Tag Archives: Drake White

Chase Rice Caps Off an Epic Fourth Annual NECM Festival!

Sunday August 12th marked the fourth annual New England Country Music Festival presented by the Harbor Agency. The all-day ten-hour party was held at the picturesque Cisco Brewers in Portsmouth New Hampshire. The weather might not have been perfectly clear, but the beer, vendors, and music were surely amazing!

Walking the grounds, one could enjoy anything from decadent brownies and gourmet cupcakes to yummy pizza, hand cut French fries and fresh squeezed lemonade. Those seeking the true ‘country feel’ could even purchase a country western style hat! Many spectators came, not only for the great music, but for the delicious craft beer! Looking around the field before the start of the show, almost every hand was filled with a drink!

Sprinkles began falling from the cloudy sky overhead, but that didn’t dampen anybody’s start to the afternoon. First onto the stage was April Cushman, an emerging country (with a hint of rock ’n’ roll) singer/songwriter born and bred right here in New Hampshire. Dawning a black t-shirt with the classic Rolling Stones ‘tongue and lip design,’ she sang a real rocking song titled ‘Poison Ivy.’ When that song ended, she said to the crowd: “Come on Portsmouth! Let’s get louder!” “You all ready for a full day of music?” Next, she sang her very own ‘Impossible Excuse.’

While thinking about Cushman’s own daughter, one couldn’t help but notice the most adorable little girl sitting up on her daddy’s shoulder’s swaying to the music. She continued: “I’m a daddy’s girl so I decided to write a song from my dad’s point of view. The funny part about this is that it’s my mom’s favorite song of mine and she has no idea that it’s about her!” Then, she sang ‘Must’ve Been Me.’ Switching things up a bit, she next sang a cover of ZZ Top’s ‘Tush.’ She introduced her bandmates, Jimmy Eibner, “also known as the chemistry cowboy” on steel guitar, Dino on bass, Phil Sica on drums, and Steve Moreau on “the glitter” guitar.” The next song she played, ‘North Carolina,’ was released just two weeks ago. She finished up her set with ‘Drifting Lines’. April Cushman definitely has her own unique style, and is on her way to something big.

With the sprinkles continuing to fall during the set change, it seemed appropriate that DJ Mikey Fletch played Luke Bryan’s hit ‘Rain is a Good Thing.’ The crowd continued to fill in both the pit section and the general admission area as the beautiful Annie Brobst took the stage. Many of Brobst’s loyal fans, known as ‘The ABB Army,’ were there to support her. Before playing her first song, ‘Paperweight,’ she said to the audience: “Hey Portsmouth, How you doin’? This is a little song we wrote about being tied down.” Then she played another original that she cowrote with guitarist Rodger Hagopian titled ‘Still Water.’ She said: “In June we got the chance to go to some pretty big festivals out west and that was kinda a trip of a lifetime. We played in Colorado and in Montana. And we shared the stage with some pretty big names like Eric Church, Brett Eldredge, and Kip Moore. But the young lady that we got to share the stage with that I was most excited about was a lady named Ashley McBryde. Oh yeah! We’ve got some fans out there! I became a huge fan of hers. If you don’t know of her, you gotta look her up! But if you’ve heard of her then you’ve heard of this song. I hope you sing along!” Brobst then played her only cover song, ‘A Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega.’

Next up were two more originals ‘Love You More’ and ‘Change of Heart.’ Both are off her latest album titled ‘My First Rodeo.’ She thanked April Cushman for kicking off the day by saying “Girl power to the max!” And said: “Thanks to all our friends, new fans, and existing fans. We appreciate you being out here today and we hope to see you again! I like to end our sets with the first song that I ever wrote. This is a cowrite between Rodger and I and the title track off our first EP. And it’s the story about my journey out to the Boston area from Columbus, Ohio.” She ended with ‘Ghost.’ It’s hard not to fall in love with Brobst’s heartfelt style of music.

