Drew White on kindness, diabetes, and Concrete Americana

In this episode I sit down with Nashville-based singer/songwriter Drew White.  Drew and I talk about his fantastic 2025 release, Concrete Americana, life with missionary parents, choosing kindness, battling diabetes, touring the Southeast, So Far Sounds and more.  

Songs featured in this episode:

Medicine

Concrete Americana

Kings Street

Blood Sugar Blues

Dandelions

Dreaming in the City

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hey, hi, hello, and welcome to another episode of First Spin, the podcast that introduces you to up-and-coming artists before they hit it big, so you can say I knew them when.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Yeah, stoked to join. Thanks so much again for having me. This is super exciting for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

So I came across your album that you put out last year, Concrete Americana, and the title track off of that album, I think is just an absolutely fantastic song. Talk to me about where the whole idea, just that phrase, Concrete Americana, is so good. Like where did that all come from and how did it inform the album?

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Yeah, man. Um, well, first of all, thank you. I I, you know, I'm really proud of that song and and really proud of the record, and just yeah, grateful. I feel like I feel grateful to the universe to to have come across. But um, I think that there's such a push in Nashville and and and just in the industry in general to to label, you know, people are always asking, that's one of the first questions you get. It's like when you're in college, right? What do you what are you well, what are you studying? Um, and when you're a musician, it's well, what's your sound? You know, what do you play? What's your genre? Um, and so I was just like kind of lamenting about um it's like I I can't explain it, right? Like it's it's like folk rock with guitar solos, like it's Americana, but like everyone who writes Americana is living off in you know, some nice, pleasant farmhouse and writing about the scenery around them. And I just like I don't know, I just I felt sort of bitter. I was like, I you know, I'm in this the city and and and maybe if I look at the good stuff again and I don't know, maybe something more concrete in Americana and oh concrete Americana, like that sounds like a cool and then like as I said it I looked at a friend and we were both kind of like whoa. Um and yeah, it just it it really from there I I'd had this tag of the walls talking stories about what's going down and didn't know what song that belonged with, and it sort of just like that, I mean, just became a song. I that night I went home and and worked on it and finished it, the whole song pretty much right there. And um yeah, I think it it just sort of became to me this short way of of looking at the history and looking at the the story and the art just that I was walking by and and experiencing every day. Um in like a really cool and and gratifying way. I just I I sort of romanticized my life in in this term, Concrete Americana, and and am again you know grateful to the universe because I I feel like it um was a bit of a gold mine in terms of finding an identity for myself.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

