Bella White

Bella White is a singer-songwriter who is originally from Calgary but whose music leans very strongly in the Appalachian direction, capturing the sound of a land far, far away. Stylistically she is right there actually, with her cadence and twang, among other things. She goes back and forth between adopting the traditional approach wholesale as opposed to using it as a springboard to push forward and extend her music further out. She has been doing more of the latter of late, but mostly the former in her first album, Just Like Leaving (2021), which was certainly much closer to her bluegrass roots, including plenty of fiddle and mandolin action throughout. Her songs feel authentic and lived in, and she delivers them with an expressive voice.