The rain had stopped and DJ Mikey Fletch played Chris Stapleton’s ‘Broken Halos.’ Again, another fitting song as Timmy Brown played this one for the judges during his time on American Idol 2018. Last up for the “local artists” was fan-favorite Timmy Brown, a singer/songwriter from Norton, MA. Brown filled his set with originals, and kicked things off with the title track from his EP, ‘Leave This Town.’ He asked the crowd: “You guys ready to have some fun today?” Next, he sang ‘Amen.’ He continued to work the crowd: “Who’s drinking with me today? Put your hands together for April and Annie!” Continuing with the originals, he played ‘Tequila Lime & Salt’. Bassist Dave Allen had some fun on stage by changing his hat with each song! For this one, Allen appropriately wore a red, green, and yellow Jamaican hat with dread locks attached. Timmy Brown then played a brand-new song that is not even on iTunes or Spotify yet. He said: “How many of you go out and say I’m only having one drink? But one turns to two and two turns to three. That’s what I wrote this song about. It’s called ‘How We Drink Here’ cause that’s how we drink in New England!” He then told a personal story as to why he wrote the next song on his setlist. “So, I was lucky this year. I got to audition in front of Luke Bryan, Katie Perry, and Lionel Richie. One of my first songs that I played on the show was a song that I wrote for my grandmother. My grandmother passed away three years ago and she pretty much raised me. My parents were divorced when I was nine years old. So, I moved in with my father and my grandparents. And one of the stories about this song, I went to a psychic medium one day and one of the things she said to me was ‘your grandmother, Barbara, she wants to thank you either for a poem or a song.’ So, I know every time I play this song she’s up there listening.” Then he played ‘Fly Away.’

Next up was another not-yet recorded song titled ‘That’s Where You Come In.’ It was impressive to see that so many fans knew every line and were singing along. To really get the crowd pumped, he played two covers, Brittney Spears’ ‘Hit Me Baby’ and Devin Dawson’s ‘All On Me.’ He finished up by thanking the crowd: “If it weren’t for all of you supporting our dreams, we wouldn’t be up here today.” And concluded with a song that has over 400,000 streams on Spotify titled ‘Lil Bit.’ He made sure to mention his band members: Mike Franklin on lead guitar, David Allen on base, Leo Melanson on acoustic guitar, and Jeff Ballou on drums. It was so perfect to see a Timmy Brown beach ball from his merch table being tossed around in the pit during the end of his set. Though Brown is moving to Nashville this October, he’ll be back once or twice a month to play shows around the area and all of his loyal fans will be there supporting him in every step along the way.

Winning raffle prize numbers, for meet and greet passes, were pulled and announced during the set changes. The breeze picked up and the air seemed a little cooler. Right on schedule at 3:45, Michael Tyler, singer/songwriter from Thayer, MO took the stage. He played ‘Good at Being Young,’ ‘Secret,’ and ‘Crazy Last Night.’ He addressed the crowd: “Do we have any Jason Aldean fans out there? So, a little bit about how I kinda got into this music thing here. I was a huge fan of Jason Aldean growing up. I got on Myspace and I found his producer, the guy that makes his music sound so good. I said ‘Hey man, I love the way you make albums sound, I think we could make some good music together.’ It was a long shot but whatever. I was fourteen at the time in my hometown of Thayer, MO in the middle of nowhere. He replied and said ‘Hey do you ever play in Nashville?’ And I was like ‘All the time!’ (The crowd laughed!) And so long story short he came to a show in Nashville, I had my brother on guitar and I had my cousin on the drums and we played for him. And he said you know what you need to do? You need to get home to write a bunch more songs and get back to me. And I was like ok, that’s the end of that. And then four years later he signed me to my publishing company down in Nashville and I started writing songs. And then we met with Reviver Records and they signed us and now we’re in front of y‘all.” He then played Jason Aldean’s hit ‘Tattoos on This Town.’ He continued with two more originals, ‘I Can’t See’ and ‘If I Was Your Man.’ He talked a little about his next song choice, ‘Hey Mama’ and said: “My mom sat me and my brother down one night in high school. We may or may not have been drinking. We got caught. She said ‘alright boys, I just want you to know that if you go somewhere at one of your friends houses and you have been drinking, please don’t drive home or try and sneak home cause we know what you’re doing. We just want you to be smart about it. If you drink too much, please call us and we’ll come get you. You won’t be in trouble, we just want y’all safe. My brother goes to a party and he calls my mom in the middle of the night. She picks up and she’s like do you need me to come get you, are you in trouble? And he’s like no, we’re all good, we’re having a great time. And mom’s like ok, well why are you calling me. And he says cause I just met this girl, she’s incredible, I think I’m in love with her. And my mom’s like ok, let’s just talk about it in the morning. And they’ve been together now eight years! So I got to write this thing for my brother and it’s called ‘Hey Mama.’” Tyler continued with two cover songs, John Mellencamp’s ‘Jack and Diane’ and Billy Currington’s ‘Good Directions.’ He concluded his part of the show with one of his cowrites, Dierk’s Bentley’s hit ‘Somewhere on a Beach.’ Michael Tyler really got the crowd fired up for the next three performers.