You listed um a number of your influences, and um I I could tell immediately that we were gonna get along great just by your influences because the first one you listed was Tom Petty, who I've got over here. Absolutely. I love it. You've got you've got Springsteen, uh, who I've got over here. Um and then the fact that you threw Harry Styles in there. I I fucking love Harry Styles. I think he's so good. Steven Wilson Jr. has been on my radar a lot recently. He's blowing up and I I love to see it. And the medium build, too, I think is putting out some really fantastic music. So um walk me through how all of those different artists kind of influence your sound to the extent that they do.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Yeah, yeah. Um love the tattoos, also, love it. Um yeah, man. Uh when I was growing up, I I all of a sudden decided that I was gonna be a rock star. And my mom to support that for like my ninth or tenth birthday gave me all of her old vinyl and got me like a little record player. So I was listening to Fleetwood Mac, I was listening to Tom Petty, I was listening to you know, Kiss and Boston, like all these great records that for a nine-year-old, I felt so cool that I knew who these bands were. Um, but it sort of just started this identity for me of I love cool guitar solos and I love cool guitar intros. These and then you combine that with with these songs that I sort of felt like understood me in some sort of weird, nuanced way. So it just f from a young age was like really into these artists and um the the culture and and the imagery and and all of it. So um I think as I've developed and as I've grown up as an artist, and as music has become more accessible for people to make, I think there was the fear that like oh, there's nothing new to be made, right? Like all the songs have been written because we have them all recorded, and then you have the Harry Styles and the medium builds. Like, no, it's not. Um, like there's so much left untapped, like there's so much emotional energy and so much um, I guess, poetry to kind of to kind of dig up. And and so I love artists like them. And also, I think there's just something for me to be said about um there's a lot of of diverse sound in these artists. Like there's um some of them are are harder to put in a box, right? You might call Harry Styles a pop star, sure. Um, but man, if you if you go listen to e even like the the watermelon sugar record, the one that that's on, like there's pop songs, there's there's soft, acoustic, like vulnerable, kind of confessional stuff. There's um, you know, there's rock and roll and and really, you know, awesome guitar instrumentation. So uh I I think that that one of the biggest unifying threads of all these artists is just like do it, do what you're feeling, right? Like put it, put don't, don't put it in a box, don't worry about putting it in a genre, just write the song and and release the song and and it's gonna speak for itself.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Right. I mean, even if you look like Springsteen's catalog goes everything from like country folk all the way to, you know, a pop song like Dancing in the Dark or Glory Days to you know some uh real heavy like rock and roll stuff like Murder Incorporated. I mean, you just like you know, like you said, whatever is feeling, whatever fits the vibe at the moment is what you should explore. And I think that that ultimately ends up being beneficial to the artist long term because they're not kind of stuck in that one sound. Is that something that you worry about at all or think about? Like because you you diversify your sound quite a bit. I've you know, I've listened to pretty much all your stuff, I think, and um it's all cohesive, but it doesn't, it's not like oh, this sounds just like the last song, and this sounds just like the last song. Like they're all very different, and and it feels like there's a a degree of intentionality to that.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Yeah, for sure, for sure. And and I think that that the intent would be I love performing, I love live performances, and and I think a big part of that is having the the bandwidth, the breadth to be able to, you know, start a set sweating and and ripping a guitar solo and having all this energy, but then also being able to say, like, I got a lot to say, right? Like I have I have a lot of of things I want to share, uh, vulnerability-wise, emotionally, like the things I've experienced, whatever it may be. So just giving myself the agency to tell my story in in whatever fabric that that that takes shape um is really important to me, and and I think that that's a big part of um why I why I kind of do everything myself, why I'm a one-man ship is because I want to maintain that autonomy to to be able to play rock and roll and to be able to play pop songs and be able to play ballads. Um, because music, I I love all kinds of music. I listen to all kinds of music, so I I want to be able to play all kinds of music.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

So you grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and then uh you live in Nashville now, and you said that you uh spend a little bit of time in Brazil somewhere in in that a very, a very little amount of time.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

So my my parents were missionaries and they were in ministry when I was really young. So um yeah, we we moved around a a good bit, just kind of depending on like my dad went to seminary, that's why we were in St. Louis when they were missionaries. We lived in Brazil for um probably I it I don't even know if it was half a year, but um, you know, still crazy, right? Like this kid from Alabama, I lived in Brazil. Um so love, love having that as a fun fact. But um, yeah, just moved around a good bit and and then settled in Nashville five years ago.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

Are your parents still very active in the church and in their missionary work and stuff?

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Um my so in a in a very different way. Um so my mom actually came out when I was uh a junior in college and and my parents still have a a great relationship and and it's been really cool and and grounding to have them as parents and just watch their patience and partnership. But um Yeah, you know, just just as with any large organized religion, there was there was some not so great things that they bumped into at a couple different places, and so um, you know, both in their own different paths um left the church. My dad's still pretty involved in a in a pretty um different looking church than the ones we grew up in, but um it definitely we we all have a very different relationship with with religion than we did when when I was a kid.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Right. I'm noticing that seems to be happening more and more, just anecdotally, the people in my life, because I grew up in a very I grew up in Southern California, but in a very conservative Christian uh environment. That's not the way I was raised personally, but it's you know, uh what my you know, a lot of my friends and stuff in school were you know very active in their church and stuff, and as I've gotten older, it's been interesting to see how a lot of them have kind of like you said, bumped into some of those not so great aspects of organized religion and have kind of found different paths. Um how do you feel like growing up in that environment has influenced the music that you make or your songwriting?

