Q&A: Angel White Weaves Cowboy History with Soulful Melodies in Debut Album, ‘GHOST OF THE WEST’
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY CHARLOTTE ISIDORE ☆
A COWBOY HAT, A BOTTLE OF WHISKEY, AND A GUITAR—many would say that's all it takes to succeed in country music. But for Texas native Angel White, the journey is far deeper than a look. Born and raised on his family’s ranch outside of Fort Worth Texas, Angel’s cowboy roots run five generations deep. He was born a cowboy, beekeeper and rancher, and was taught to care for and respect the land, animals, and cowboy community from a young age. His identity is at the forefront of his music and informs his every move as an artist. To Angel White, there is no music without the country.
Inspired by the wide open landscapes of his childhood in Cleburne, Texas, Angel White infuses his music with the mystique of the American West and the sounds that emerged from it. His songwriting blends his personal experiences with the history of Mexican, Black, and Native cowboys in the American West. By drawing on this history, he sheds light on the often-overlooked stories of these communities, who are frequently marginalized in mainstream cowboy depictions. GHOST OF THE WEST is not only an expression of himself, but also an homage to the cowboys who came before him. He seamlessly blends the old with the new, drawing inspiration from nearly every genre across the decades. For Angel White, it’s less about conforming to the country “box” and more about creating from a place of authenticity.
Luna sat down with Angel to discuss his goals, motivations, and influences as a singer-songwriter. Read below to learn more about this clever cowboy with a mission!
LUNA: Congratulations on the release of your album GHOST OF THE WEST. I loved the single “RUNNING IN PLACE.” Describe the process of making that song.
ANGEL: It was the first song we made on the first day in the studio. My producer, Dwight Baker, has this nice red couch in the studio, and he calls it his therapy session couch. So before we really talked about music, we just sat there for about an hour and a half just talking. Then we kind of rolled into the conversation of daddy issues, and he was like, “Oh, you have daddy issues, same.” So we started running on that.
The narrative of not having that father figure there [is something] both of us related to. It can be this circle you run in, on an identity basis. You can place blame, but at the end of the day, no one can love you if they're not loving themselves. So [this song] was me wanting to restructure the narrative and be graceful and forgiving with that piece of me. So after that conversation, [my producer] was like, “Alright, that's the song right there,” and “RUNNING IN PLACE” was birthed.
The [most important] piece of writing a great song is [knowing] people are going to live with it, whether they're living to the context of you or relating it to themselves. That's my favorite part.
LUNA: As a songwriter and artist, what does your pre-session routine look like?
ANGEL: I don’t know if I have one that I do every time. Looking back at when we were recording the album, that was pretty routine-based. So I was able to wake up, make my tea, write my morning pages, and then by ten o'clock, we were in the studio. Whereas [other days] I'll wake up, mosey around all day, and then seven o'clock hits, and this little line pops into my head and I'm like, “Alright, I gotta write.” I've been doing a lot of co-writing, which is a different space for me. That's walking into the room like, “So where's everybody at? How are you feeling? What's the topic of the day?” So there's like three different ways it can go for me. It's never the same. I think being more on the artist, expressionist side is where all the freedom lies—you can be more elusive with your approaches.
LUNA: You come from a lineage of cowboys with a century-old tradition of raising horses. How does being a 5th-generation Texas cowboy, beekeeper, and rancher inform your musical choices?
ANGEL: For the most part being inspired by open spaces has always been the thing. When you're from the country, all you know is the country. It was always my place of peace. Just thinking about an open field is calming.
I didn't start making music until I was 21, and it was more so that my surroundings had intertwined with the music. Like I said earlier—I don't make music because I'm country, I'm just from the country, and I make music. People can say, “Oh, you got on the cowboy hat. You must make country music.” And it's like, “Well, what came first? The hat or the music—the egg or the chicken.” I was a cowboy already, and now I just so happen to do music.
LUNA: I imagine being around country landscapes filled you with so much inspiration that you almost didn’t have a choice but to make art with it.
ANGEL: Yeah, [the music] was inevitable. [For example, when] working with the bees I am by myself, so the solitude is insane. I am watching how these bees work, watching them do their thing, and that just in itself inspires life, and then you get to put it into these creations.
It's pretty tranquil, too. The sound of them is really nice. It's a meditative practice because you have to be patient and understand how the bees are feeling. You can't be on edge, because that will make them be on edge. Same with horses—it's all trust. That's another piece that I take into the music. There has to be so much trust, and you only get a couple of times to gain that trust from a horse because they also remember everything. They have to trust you, but you also have to trust them because you have to let go. It’s a symbiotic bond. If you sit there and try to control it, it won’t work. They know what to do and you are just extensions of each other. Same with a guitar; a guitar is just an extension of myself. [So I take] that into trusting myself with my ideas. It's like if you trust it off-rip, then it's usually good.
LUNA: Your project is about much more than music—you “pay homage to the sidelined narratives of the Mexican, Black, and Native cowboys, historical figures often unjustly erased from both the annals of history and mainstream pop culture depiction of the American West.” Who inspires you to tell these sidelined stories? Who motivated you to translate these stories into music?
ANGEL: I mean, big time my mom. When it comes to the actual cowboy lifestyle, my dad, my grandpa, and his dad and his dad [inspire me]. They've all been breeding horses for as long as I can remember. Now it's been more prominent as far as the “representation,” but I still don't think the story is being told within the representation. Legacy [is important], not even for myself, but [for everyone]. I was at Walmart the other day, and this little girl was just staring at me, and she was like, “Are you a cowboy?” And I was like, “Yes, ma'am.” But I'm a face of many men, so I can't even say that it's just me who wants to do this thing. It also feels like a duty or calling, if you will —I'm just a vessel at the end of the day. So if I could represent more than myself, then I think that the job is being done.
LUNA: Who would you say musically inspires you?
ANGEL: Ray LaMontagne, Justin Vernon, Frank Ocean, Erykah Badu, Dijon, Mk.gee, Matt Champion, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Stevie Wonder, Jimmy Hendrix, and Eddie Hazel, to name a few.
I also love complete bodies of work. There's nothing like a full album.
LUNA: What project, collaboration, or event are you looking forward to in the future?
ANGEL: I'm on the road doing an East Coast run. I got some shows in Milwaukee, Chicago, Connecticut, and New York. Then we got some shows with Saint Motel in Houston, Austin, and Dallas. We got Luck Reunion, which is Willie Nelson's festival. It’s one of the best festivals in the world. I cannot explain it. It's in this place called Spicewood. Willie bought a town a little outside of Austin and named it Luck, Texas, and he has this festival there every year. It's just such a family affair. Then we got Stagecoach, which I'm over the moon about —that's going to be crazy. Then Under the Big Sky, in Montana, and Cattle Country, in Austin.
