106.1 The Corner welcomes John Paul White

About John Paul White

John Paul White will embark on a series of select performances this summer, including dates at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust, Philadelphia’s World Cafe Live, and Louisville’s Zanzabar, with support from Secret Sisters. The tour will feature new material White has been readying over the past year. White recently contributed “Simple Song” to Dave Cobb’s new collaborative compilation album Southern Family. For tickets and more information please visit www.singlelock.com.

White, formerly of the Grammy-winning duo The Civil Wars, is also a founder of Florence, AL based indie label Single Lock Records and Single Lock Records’ live music venue 116 E. Mobile with Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes) and Will Trapp. The label has released the acclaimed debut of St. Paul And The Broken Bones, Penny & Sparrow’s Let A Lover Drown You—which White produced and which reached #1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers and #1 on iTunes Singer/Songwriter charts—as well as albums by artists including Belle Adair, The Bear, and Donnie Fritts’ Oh My Goodness, which marked White’s debut as producer. Additional production credits include Dylan LeBlanc’s 2016 release, Cautionary Tale. White’s recent recording collaborations include work with Jason Isbell, Candi Staton, Rosanne Cash, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, among others. 

About The Kernal

Tapping into country music’s established standard of storytelling, The Kernal blends Southern music influences from gospel to honky tonk to access a sound both unique and universal. 

Based in Jackson, Tennessee (midway between Nashville and Memphis) The Kernal modeled his sound and showmanship on the greats of the classic country music scene. “My dad,” The Kernal reminisces, “met Sleepy LaBeef at Limebaugh's Restaurant in Nashville in the 60s. He was looking for a drummer and he asked dad if he could play a shuffle beat on the table. So he did and he left for a 10-day run the next day and stayed on the road about 30 years.”  From LaBeef, his father found his way to The Kendalls, and eventually to the legendary Del Reeves, with whom he would play until Reeves' death in 2007.  The Kernal’s father died in September of the same year and a seed was planted. The legacy of the old country music way, of rock and roll on the fly, was not lost on The Kernal, and he took it as starting point from which to build his own contribution to the canon of Southern music.

On his forthcoming new album LIGHT COUNTRY (Single Lock Records), The Kernal bows before his forebears while subverting convenient americana and country-pop pastiche. Co-produced with Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes, St Paul & The Broken Bones, John Paul White, Dylan LeBlanc), LIGHT COUNTRY weaves tales of wanderlust and wrong turns against the backdrop of honky tonk tones and rhythms . The past, present, and future of the South fly through The Kernal’s lyrics: "All aboard! You with holes in your jeans/hop on the off-chance that your wife's a-gonna turn out mean/if you don't pay me what I need to wear this shirt of chambray/It'll suit me fine to take your taxes on that third-shift holiday"

“It’s about old fabric on new skin, and seeing how they get along.” The Kernal explains. LIGHT COUNTRY will be available in the Spring of 2017.