SPEAKER_00 11:50

I I think in a number of ways. One one just because that was my experience, that was you know, it it's part of my story. And so I think naturally um, you know, a lot of my music um and a lot of the stuff I've I've noticed I've been writing lately, like like brings in some of those um spiritual themes, and and because that that is an important part of my story, I think the the most important part for me is the fact that um, you know, as I was I was raised, I was really bought in. Like I was a a very dedicated youth group member, and that's how I kind of started playing in bands, was playing in like the worship band at church and like the youth group band and all that stuff. And really as a kid who we we moved around a lot, and I was a super weird kid, so I had a hard time fitting in everywhere we went. And so finally there was this place in in middle school and high school where I had a seat at the table. Um, and that was so important to me, and and maintaining that was so important to me. And so I think the big kind of turnaround was when I realized, like, okay, I've received all of this this kindness and this this welcomeness, and and then started to see that's not the case for a lot of people. Um, it's actually the the antithesis of that is the case. And so it really has become an important part, not only in my writing and and you know, and try to kind of how I try to treat people day to day, but in in how I would want my music as a platform to be, is just like I want everyone to have a seat at the table, you know. Even the people who didn't want me to have one, right? It's like I I think it it created this great compassion of we can offer kindness, we can offer, you know, a a place to belong. And so why not? You know, why why and so I I think a big part for me has been trying to create music that that invites a lot of different people in, and then trying to have live shows that build bridges that that you know can can bring people back together or bring people together over one common thing. I I think that's a something that's really important to my artistic integrity is is creating this community because of what I experienced um to be frank growing up in in the church and in and in the ministry.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Yeah, that's great. I think that's beautiful. Um what what do you mean by by you were a weird kid? What what in what way?

SPEAKER_00 14:10

Um I mean in all kinds of ways. One, I just I I don't know. I was just like one in in the normal like classic sense of of I loved Pokemon and I loved Star Wars and I love and still do love all those things. But um, you know, when I moved to Alabama, kids were into by the time I was in like third, fourth grade, kids were already into like football and sports, and like that was it, and like um, you know, already throwing homophobic slurs if you weren't into that kind of stuff. And and so that was kind of the chief way of like, okay, I'm just I'm I'm different than these kids. I think the other way is I I having the combination of being really sheltered because my parents were in that ministry, there was just a lot of things that went right over my head. Um, you know, that there's the Jason Isbull line, like dirty jokes that flew right by me. Like yeah, that was that was my that was not only my childhood, like middle school, high school, some of college, man. Like I just there was a lot of things that um my parents and and the church we were in really kind of kept me from. But um, so combining all those things, you know, I think I just stuck out like and and I'm just an extrovert, extreme extrovert to the to the nines.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

Um, so I think all those things I can tell I can tell that just by the just by your your TikTok and your um just the way that you correspond via direct messages and the your TikTok videos and stuff. And I I love that because I'm the same way, like I'm an extreme extrovert too. And so it's always so nice to come across somebody else who like kind of gets that energy and can feed off of that energy. And I really, really appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

The is that the Jason Iswell line, is that Dreamsicle? Is that that is that the song that's from? God, great song, man. Oh, it's so good. That entire reunions album is just fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Untouched.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Um what are your thoughts on foxes in the snow, real quick while we're on Jason?

SPEAKER_00 16:01

Man, I'm I I have a really hard time sitting down and like listening to just an acoustic album. And yeah, I the whole thing top to bottom several times through. Um it's just so good. Yeah, man. So good. Um, imagery, like like Tolkien, Tolkien level image master is Jason Isbull.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

The cool thing too is now uh when he plays with the 400 unit, he'll play a bunch of the Foxes in the Snow songs with the full band. And so they take on a whole new vibe and energy and everything that's really cool. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

I've I've never seen him live, so I I would uh would love to.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

You gotta yeah, you gotta change. Oh, maybe he'll do his run at uh at the Ryman in October and I'll I'll fly out and we'll go.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