We were more than halfway through the show. Following Tyler on the big stage was Nashville native singer/songwriter Mitchell Tenpenny. He started things off with ‘Truck,’ a song written about his old beat up truck that he had in high-school. After putting down his blue and white electric guitar, he addressed the crowd: “We appreciate y’all coming out today and hanging out with us. The rain is holding off. I don’t mind a little overcast. This next song is about this ex-girlfriend I used to have who was too hot for me and she knew it.” It’s titled ‘How She Goes.’ He continued with two more originals, ‘Mix Drinks’ and ‘Secrets.’ TenPenny talked a bit about his EP “We do have an EP out right now with six songs. And we just finished our first full-length record. And I’m so excited to get those songs out. It’s been a long time and a long process, but I’m very grateful for all the love that y’all share on the EP and the single.” He went on to play one of songs from the new record, ‘Goner.’

Changing things up, TenPenny played a crowd pleaser cover of Blake Shelton’s ‘Ol’ Red.’ He then played ‘Just Another.’ He then said “So last year I got a phone call from a guy named Granger Smith. Does anybody know him? I had been writing a lot of songs for a long time and that was my first time an artist called and said hey man, I want to cut your song. I want to put it on my record. And about a week later he called and said I want to make that song a single and it’s going to radio! That was the first time I ever got to hear my song on the radio. And thank you guys so much for listening and making it a hit for me. It changed my life and opened up a couple of doors. I want to give you my version of that song that we wrote.” He sang ‘If The Boot Fits.’ He really got the crowd singing along to his fun-loving song ‘Alcohol.’ He picked up his acoustic guitar and everyone was excited to hear the first song he ever released to country radio, ‘Drunk Me.’ Then he finished off with ‘Bitches.’ TenPenny had to fly in for our festival, so he wasn’t able to bring any merchandise with him. That made it even more special to see so many fans in the crowd with his t-shirts on!

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It was starting to get dark as Hokes Bluff, Alabama native Drake White took the stage. He kicked things off with two crowd pleasers: ‘Feels Good’ and ‘Heartbeat.’ “It’s been a little while since we’ve been here. Thank you for the kind welcome.” White continued with ‘Story.’ Then he played ‘Girl in Pieces’ and ‘Grandpa’s Farm,’ two of the five songs off his new EP out right now called ‘Pieces.’ Before singing ‘Free,’ White said: “There’s no one as hard working as our troops. I salute you all today. This is a messed-up world but I do believe there is more good people than bad in it.” Taking a break from playing the acoustic guitar, White continued with ‘After Midnight.’ It’s another one from the new EP, written about how there are a lot of good things that happen after midnight. Highlighting the fiddle, he played ‘All Would Be Right.’ Drake White even danced barefoot and swayed to the fiddle sounds.

Darkness had set in and the stage lights came on just in time for ‘Take Me As I Am.’ Offering up some advice, White mentioned: “Any musician that you love, not just us…If you want them to keep going we are in crucial times right now, go download their music, go tell your friends about them. Go tell somebody about those people that you love.” He dedicated the next song, ‘The Best is Yet to Come,’ to all the mothers. This is a powerful song and White ended with his fist high in the air. Keeping with the slow, meaningful songs, he belted out ‘Makin’ Me Look Good.’ Then set the crowd on fire with ‘Livin’ The Dream.’ Every single person on hat damp green grass was singing along! Reminding many of us of the classic ABC series, ‘The Wonder Years,’ Drake White ended his part of the night with a Beatles’ cover of ‘With a Little Help From My Friends.’ The crowd really connected with White’s energy and soulfulness on stage.

It had been a long day of some incredible country music. The time read 8:15 and the crowd was pumped for headliner Chase Rice to take the stage. Rice started the night with ‘Lions.’ The contrast between the misty fog in the air and the bright lights created a smoke-like backdrop. Rice showcased his amazing guitarists as they continued to rock out to ‘Do it Like This.’ Rice grabbed his acoustic guitar for ‘How She Rolls.’ He threw his guitar pic into the crowd and then prepared to slow things down a bit with his latest release to country radio, ‘Eyes On You.’ “I think the last time we were out here was probably Boston. There’s one thing that has not changed since I’ve been coming up here to this part of the Northeast and it’s that I still very much love Jack Daniels. I drink it all the time.” He then played ‘Jack Daniels Showed Up.’

