Bella White

Bella White grew up in Calgary yet cultivated a piercing vocal drawl and deep affinity for bluegrass traditions that evoke the Appalachian Mountains rather than the Canadian plains. Her 2020 debut album Just Like Leaving projected that rural American atmosphere, yet closer inspection shows she was no strict traditionalist; instead she reshaped longstanding Americana conventions around her own reflective and emotionally charged compositions. Those contemporary indie leanings surfaced more prominently on her follow-up Among Other Things, which Jonathan Wilson produced and which included guitar work from Big Thief’s Buck Meek.

The daughter of a Virginia-born banjoist, White absorbed Appalachian folk, country, and bluegrass from childhood onward. She began writing songs at age seven and spent her early years immersed in folk festivals and music camps. During her teenage years she gradually moved beyond strict bluegrass boundaries while her songwriting continued to mature. At eighteen she relocated to Boston, where she completed most of the material later heard on her first record; by the time Just Like Leaving appeared she had settled in Nashville.

Still in her late teens, White recorded that debut with producer and Lonely Heartstring Band fiddler Patrick M’Gonigle. Rounder issued the album in September 2020, quickly gaining her notice within Americana circles. For Among Other Things she again broadened her scope, enlisting Jonathan Wilson—previously behind sessions for Father John Misty and Angel Olsen—to helm the project at Fivestar Studios in Topanga Canyon, where several indie artists joined her, among them Buck Meek.