Yeah, hey man, it's uh it's a plan. That's uh it's that's one of the funny things about Nashville is I spend so much time, you know, playing my own gigs and and going to see shows of my friends that I realized like something this year, I was like, I I I want to like go to shows again, like shows that I you know look on the calendar and say, oh, my favorite artist is coming to town this day, or they're gonna be. Um I miss that. I miss going to shows like that.

unknown 17:09

So, you know, you know, you know, I think that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

So speaking of your own music and and playing live shows, uh you needed money in college, and so you went and played an open mic, and that kind of turned into like more opportunities for you.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Is that yeah, I you know, I'd I asked myself a lot about how I kind of got to where I am. Um, because I was just so scared of of everything, of of doing anything that would would you know leave me without community again and and music was like at the top of that list. Um and so it was never like a serious endeavor. Um like growing up playing guitar and and singing in talent shows and stuff, it was always, oh, I love this so much. And it's never gonna, it's never gonna happen. Um and so then, yeah, I went to a school called Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. Um and Greenville is like a a was the perfect music town for me to start in because everyone there was just really welcoming and and they didn't care that there was this little college kid who you know was was trying to jump in on the scene. Everyone kind of helped me out and really big brothered me, big-sistered me into that scene. And um but yeah, I I had started writing again and um was an RA my sophomore year, and so I said, Hey, I'm gonna take my first paycheck from this. I'm gonna buy a guitar that plugs in and um yeah, go check out this open mic. And um, the owner of Smiley's Acoustic Cafe, shout out to my my favorite venue in Greenville. But um, yeah, he gave me a shot. He said, You got three hours of music you could play, and I lied and said yes. And um yeah, it went great. And I brought a bunch of my friends. He was like, Oh yeah, man, keep coming back. And um gave me just this this unbridled confidence to to go out to other bars and other places and say, Hey, can I do this here too? Um and it was great. I mean, I loved it so much, and and so that just sort of one thing led to another, and then I started recording and then I was like, All right, I'm going to Nashville. This is this is what I want to do. Everyone told me you're gonna be scared or you're gonna be inspired, and and I just assumed I would be scared, but I moved here and um every day since has been a great combination of being both scared and inspired.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

So How long have you been there in in Nashville?

SPEAKER_00 20:44

This is year five.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

This is year five, okay. I've heard a number of people say that it's a 10-year town, right? And that's like, is that a th is that a thing? Have you heard that?

SPEAKER_00 20:53

I'm I I would be more prone to say that like 10 years is is a good music investment of like 10 years of really hustling and and really trying to and that's where you start to see the real success come. Um and that's probably the case with a lot of career fields. I think that it's it's sort of become tokened as like the Nashville's a tenure town, um because that's a great selling line to get people to come play at your bar, um, and to get people to because there's so many musicians here, right? You have to have the sell of like what's going to keep them coming and keep them entertaining. Oh, we'll keep doing it for 10 years. Um, and I can keep recording with you, and I can keep, you know. Um, I don't know. I I think it's a silly adage, and yet, and yet I definitely pay attention. You know, I'm like, all right, you're five, here we go. Like, I need to be this far. Yeah, only five more to go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

What is your day-to-day like? What do you what do you uh like walk me through a normal day?