After giving out lots of high-fives and handshakes, Rice got the crowd cheering with a compilation cover of Dierk’s Bentley’s ‘Drunk on a Plane,’ Eric Church’s Drink in My Hand,’ Kenny Chesney’s ‘American Kids,’ and Tim McGraw’s ‘Live Like You Were Dying.’ Bringing things down a notch, Rice played ‘Gonna Wanna Tonight.’ “I want to write music that just means something to me. Because if it meant something to me it will mean something to somebody else. So, I heard this quote that made me think about that, From Harlan Howard. He said that somebody asked him a long time ago what country music was and he said three chords and the truth.” Of course, that led to ‘Three Chords and the Truth.’ He kept with the slow tempo and sang ‘Ride.’ The crowd sang along and Rice said: “You all sounded sexy out there!” Rice then played a cover of his first number one song as a songwriter, Florida Georgia Line’s hit ‘Cruise.’ He ended the show with ‘Ready Set Roll.’ Demonstrating his true appreciation for his fans, Rice spent about 10-15 minutes autographing hats, t-shirts, cups, anything that his fans handed to him!

It was truly an epic day at Cisco Brewers in Portsmouth, NH. Thank you all for supporting country music and we can’t wait to see y’all again next year!

For more photos from the festival, click here.

2018 New England Country Music Festival presented by The Harbor Agency Returns to Portsmouth This Summer

August 12, 2018 will mark the 4th installment in the annual New England Country Music Festival presented by The Harbor Agency. This all-day, family-friendly event returns to the Redhook Brewery in Portsmouth, NH and will feature both nationally touring acts that fans can hear on country radio every day, along with some of New England’s best rising talent.

The festival will be headlined by Chase Rice who has drawn sold out crowds in Hampton, NH and Boston, MA (including this past January). Rice, with a pair of top 5 singles, and a brand new album (‘Lambs and Lions‘) has also had great success in the songwriting world including being a co-writer in one of the highest selling country singles of all time- Florida Georgia Line’s ‘Cruise.’

Joining Chase Rice will be Drake White- who had a few sold out shows of his headlining Spark Tour in New England just last year; plus, Sony Nashville recording artist Mitchell Tenpenny and Michael Tyler, who co-wrote Dierk’s Bentley’s ‘Somewhere On A Beach.’

New England’s own Timmy Brown and Annie Brobst- both 2x New England Country Music Local Artists of the Year award winners- as well as April Cushman will kick off the day.

More information on this year’s festival can be found at necmharbor.com. Tickets are on sale now and VIP tickets are already SOLD OUT. There is a limited number of PIT tickets still available for $45 (plus fees) and General Admission tickets are $40 (plus fees). Kids under 12 are free with the purchase of tickets. Tickets can be purchased here.

Drake White’s Got That Fire

While talent is surely a prerequisite to a successful music career, it’s Drake White’s hard work, drive, and most of all, passion that makes his success seem almost inevitable. In sitting down to talk with White, you can see the fire in his eyes, his energy is so contagious that you can’t help but walk away feeling inspired. We got to chat with the Alabama native before one of his last shows of 2017 at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den. He’s played the venue a few times before, and keeps returning in part because of the venue itself, including the professional, friendly, and hospitable staff, and the stage which looks much like what he would want for his own shows someday. “I’ve always had a native side of my character in it, you know, that whole Native American type of juju and vibe is my thing… I feel like I’m outdoors,” he said. But the biggest factor in his return to the Wolf Den is probably the fans. “We’ve had a lot of success up here, there’s a lot of passion for our kind of music.”

No matter the venue, Drake’s ultimate goal is to leave fans with lasting memories. “I’m always trying to figure out a different way to do things, and make a memory, make a moment for somebody like yourself or whoever comes to the show to go,” he said. “Ultimately, they don’t even know what’s really there, they’re just captivated by the moment, by the setting, by the music. They can come out and have a good time and not worry. Our fans are cool and they’re laid back and it’s a good time!”

