create things to look forward to for my friends, fans, and growing community. I feel a lot of pride and confidence in the genuine community that continues to weave its way into my work. Music has been a means of discovering who I really am and what I stand for, so I am just excited to watch as my career and sense of self develop hand in hand with the support of the amazing people listening to my music, coming to the shows, and supporting what is to come. Community is powerful, and it is so rewarding to share it even with people I have never met in person!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Perhaps how long it took me to actually get the ship moving. I’ve played guitar, and sang, and joked about being a rockstar since I was old enough to talk, but the fear of failure, and not being good enough prevented me from practicing more, from performing more, from writing more, all in very pivotal years for those things. It was such a spiritual effort to actually say, hey, this is what I am passionate about, I have all of these people who love me that are supporting me, who cares about good enough let’s do this. So to younger folks who are maybe in a similar state of insecure stasis, I hope you understand you will fail in everything you do, so why not venture ahead? Failure is going to build the wins you are most passionate about down the road.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In the Summer of 2023 I was riding the momentum of a great first album, lots of great shows, and starting my first real band. It felt like nothing was going to get in the way, and then as a result of some irresponsible patterns on my part, I came down with a really tough case of Laryngitis. My voice, the key to any sort of further momentum, was out of commission for the entire Summer. It was brutal. I was supporting my girlfriend at the time through the Bar exam, was trying to make ends meet at my day job, had written nothing but what I felt were garbage songs that year, and I couldn’t do the very thing that sets my soul free. I think I probably asked myself once every day if I should just hang it up because I had so little confidence at this time. Instead I really pushed myself to keep writing, keep practicing, and do what I could to recover, and a year later I am so grateful I did, because the work I put in at that time has set up what will be my next album, much healthier habits, and the validation that no matter how hard it gets, it will be worth it to keep pushing.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drewwhitemusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@drew_white_music/videos

Image Credits

Jamie Glasgow
Chazz Mazzota
Garrett Keafer