SPEAKER_00 21:46

Yeah. Um, so I'm uh I'm a technical recruiter. I work, um, you know, I got a college degree and and um I'm diabetic, so I I need health insurance. So I I when I moved here, I was like, all right, I'll I'll save up a bunch of money doing this. You know, this commission job and and then later I'll decide if I want to be a musician. Um, and after about one year of that, I was like, well, this is ridiculous, and switch to a a job that supported me doing music on the outside of it. And um, so yeah, day to day, I mean I I get up, I open my laptop, and I go and find really in intelligent and and talented engineers, whether they're electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, software engineers, project managers, whatever. Um, and I play Jerry McGuire with them, ask them how much money they want, try and get them that much money. And um, after a long day of of doing that, I uh I usually, you know, hit go go get some exercise in, take care of myself a little bit, and then probably around 6, 6.30 every day, that's where the music stuff starts. So um a lot of times that looks like uh, all right, I'm gonna set a 30-minute timer and I'm gonna try to write. Uh if things are going well, at the end of the 30 minutes, I'll I'll set it again. Um a lot of of for the last year or two, a lot of technical practice. Um, a lot of like, okay, I I'm not where I want to be technically um on the guitar or I'm not where I want to be technically from a vocal perspective. And I think that's a product of living in Nashville. Everyone here is really, really talented, which has been such a great challenge. So um a lot of technical practice. Um and then, you know, going to shows, going to networking events, um, playing gigs, um, a lot of gigs, um, you know, because I I think those serve a great yeah, I'm I'm really grateful for for all the cover gig opportunities I've had in Asheville because they've they've just really helped out in commanding a stage and and really upping that sort of presence. So I don't know. I I just every single day I try to get a little bit better than I was yesterday. Um after I do my job. Yeah, that's pretty much pretty much every day for me.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Yeah, I mean it's it's tough. It's tough to work a full day and then to go dive into what your passion is. So uh kudos to you. There's uh there are a couple things that you said in there that I want to touch on. One, uh the the guitar tone that you find on a number of your songs, I think is just fucking incredible. Like you've got some some great guitar tones. Where is where does all that come from? How did you learn the kind of different effects and the petals and um quality studio guitar recordings?

SPEAKER_00 24:21

Um well, thank you. I I think I'm definitely not as much of a like a wizard when it comes to, you know, oh I'm gonna I have to have my treble knob set here or I have to do this, that, and the other. For me, it's always been important of do I have fun playing this live when I'm writing a riff, when I'm you know playing a guitar part, like is does this make me dance around? Does this make me want to play it again? Um, and then testing it out, right? Playing it live and and so I think it it really just comes from repetition because I'm playing this riff over and over again, I'm modifying it, I'm oh, I don't like this, I don't like how it ends. Um and so I think eventually it just sort of lends itself to this is what I want it to sound like. Um and and more so from a from an emotional standpoint than from a oh you know, oh it's so warm or oh, it's so like I I'm learning about those terms and and kind of what they mean from a deep engineering perspective. But for me, it's oh I, you know, I love sort of the the meditative state that this this progression brings me into. It's it's definitely more of a a feel thing than a science thing for me, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

Yeah, no, it absolutely does. And that's honestly one thing that's always really intimidated me about just I think the music world in general is like feeling like everybody understands things more than I do. Right. Like everybody knows everything and I know nothing. And so I shouldn't even bother. And and that's actually been one of the coolest parts about um about doing this podcast and like meeting all of these people who are very talented musicians, very talented guitar players, singers, whatever, songwriters, um, and realizing that they also feel like everybody else has you know knows more than they do.

SPEAKER_00 26:09

Truly. Like that's and that's how I always view it. Like when I walk in a room, just assume, all right, I am the most junior person here in terms of theory and technical knowledge and all those things. Um, and a lot of times it's true. And and I think as a curious person, as someone who is very like energized by learning something new or like failing at something a hundred times and then getting it on the hundred first, like, what better place to be than not knowing it all? Um there's a there's a guy, Mike Gannon, I think he's probably the best slide guitar player in Nashville when Derek Trux isn't in town. And um he he was saying we we did a show together um like uh about a year ago, and he was saying, I'm I'm never in danger of thinking I'm good because Aretha Franklin existed because Derek Trux is still out there. I'm never in danger of thinking that I'm good, which is ridiculous because like I said, he's he's the best slide player. But but the sentiment of that, of like there's always something more to learn, has been a real privilege.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

I listened to Keith Richards' book uh last year. Life Yeah. Oh man, one of my favorite books so good. Yeah, yeah, it was fantastic. But that was one of the things that he like, you know, talked about even at you know, fucking 80 years old, he's still learning things on the guitar, which just blows my mind that you can be Keith Richards and still be learning new stuff on the guitar.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:06

Jumps and dips and heads and I want to talk a bit about your songs.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

We talked about Concrete Americana. I just like I cannot say enough about how great that song is. Um, there's another song on the album called Dandelions that I think is really beautiful. Um, that line, She Loves Me Uh Not Anymore, which like the way that that plays on the She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not. Did you have that? Did you know from the beginning that you had to have some reference to She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not, and just try to figure out where it was gonna go, or did it just come in naturally?