So as 2017 was winding down, the conversation naturally moved towards reflection. It had been a pretty exciting year for White, he explained. “Playing Fenway Park with Zac, that was just a dream come true. And him coming out and singing with me and jamming with me and really developing that relationship. Then we went on our headlining tour and we sold out New York and Boston, and we got out to California and we just really had a lot of crowds. So this year, one of the highlights was to have these people come to our shows and sell out those shows. The other one was Europe – being in London playing C2C in March. I can’t say I didn’t expect it, we work really hard for what we do so as humbly as I know how to put it, we knew we were going to do well over there but man, that response we had was just amazing.”

Drake also spent some time the past year touring with Kip Moore. “Me and Kip, we’re cut from the same cloth. We love to write and we wanted to tour together for a long time,” said White. He continued to share one of the most important things he learned from Moore, building a core group of fans. “He’s done a really good job at that. He’s got dedicated fans and I would much rather go see someone that has a brand, that has a culture built around them, and knows and is true to that,” said White. Part of what’s built up that solid fan base for Moore is his honesty in both his music and live shows, a major takeaway for White. “Kip does not care, he does not ask permission. He sees the idea, he trusts the idea, and he goes with it. Now, he has a lot of hesitation in other parts of his life, but it makes him this really vulnerable, cool spirit on stage and it’s just, he’s honest.”

So has Drake ever struggled with his own honesty and authenticity? “No, I’ve never struggled with it,” he said firmly. But letting the question sink in a little he began to alter his response, “If I’m 100% truthful… Let me think about this because that’s a great question,” he paused. “I think that struggle is what makes you say, ‘No, I’ve never struggled.’ Does that make sense? I’m honest in the fact that I’ve got this sound in my head that I have through listening to Marshall Tucker Band, 311, and Sublime, and Tupac. All the way from Lynyrd Skynyrd to the Allman Brothers Band. I’ve got this sound – I love dobros, I love harmonicas. So there is a struggle in that, what is the identity? What is the Appalachian-soul-funk-country music-swagger-whatever –  What is it? Getting to that. I’ve always known what I like and I’ve always articulated that well. I was just going to be cool and say no, but honestly, it’s everyday you go in and you have these ideas and it’s up to you to trust your ideas, and you trust your god-given abilities.”

It’s a struggle that’s gotten easier as White puts in work on album number two. After seeing success with his debut album, Drake has found that making the second one is a little different, “In every good way possible,” he stated. “I mean, I’m just a normal guy. You know, you put your clothes on today and you’re dressed up and somebody says, ‘Hey, those are cool boots!’ It validates your boot choice or whatever. You put your sweat and soul into this music and people come up and react to it and say, ‘This helped me through this.’ Well, life’s hard and everybody knows it, so it gives you the confidence, it gives you the swagger to go grab the ball and throw another pitch. So I think that it’s just a more relaxed creative process.”

In addition to the finishing up his sophomore album, Drake White has a few other goals for 2018. “I’m going to learn jiu-jitsu, I’m going to start and I don’t know if I’ll finish my pilot’s license, but I’m going to do that. I’m going to run a couple of marathons…” The look of astonishment must have been clearly written on my face, “The reason I’m saying this is because I just wrote all these things down. There’s power in a yellow notepad and a pencil. I write it down, and you know I just believe it,” he said. “I always ask myself why can’t I accomplish my 10 year goals in a year. And most of the time it’s because you’re hesitating asking somebody what you need to ask them.” he said, adding a story to drive that point home. “I asked Zac after we got through the first run, I was like, ‘Hey I want to open up for you for the rest of the year, can we do that? And can we get paid a little bit more money?’ and Zac said, ‘yeah, sure.’ If you never ask, you don’t know.” Feeling motivated yet?  White admittedly listens to a lot of Tony Robbins and it shows. (And apparently it works, too.)

We all know that music has the power to make us feel something, but my conversation with White was truly eye-opening. He has a well-earned confidence, but doesn’t at all come off as cocky. If you’re not a fan, you ought to be. Check him out on social media or check out a show next time he’s around. “Bring somebody that’s never heard of us, I promise they’ll have a good time… Just be ready for a moment,” he assured. Drake’s also got some new music coming out soon, “as soon as I f*cking know how to get it out.” So keep your ears open for some new tunes. And to the fans who’ve been sticking by him, Drake wanted to give y’all a big shout out and say thank you!

To keep up with Drake, you can follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.