Angel White brings CONTEMPORARY outlaw sounds to oregon
Article by Music Fan Magazine Writer: Justine Brown
Photos by : Jim Brown
The Texas native talks about dropping his first EP the day before setting out on tour, his years busking outside Dallas, and the “Contemporary Outlaw” genre.
We didn’t know much about this Texas native before the Fairwell Festival, but after watching his energetic set—a mix of blues, rock, and soul—we became instant fans of Angel White. Angel and his band (Will Hooper on guitar, Nick Milligan on drums and Amanda Jarman on bass) were one of the pleasant surprises during the festival. We sat down with Angel after his set. Here’s what happened:
MFM: Can you tell us a little about your background and how you ended up here today?
Angel: I was born and raised in Texas. My family has actually been in Texas since the 1800s. I started playing music at the end of my senior year of high school. I wasn't even playing guitar, I was just kind of having fun with friends. After that, I went to college to play football at Southern Nazarene in Oklahoma. I was going to be a veterinarian – a knee surgeon for horses actually -- but I decided I didn’t want to do that anymore because being a biochem major was insane. I decided to finish that year at college, but I was done with football so I started a band and moved in with some friends. That lasted about a year and then they went off and did other things. But I still wanted to play. So I started playing guitar in 2016 and I busked in Dallas for two years straight. That was a lot of work. But I was cool with making $50, $60 a day. I just wanted to get really good at guitar. I figured if I could play to no one, I could play to everyone. That was a really big developmental period for me.
Deep Ellum, near Dallas, was really great at that time – around 2016-2018. There was a lot happening on the music scene there. There was a lot of opportunity to play. For the next couple years I was just head-down making music. I had a couple jobs here and there working at a barbecue place. Then one day I got asked to go on tour. I told my boss, “I have to leave,” and that was the end of my barbeque career. I thought, here’s my shot. I'm gonna go for it.
MFM: How was that first experience touring?
Angel: The first tour was 25 cities in a month opening for Mod Sun. He gave me a shot. That tour was the solidifying factor. I thought, “This is what I'm doing.” After the tour I was just trying to fine tune the craft and figure out what I wanted to do with it. But the ultimate goal is always to help make people feel good. To take you out of a space or put you into a space. I would like to do that with whatever I'm doing, whether it’s music, poetry, painting, whatever.
MFM: Was it scary starting a tour without having a lot of recorded music ready to go?
Angel: When I started that tour I had no music. I dropped a four song EP the day before the tour started. [Mod Sun lead singer Derek Ryan Smith] said, we have two weeks and then we're leaving. A week before I had to go to LA for rehearsals, I booked an eight-hour recording session and recorded four songs. I put it out a day before the tour started.
MFM: You had a album that came out earlier this year, “Ghost of the West.”
Angel: Yes, volume one. The second volume comes out at the top of the year.
MFM: Somebody coined your music “Western Soul.” Do you think that’s an accurate description?
Angel: Yeah. It seems pretty good. But it’s hard to put labels on stuff. I’ve also heard it called “Contemporary Outlaw.”
MFM: How long have you, Will, Nick and Amanda been together as a band?
Angel: Almost two years. I started playing with Will first. He was in a funk band with Nick. We played as a trio for a while. Then I wanted a female bassist and we found Amanda.
MFM: What's next after this? Are you on tour for a while?
Angel: We have a couple things back home and then we're going back out with Kaitlyn Butts at the end of September. Then another run in November with ZZ Ward.
MFM: Is there anything you want our readers to know about you and the band that they might not know?
Angel: We have another track called Crossroads coming out. That one's coming out with a video as well in September.
MFM: Shirt on or shirt off in the video? (watch Angel’s video for “Down by the River” to understand why we asked this question)
Angel: [laughing] We have shirt on. Oh wait, there is a part where it's off though.
Smoke meter - While Angel had a cigarette in his hat band and another behind his ear...they were of the regular type and not the same smoke we would experience when Billy Strings took the stage. I will say he had a kick ass gold case to keep them in, sharing with others backstage, classy. No smoke though...outdoor festival so nothing got in the way of the music.
Fight meter - None. Thought Angel was going to have a fight with the speaker stand at one point. During one of his songs, he leapt off the stage and into the crowd. All fine and dandy on the way down but getting back up he faced a half stack that was t least 5 ft tall...and he had to get on it or go all the way around the stage and enter the regular way. Well, probably due to his football days...Angel White threw a leg up and cleared the damn speaker in one step. Nice move. That was the only thing close to a fight for the Ange White set.
Sing-along meter - Best we could but a lot of folks were introduced to Angel White for the first time on this day, including Music Fan Magazine...I'm sure in the years to come this will be off the charts.