SPEAKER_00 28:36

So that song was actually my first co-write ever. So co-writing is like the thing in Nashville, like that's the punch everyone's drinking. Everyone, you meet someone you're you're into, you're saying, hey, oh, let's get a right. Um, and I write all my songs. So that was a really hard thing for me to sort of surrender that vulnerability to someone else. But um, Claire Flint, wonderful artist, uh very talented songwriter. Um, yeah, we were working on this song, and and I had this kind of idea of um, you know, dandelions are this thing that that promises to grant wishes and instead it it can really tear up a garden um and and prevent growth. And I was like going through a really tough breakup and was like, this just makes sense to me. I want to tap into this. And so I think it was just a natural place that we went of she loves me, she loves me not. Um it just it fit very well, and and I'm glad that the sentiment got across.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

Yeah, I just there's there's a very obvious way to do that, and then there's like the more subtle way to do it, and you went with the more subtle way, and I think that that's so much more powerful because it's not as in your face as as I think it could be, which I don't know. I appreciate I appreciate that a lot. You mentioned earlier, too, about being uh type one diabetic, and you do sing about that and write about that a bit um medicine. Uh I saw you you say something about the fact that that song is about uh, you know, like you referenced earlier, needing health insurance because you have diabetes, um, and then blood sugar blues, obviously. Yeah, um I don't I'm not super well versed in in what having type one diabetes is like.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

Sure. Um yeah, my quota is only one diabetes song per record, but uh nah man. Um you know, I I think it's everyone's carrying something, right? Everyone's got got their their weight to carry, and and I look at my life and feel so grateful for so many things. So I think diabetes was just sort of my like my privilege check. It's like you can't have everything, so you don't get a pancreas. Um but man, it's it's it's forced in me a lot of things that I don't know that I would have in in terms of one, just this deep sense of empathy of everyone's struggling with something, and man, I know my stuff tears me up. Um, so I can only imagine what some other stuff does to other people, right? Um, or people who have diabetes on top of all this other stuff. So um I I think that as far as your question of what actually day-to-day, I I I watch what I eat and I, you know, have to make sure that I'm I'm taking enough insulin every time I eat, and then when I'm exercising, I have to make sure I'm paying attention. Um and and as far as a musician, it can be really I mean, really like detrimental. Um like like sometimes I've I've had times in the past where when your blood sugar goes low, like your brain turns off a little bit. Sometimes you get cold sweats, you might, you might pass out if you're really unlucky. Um, and so there's been times when I'm on stage and and I'm playing, and maybe I've had a drink or two, so I'm like, oh, maybe you know, I'm just a little tipsy. Um and then all of a sudden, you know, I I start slurring lyrics and and missing the strings, and it's like, okay, something's wrong here. Um so having to stop mid-song and get some orange juice, or like, you know, when it's really high, your body dehydrates itself and um really puts you in a shit mood to be frank. So, you know, I've I've played two hour, three-hour shows where I'm fighting my blood sugar the whole time, trying to get it down while also trying to maintain this, you know, persona performer, and and knowing that this kind of damaging my voice a little bit with the dehydration. So it's just it's it's it really does. It affects everything in in the most crazy and inconvenient ways. I I have so much passion for for the diabetic community because it's so big and it really is such a high impact disease.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

And there's been a lot of talk recently, at least in California. I don't know if this is a nationwide thing. I think to some extent it is about bringing the cost of insulin down kind of universally. Has has that happened? Is that something that is worth like seeing impact people's lives in a positive way?

