I recently saw a clip of Bella White and Reed Stutz rehearing this tune before the two were joined by Julian Pinelli and Nico Laroche-Humby for a tour run a few weeks back. Three things immediately hit me: holy shit this girl has got one of those voices that I am constantly on the audible hunt for, their harmonies make my knees weak and damn, I really wish they sold Reed’s mandolin tone in a bottle so I could buy it for myself.
While in Nashville the 4 piece spent some time with the even talented Kaitlyn Raitz and filmed a trio of songs. ‘I Broke (When I Realized)’ particularly burrows itself deep into my heart and mind.
The chorus hits especially hard. The harmonies are crushingly powerful in their simplicity. Everyone adding their own bit of heart and emotion to the mix that erupts in an overwhelming wave. The rise and fall that bows up and down like cresting waves raising a boat gently and then letting it back down again. This is the best of what country music and songwriting have to offer. Bella’s approach is equal parts brutal and beautiful. Her voice delivers lines with careful precision, but the tone and timbre are devastatingly heavy and gorgeous. That throwback to when country music was country music and songs (and their content) were enough to move you to tears with one or two lines. They live and thrive in that borderland between country, bluegrass and old time…a wonderful place to be.
Check out this and all three videos, then keep tabs on what this woman and the band are up to next. Seriously not one to be missed and I don’t say this lightly…but I think my favorite newly found artist of 2019.