Rather than blowing up right away with a big debut single, he's toiled on the road for years, giving jaw-dropping performances night after night and making believers one show at a time."There are many different paths. I gotta go out there and do that."Long a respected live entertainer with his (appropriately named) band the Big Fire, White's climb to the limelight hasn't been a straight or uncomplicated one. "We gotta go on a hike or camping or grab my wife and go to some foreign country. It's me asking, where's that boy I used to be? Oh yeah, we gotta go get him back," he says. Then in the tropically-themed "Equator," he flies south to give his nomadic side a little time to play."This record is about balance. Half, while "Waiting on the Whiskey to Work" finds him embodying a man spun out on love and heartbreak. In "Making Me Look Good Again," White cruises on an R&B-style groove to express his gratitude for his better "I never want to come across too preachy, but instead I'm saying, 'Hey man, this is my life, and this is what I do to be happy and I'm figuring it out just like you.'"Spark covers an entire spectrum of emotions beyond these statements of character and self-definition. "Some of the best songs, like Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" or anything by Bob Marley, have a little bit of preachin'," he says. White stresses that he isn't a preacher, but doesn't see a problem with putting his own methods for surviving the world out there. That goes way back."With his gospel-derived, passionate delivery, White seems to have inherited his grandfather's ability to touch crowds with a sermon - his divine vocal improvisations at the end of the honky-tonk flavored "Story" will undoubtedly get butts out of seats. Before social networking was a smartphone app, we did it around a fire. We hardly turn the TV on, unless it's time for Game of Thrones. And that was my point: to get people talking about it."White has his own message of finding some harmony amid the demands of modern life, one that goes down easy in the uplifting, Zac Brown Band-assisted Southern rock anthem "Back to Free" and the cautionary-but-soulful "I Need Real." It's a simple message of not letting oneself be swallowed up by technology and seeking out honest, genuine connections with others."When I'm at home, my wife and I keep our phones in the bedroom," says White. They're weird and people are asking what they are. It's a touch of the surreal that nods at White's fondness for Pink Floyd's psychedelic masterpiece The Wall, but also a deeply personal gesture that matches his vision perfectly."I went through about five or six sermons of my grandfather and picked out certain little snippets," he says. Several of these ghostly transmissions from the past appear on Spark, all extolling the virtues of love, brotherhood and nature. The first sound on Spark - before the pulse-quickening "Heartbeat" kicks into gear - is the voice of White's late grandfather speaking from the pulpit. He also brought in his own band for a handful of tracks to capture the energy of his live shows. People don't understand how beautiful north Alabama is until you see it in person."Save for "Livin' the Dream," White wrote or co-wrote the remaining 11 tracks on Spark, working with red-hot producers Ross Copperman and Jeremy Stover through the process. "We grew up hunting and fishing and being out in the Appalachian Mountains. We grew up on 4-wheelers, riding through the backwoods," he says. And though he's now a city dweller with all the complications and distractions that entails, White still seeks the freedom and deeper connections he felt when the chorus of nature and the strums of his guitar blended into one harmonious song - the kind of contentment he sings about in the swirling majesty of his single "Livin' the Dream.""We grew up free. This is the first strike of the flint."The spirit of Spark comes from those simple, early days spent enjoying the outdoors among friends in the warm glow of a fire. "A spark can start a fire that can keep you alive and sustain you. For Drake White, it goes back to something raw and elemental in his debut album Spark."I learned how to play guitar and keep people's attention around a fire," explains the Hokes Bluff, Alabama native. Every reaction begins with a catalyst, some initial event that sets things on their inexorable course.
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