JASON WHITE

The Longing

jasonwhitemusic.com

Jason White went into his third album with two rather lofty goals. First he wanted to connect with his sensitive side—something former girlfriends said they found lacking in his music. A decade after Tim McGraw took one of his songs to the country Top 5 (“Red Ragtop”), White also sought to reaffirm his own artistic identity. He certainly accomplishes the former. Aside from “April”—a mournful I-told-you-so—White fills this disc with sweet, earnest love songs, flirting with Americana but mostly floating airy pop in the vein of Michael Penn or early John Mayer. As for the second challenge, White sounds confident and fully invested, like a hired gun glad to be calling his own shots.