SPEAKER_00 32:46

It's it's just another bad talking point um for for these people. Um, I mean, it was it was you know, there's a couple months where I was getting it for free with my insurance, then there was a couple months where I was paying$200. There's been times when I'm paying$350 for a 30-day supply with insurance. It it changes all the time. Um and which is which is so crazy because to give you some context, the people, the, the scientists and researchers who discovered the formula for creating insulin that could be used to inject and and fix blood sugars and regulate, they sold the patent for a uh like a dollar to make sure that it would be accessible for everybody, but that's not the that's that's not the structure we have.

SPEAKER_01 33:33

That's not the American way.

SPEAKER_03 33:46

Last pedal is on the rolls and levels and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 34:53

It's got a real uh Kings of Leon type vibe to it. I I like that, I like that song a lot. And then Dreamin' in the city is another another song of yours. Um, there's some cool sounds at the beginning, like some maybe street street sounds. Where did where did that come from? Just uh did you could just go outside and start recording?

SPEAKER_00 35:10

Yeah, I love that song, and and that song is really I think was was step one in belief in myself because I had so many friends and and people who I hadn't talked to in years who just really loved and identified with that song, which was so powerful to me. Um I'm just I'm a nighttime person. I I fell in love with the nighttime a long time ago, and um the the street noise actually so I had this vision of oh I you know I want this, this, that, and the other sort of sound being in there. And one of my friends was in the studio with me, and I was like, Oh, I I want like a siren to be in there, but I want it to specifically be like a Nashville like police car siren. Um and he was like, Oh, I have this video. He lived off Demumbrian, which is like this really busy road kind of in mid midtown here, and he pulled up this video he had from the other night, and boom, right there. So we took it out, sampled that. Um, and then the other um my his his girlfriend, and I'm actually going to his wedding in in a couple weeks. That's funny. Um his his soon-to-be wife and him and my ex-girlfriend, we were all in the studio hanging out, kind of post-production for this song, and um we just circled up around a mic and just were like talking about whatever, and then we took that and sort of muddied it out and and put that at the top. And um, because I just I wanted it to feel like someone l maybe laying in their bed in a crowded house, you know, maybe they have a bunch of roommates and like you can hear all these sounds. Um, because originally the song was called Nighttime City Soundscape. Um so I I really wanted to stay true to that sort of theme and and that um yeah, just that that that space sonically and and visually and and all those things.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

There's a line in it too, the um when your heart's already broken, who finds it next is never fair. I think I think that's a great line. It's a great line.

SPEAKER_00 37:03

I appreciate it. Yeah, I had I had uh Yeah. Uh when I moved to Nashville, that that line I mean it came pretty easy because I had I had been so so so in love with my college girlfriend and um moved here heartbroken and then got in just a really awful relationship when I moved, like right when I moved here. So I was like, ah, that sounds right. That sounds accurate. Let's throw that in there.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

So you've got some shows you're planning on doing a a run of the the Carolinas in the fall?

SPEAKER_00 37:32

Yeah, man. Um, so I I'm not sure if you're familiar with Sofar Sounds. Um super cool.

SPEAKER_01 37:39

Did you like the backyard shows, like the house shows and stuff? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:42

Um love those shows. Have I've done a few in Nashville, did one in Louisville um last year, which is super fun. Um great platform, by the way. Like artists that are up and coming. Like Sofar Sounds is such a great um group of people to to be involved with. So um, but yeah, I did a did a show in in was it maybe February um with a guy named Jesse Fox, who um great Americana folk um artist who lives in North Carolina, and afterwards he was like, man, let's do some shows together. And like, you know, I've I've know all these places that would love to have you in North Carolina, and I didn't think he was serious, but we're we're getting that set up right now, and um so yeah, that's gonna be really exciting, hoping to go. Um, you know, not just Charlotte and um Asheville, you know, the big spots. I you know, I'm hoping we're gonna um be all over. Um North Carolina and South Carolina are are both been a home to me at different points in time. So uh really excited for that.

SPEAKER_01 38:39

Nice, nice. And then uh heading back into the studio and relatively soon.

