Bella White

The third album from Bella White, A Sign In The Weather is a body of work steeped in the life-altering magic of its origins. While touring in support of her widely lauded sophomore LP Among Other Things (and sharing bills with the likes of Dierks Bentley, Tyler Childers, and The Red Clay Strays), the Calgary-born singer/songwriter left her home on Vancouver Island and moved to New Orleans, where she soon became happily enmeshed in the city’s vibrant indie-rock scene. As she immersed herself in the unfettered and open-hearted creativity of her newfound musical community, the 25-year-old lifelong musician began assembling a suite of songs that stretch far beyond her bluegrass roots and arrive at a moodier and more audacious breed of folk/Americana. Made with her close-knit circle of collaborators, A Sign In The Weather both echoes the homespun nature of its creation and signals a powerful evolution in her one-of-a-kind artistry.

Co-produced by White and Ross Farbe (a New Orleans-based producer/songwriter/musician who’s also worked with Esther Rose and Drugdealer), A Sign In The Weather marks a departure from the more lavish scale of Among Other Things—a 2023 release produced by Jonathan Wilson (Angel Olsen, Father John Misty) and recorded with esteemed musicians like Big Thief guitarist Buck Meek. This time around, White joined forces with her longtime bandmate Patrick M’Gonigle (on fiddle) and local musicians like drummer Sam Gelband, bassist Gina Leslie, guitarist Nick Corson, and vocalist Maddy Kirgo, dreaming up a nuanced yet potent sound that spotlights the singular character of her enchanting vocals and graceful guitar work. Also featuring contributions from Farbe (on guitar, percussion, organ, and synth), pianist Duncan Troast, and Nashville-based pedal-steel player Nikolai Shveitser, A Sign In The Weather ultimately brings a bold new energy to the sophisticated musicality White first cultivated by taking up guitar at age eight (thanks in part to the influence of her father, a Virginia-born bluegrass musician who raised her on classic country and old-time music). 

The latest installment in a catalog that began with her 2021 debut album Just Like Leaving, A Sign In The Weather also uncovers new layers of White’s soul-searching songwriting—an element praised by major outlets like Rolling Stone and NPR (who stated that “Sometimes the minute you hear a voice, you know it’s for the ages”). “New Orleans is such a musical city, and the experience of being around a lot of songwriters in particular has been so inspiring to me,” she notes. With its subtle interplay of poetic introspection and stream-of-consciousness outpouring, the album embodies a raw urgency that stems from White’s real-time processing of a period of intense change. To that end, A Sign In The Weather takes its title from one of the first songs written for LP: “Without Making A Sound,” an in-the-moment reflection on the painful confusion of letting go and moving on. “Right around when I decided to move I also ended a relationship—it felt like a chapter of my life was closing, and I was experiencing a lot of sadness and guilt and other big feelings,” White recalls. “When I wrote that song I was traveling somewhere that’s usually very warm, but it was like the gray gloominess of the Pacific Northwest had followed me there. It felt like it brought everything full circle to make that the album title, especially because making the choice to shake up my life really opened the floodgates for all the songs to come.”