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Bryan White is emerging onto the music scene again,
this time with a new perspective, stepping ‘Out of the Storm’ and
into a new light. by Teresa Lockhart Once an Okie, always an Okie. That’s Bryan White’s motto. The 34-year old country music singer and songwriter is an Oklahoma native who is proud of his people and the obstacles they have overcome. His appreciation for their determination inspired him to co-write the song “Dustbowl Dreams,” the title track of White’s upcoming album. “I like to think of myself as a product of my people’s perseverance,” he says. “I like to think I’m carrying on their dreams, their ‘dustbowl dreams.’ ” Though the album won’t be in stores until later this year or early 2009, listeners can look forward to hearing the single “Dustbowl Dreams” on the airwaves this September. The album contains snapshots of those things White holds most dear in life: family, faith, and a fearlessness to face the future, which White attributes to a personal relationship with the author of life itself, Jesus Christ. Like his Oklahoma ancestors who struggled and survived the Great Depression, White has battled his own obstacles and has overcome them. His goal now is to carry on with his family, full of hope for the future. Various songs on the album reflect these dreams. “There are a few songs
that touch on the uncertainty of life but also that God is our hope.
We have this hope as an anchor,” White tells Living
Light News. “That’s really what keeps me grounded in all
the uncertainty of life. “You can become wrapped up in anxiety
and worry. Worry physically depletes us. It actually brings us down
and destroys our lives,” he says. “It’s
a struggle for us and always will be, but we have to continue to practice
His presence and remember we can’t add anything more to our lives
by worrying. We have to cast it on Him.” The country music artist was a teen heartthrob and superstar shortly after his arrival to Nashville in 1994. He got his start as a drummer in his parents’ bands, but he soon found his own success as a solo performer and songwriter for top country artists, including Sawyer Brown, Diamond Rio and Wynonna Judd, among others. Barely out of his teens, White racked up numerous awards, including the Country Music Association’s Horizon award and the Academy of Country Music’s Top New Male Vocalist award. His self-titled debut album produced back to back number one singles after its release in 1996, and his sophomore album, Between Now and Forever, also garnered him success. But this fame soon began to wane. When the hit records stopped coming
so rapidly, White realized the events in his life were beyond his control.
The old music industry adage that an artist is only as good as his
last hit record echoed through his mind, and the pressures White put
on himself sent him on a downward spiral. “I had some brief God moments in my high school years,
but I had never grasped what being a Christian was all about,” he
says. “I had
to be pierced with some darkness to realize that I’m nothing
without Jesus. I had to surrender to Him and allow Him to change me
from the inside out.” “What people don’t realize is that when you surrender to God, you actually start reading the Word and you start changing,” he says. “It’s still a struggle, but you have a foundation. You have a relationship with the Creator who knows exactly what you need.” Today White and his wife, actress Erika Page White, along with their two sons, Justin, 5, and Jackson, 3, live in Nashville, Tenn. White and his wife both stepped away from their careers for a while to focus on raising their family and to “get back in touch with what life is really about.” White’s EP Out of the Storm, released in 2006, was the first recording, alongside My Christmas Project, to appear after a long break since his Greatest Hits album in 2000. The EP features five tracks, all of which will be on the upcoming Dustbowl Dreams. White knows the release of an album can be a grueling process, but with the support of his family he is ready to take on the challenge again, which this time around includes producing the record with the help of longtime friend, bandmate and co-writer Derek George. White credits the album’s progress to the co-writing experiences he’s had with some of the best songwriters in the business, including James Dean Hicks, who co-penned with White and George one of the album’s songs, “When You Come Around.” The song reflects the feelings White experienced while growing up with a somewhat “fatherless life.” “I had a great dad at the beginning of my life, but my dad sort of derailed, became an alcoholic years later and checked out of my life,” he says. “I don’t blame him, but I think some of the results of that contributed to my insecurity and low self esteem.” White realizes that people everywhere struggle with similar battles. His hope for this album is to inspire listeners so they can carry out their own ‘dustbowl dreams,’ — and do it with God’s help. “All I know,” he says, “is if everything else is crashing in your world, God is good and He’s still on His throne.” photo courtesy Loud Mouth PR
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