SPEAKER_00 38:45

Yeah. Um have have a session scheduled for the end of May um with Asher Condit, who's who did both my first records, and then um starting to to do some other songs with uh a couple other uh folks that I've just really admired their work since I've I've known them. So um starting to get uh I spent a lot of time the beginning of this year and the end of last year just torturing myself of well, what you know, what's the next right move? And the answer is always there is no next right move. The the answer is to keep moving. Um and so I was just like, I'm ready, I'm ready to get back in the studio, ready to bring some of this stuff to life.

SPEAKER_01 40:47

Dude, thank you so much for doing this. Really, I really appreciate it. The the last section is called Final Spin, just rapid fire questions. First thing that comes to mind. Um if you could share a stage with any artist living or dead, who would it be?

SPEAKER_00 41:01

I think that Maggie Rogers and I could put together a really, really fun show. Like, in in terms of like I think it'd be amazing to like play on a stage with like Fleetwood Mac or like you know, to to get to be a part of that. But I think that the person that I think I know Maggie Rogers to be, like, we would have like a fun little pow wow of like let's make this thematic and let's do I think I think it would be such a creative experience. I think it would be so cool.

SPEAKER_01 41:33

What's the first album you own that was just yours?

SPEAKER_00 41:36

I bought Eat of Peach, uh Alman Brothers.

SPEAKER_01 41:40

They're making a biopic about your life. Who's playing the lead role?

SPEAKER_00 41:43

Danny DeVito. No, uh man, I don't know. I don't know. Um who's the who's the guy who plays uh Dario Naharis the second time around in Game of Thrones? He he seems like he's a better looking version of me, so I'm gonna go with him.

SPEAKER_01 42:00

Is there an artist or a band that you love that people would be surprised by?

SPEAKER_00 42:04

Hmm. Um I love Ella Langley. Like, love like I'm not a huge pop. I I don't I, you know, I'd I'd to each their own, right? Like I like I said, I'll listen to anything. I love Ella Langley, man.

SPEAKER_01 42:21

And then is there an artist that has less than a hundred thousand monthly listeners on Spotify that you think people should be listening to?

SPEAKER_00 42:27

Oh, so many. Like Nashville's full of them. Paul McDonald, Aaron Le Tazan. Um, I don't know if they're over 100k yet. MoGa Family Band, some of my pals in town, they're amazing. Um, like a modern supergroup. They just won the American Songwriter Road Ready contest. I think they're dynamite. Um, I'm going to see one of my friends, Melissa Aaron, tonight. Like, I could go on and on and on. Um, I just have so much respect for the scene here and and so much respect for the the underdog musician community.

SPEAKER_01 42:58

So many of the people that I have on the podcast are are Nashville-based people. Um, which is my dream is to come like do like a first spin fest in Nashville. Yeah. All of the people that I've had on the podcast do uh do a show. So here for it. Here for it. Yeah, yeah. Um, dude, thank you again so much for doing this. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 43:17

Oh, this has been so great, Aiden. Thanks so much for having me on, man. Um can't wait to see the future future first spinners and um just yeah, really grateful for the invite, man. Thanks so much for having me on.

SPEAKER_01 43:31

If you were in North or South Carolina, keep an eye on Drew's socials for information on those shows later this year. And even if you're not, go follow him on TikTok at Drew underscore white underscore music and on Instagram at Drew White Music. And while you're there, go ahead and follow the first spin socials at first spin podcast. If there's someone you think I should check out, please email me at firstspinpod at gmail.com. Also, I release a new playlist every Sunday. It's a mix of new songs by old artists, old songs by new. Artist, first bin alum, future first spin guest, whatever's vibing that week. Definitely gonna be some Drew White on there this week. You can find this week's playlist on Spotify and Apple Music under First Spin Week of 5426. That is all for this week. Thank you so much for listening. And you know what? Send this to your mom. I think she's gonna like it.

SPEAKER_03 44:52

Both and bricks and eggs and sticks brings me to my shaking knees Jumps and dips and hides and flips sheets, them hard to read Run on hat, get it hot, but she'll still make you bleed