Photo used with permission.

Lari White…

Returns with new album.

 

By: Gina Kay Singerhouse

Editor

 

   Champagne...so smooth and elegant.  From her sleek long neck bottle, to her precisely placed labels… you can not wait to pop her cork to taste that sweet, bubbly champagne.

   But do you know how she is created?  That sweet, elegant champagne…

   Deep in the valleys of northern France, is a region primarily known as Champagne.  It is here that you will discover the grapes necessary for this silky drink.  Growing within the vineyards of this region you will find black Pinot noir, Pinot Meunier and also white Chardonnay as these are what bring the rich flavors to our palate, once we taste that sweet champagne.

   It takes approximately three years of growth, for a vine to produce the grapes that are used in this process.  Each September at the precise moment when the sugar content is at its best, the clusters of grapes are harvested by hand.  Immediately they are pressed and go through a rigorous process to develop what is called Champagne.  It’s a process that can take up to two years to complete.  Nonetheless, the best champagnes are those that are left to age, thus creating that sweet, smooth, woodsy and elegant taste we come to appreciate.

   Some entertainers are like champagne.  When they first emerge onto the country music scene, they are quite elegant and crafty with their music.  However, they lack the refinement that comes with experience.

   One particular entertainer that comes to mind is Lari (pronounced like ‘Starry’) White.  White first hit the country music scene in 1988 when she won first prize from the talent show You Can Be A Star, on the Nashville Network.  However, it wasn’t until 1992 that Lari released her debut album Lead Me Not, did she gain any regard.  It was one year later that she achieved national recognition when she released her breakthrough album Wishes.  Lari went on to record several more albums to create hits including “That’s My Baby,” “That’s How You Know (When You’re In Love)” and “Now I Know.”

   The turn of the century brought Lari to the big screen.  Ms. White appeared in the opening and closing scenes of the 2000 film Cast Away, co-starring with Tom Hanks.

   Then life happened.  Lari married singer and songwriter Chuck Cannon.  The two created three children.  Lari faded into the spotlight of country music and devoted her time as a wife and to motherhood.

   “It was difficult to put my voice as an artist on the back burner for a number of years, but it was really important to me not to be on the road all the time. Not to be in pursuit of a career while my kids were growing up. My husband and I really wanted them to be home schooled, so that we had more time together.  For a number of reasons, it just wasn’t my priority for those years.  I was really raising my kids.” shares Lari White.  “Even so I couldn’t stop making music.  I was fortunate enough to have our studio and have wonderful artists to work in the studio with, to produce and write. I don’t think I would be able to live, to be able to survive if I stopped making music.  If I didn’t make music, honestly, whether anybody listens or not its just something that I have to do… ‘cause I feel like that’s what I’m made to do. But as my kids, you know my youngest is going into high school, so this is her last year of home schooling.  It really was the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.  The prolong tunnel of raising and home schooling kids has finally opened up into the light of getting back into being a music artist, myself.”...

Strictly Country will be closing soon. If you would like a copy of this article, please CLICK HERE and select the March / April 2017 issue.

 

 

 

This article was printed in Strictly Country Magazine Volume 24, Issue 2 (March / April 2017)

 

 

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