John Paul White - The Hurting Kind

On his new album, The Hurting Kind, White harkens back to Nashville's days of yore, when guys like Owen Bradley and Chet Atkins ruled the Row by making beautiful, heartfelt records that were both organically earthy and lushly sublime, all at once. Because White's songwriting and singing are both utterly malleable, when it comes to style, he can bend and flex them to fit whatever artistic vision he has in any given moment. To prep for The Hurting Kind, he listened to a lot of classic country records and set his sights there. Songs like “Yesterday's Love” and “You Lost Me” make it so very easy to imagine him in a Nudie suit crooning his heart out in a honky tonk, if not on the Grand Ole Opry. The album feels rather like a tour through Nashville's hey day. - Folk Alley