John Paul White came to many listeners’ attention as part of the highly regarded duo The Civil Wars with Joy Williams, but prior to and after the duo were active between 2009 and 2012, White has produced three distinctive and memorable albums, quite unlike any other artist on the contemporary scene. The Civil Wars deserve an ‘Essentials’ feature of their own one day, so this time round, I’m focussing on his solo output. “The Long Goodbye” was released in 2008, prior to the birth of the Civil Wars, with “Beulah” his first solo release after their demise, released in 2016, followed by “The Hurting Kind” in 2019.
Each release is characterised by White’s exquisite and vulnerable high register vocals and distinctive acoustic guitar, but special note is due to “Beulah”, my introduction to his solo work, and which I continue to describe as “the most beautifully bitter album I’ve ever heard”. His lyrics go to the darkest places in relationships but are never maudlin or predictable, with added emotional weight from unsettling chord and note choices. For those interested in working out his unique playing, White has recorded two YouTube videos under the banner ‘John Paul White for Dummies‘, generously giving a note-by-note tutorial for ‘Black Leaf’ and ‘The Once and Future Queen’ from “Beulah”.
Number 10: ‘Holiday’ from “The Long Goodbye” (2008)
An ethereal feel, with White’s high-end vocals to the fore, although his lyrics hint at the possibility of a happy ending, the tone of the song says otherwise, with arpeggiated keys and trademark out-of-key notes: “Holiday phone calls/ Long distance, small talk/ Wishing you Godspeed/ And if you ever come back to me/ Here’s to happy-ever-afters and endings/ Good night, sweet dreams”.
Number 9: ‘I Wish I Could Write You a Song’ from “The Hurting Kind” (2019)
White’s latest release combines his trademark vocals and acoustic guitar with a more Nashville-leaning sound, no more so than on ‘I Wish I Could Write You a Song’, with an arrangement led by pedal steel guitar and a classic country riff, combined with keys and strings, and featuring electric guitar and pedal steel solos, and a lyric combing the power of music with the power of love: “A melody/ With harmony/ Soft and sweet/ Sounds like what it feels like when you dance with me/ It sways and bends/ Like violins/ And it never ends”.
Number 8: ‘I Want To Make You Cry’ from “Beulah” (2016)
Just a rundown of the song titles tells you where the first solo album after the break up of the Civil Wars is heading–as well as my featured songs in my top 10, you’ll find ‘Hope I Die’, ‘The Martyr’, and ‘I’ll Get Even’. A spooky and unsettling motif on acoustic guitar and keys opens the song, the pain of the lyric leavened by White’s vulnerable vocal, “I wanna make you cry/ I wanna make you hurt/ I wanna look in your eyes/ And watch the pain start to work/ Ooh, I want you to need/ The way that I’m gonna need you/ Would it kill you to do some bleeding/ Just for a moment or two?”
Number 7: ‘James’ from “The Hurting Kind” (2019)
‘James’ describes the impact of dementia on an ageing parent, inspired by White having seen Glen Campbell still able to play an intricate guitar solo but then repeating the same song because he’d forgotten he’d just sung it as his Alzheimers worsened. Ashley Campbell’s song ‘Remembering’ reflects on his story from the perspective of the daughter remembering for him, here White draws on details of his own father’s life, painting a touching picture of the confusion in the mind of his subject, anxious to understand seemingly contradictory realities.
Number 6: ‘Heart Like a Kite’ from “The Hurting Kind” (2019)
A delightful melody soars like White’s subject as he sings, “She’s got a heart like a kite/ Floating away all the time/ Oh, I’m holding on for dear life/ But she’s got a heart like a kite”, a charming take on the lover with a fickle heart, unsettling again, as he worries that “She always comes down to Earth/ Eventually/ But I fear that there’s coming a day/ When I’ll run out of string/ And she won’t come back to me.”
Number 5: ‘This Isn’t Gonna End Well’ from “The Hurting Kind” (2019)
A duet with Lee Ann Womack, White riffs on the sense of a dangerous and doomed relationship with an arrangement which summons up the Everly Brothers in its soaring chorus, “A little heaven could be hell/When you kiss me I can tell/This isn’t gonna end well”.
Number 4: ‘Hate the Way You Love Me’ from “Beulah” (2016)
The lyrical finger-picking intro belies a baring of the soul, as White sings, “You’re a hard woman to live with/ I could never fill those shoes/ An example for our children/I could never live up to/ And I hate myself for staying/ Where I should and should not be/ With someone I know I don’t deserve/ And doesn’t deserve me/I wouldn’t have it any other way/ Heaven knows a sinner needs a saint/ Oh, but when I’ve been my most ugly/ I hate the way you love me.” A hard listen, with its searing honesty.
Number 3: ‘The Once and Future Queen’ from “Beulah” (2016)
The beauty of White’s vocal allows the listener to simultaneously feel soothed and drawn into his inner torment, singing of his realisation that a relationship is doomed, “Someone’s out there praying for the day that you walk in/ And happy ever after can finally begin/ Someone who’ll stop at nothing to give you all you need/ Someone, that someone won’t be me/ And that’s okay/ I never really loved you anyway/ At least not unconditionally/ Like subjects love the once and future queen”.
Number 2: ‘My Dreams Have All Come True’ from “The Hurting Kind” (2019)
Essence of John Paul White–achingly beautiful chorus melody, with something of an old-time feel, in 3:4, and finely crafted lyrics on the pain of true love: “The wanting, the holding, the loving, the losing/ I knew what coming, what my heart was choosing/ The needing, the bleeding, the ending, the breaking in two/ My dreams have all come true”.
Number 1: ‘Black Leaf’ from “Beulah” (2016)
From the opening acoustic guitar motif, the unique juxtaposition of exquisite beauty and pain which so characterises White’s solo work is apparent, just one unnerving note outside the song’s key telling the listener that the song will be taking you somewhere dark. With something perhaps of Nick Drake’s darker later work in the arrangement, White’s lyric is painfully vulnerable “So bitter/ In my heart and in my mouth/ She’s a quitter/ But I guess we’re both quitting now/ Oh well/ There’s always a second time around/ It was hard to breathe/ She was holding me/ Now she’s gone and I can’t get no air/ Those old butterflies/ Guess they haven’t died/ ‘Cause they’re eating me alive in there”.
