If you go
› Where: Songbirds Guitar Museum, 35 Station St. (South), 41 Station St. (North)› For more information: 423-531-2473FUNK YOU WITH MASSEUSE› When: 9 p.m. Thursday, April 11 (S)› Admission: $12KEVN KINNEY OF DRIVIN’ N CRYIN’: AN EVENING OF STORIES AND SONGS› When: 7 p.m. Friday, April 12 (N)› Admission: $20EMERGE WITH CAMP NORMAL & SEVEN STONES› When: 9 p.m. Friday, April 12 (S)› Admission: $10 in advance, $12 day of show10,000 DAYS: A NIGHT OF TOOL› When: 9 p.m. Saturday, April 13 (S)› Admission: $12 in advance, $15 day of showBLUETECH WITH PARADISO› When: 9 p.m. Sunday, April 14 (S)› Admission: $12JOHN PAUL WHITE FEATURING ERIN RAE› When: 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 17 (N)› Admission: $20
John Paul White - half of the Grammy-winning duo The Civil Wars - is playing Songbirds on Wednesday, April 17, in celebration of his new solo record, "The Hurting Kind."
The album will be released Friday, April 12; officially celebrated that day with a party in Florence, Alabama, where White lives. The singer-songwriter launches his tour in support of the album on Sunday, April 14.
John Paul White won four Grammy Awards as half of The Civil Wars before the duo disbanded in 2012. / Facebook.com photoWhen John Paul White Live stops at Songbirds on Wednesday, the second show on a tour that continues through June, local fans will be among the first to hear his new music live.
The new album is heavily influenced by the "countrypolitan" Nashville scene of the '60s (Roy Orbison, Chet Atkins) and finds White collaborating with classic '60s Nashville writers including Whispering Bill Anderson and Bobby Braddock. Although the album draws on the lush, orchestrated music of early-1960s Nashville, the songs retain a modern feel whether White is writing about overwhelming love, unraveling relationships or the fading memory of a loved one.
White chose single "The Good Old Days" to lead the new album.
"This song came out of nowhere. The title of the song was born of a conversation with my wife, Jenny," White said in an interview with Sacks and Co.
"We were reminiscing about harder times in the past, moments where we struggled to get by. I said derisively, 'Ah, the good old days.' And we both thought, why do people say that? The last thing I'd want to do is go back and relive it. These are the good days. The best, I'd like to believe, are yet to come."
Instantly realizing there was a song there to be written, White penned lyrics that encourage focusing on what can be done to make the future better instead of pining for days gone by.