Live Review: John Paul White with Emily Weisband at Eddie’s Attic in Decatur, GA, 7/30/21

The brilliance of John Paul White is sometimes overshadowed by his many iterations: a product of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, as a young solo artist who formed the Grammy Award-winning duo The Civil Wars with Joy Williams, then returning to his solo roots in 2014. Since then, he has collaborated with the likes of Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Roseanne Cash, “Whisperin” Bill Anderson, and most recently, Jason Isbell on a cover of R.E.M.‘s “Driver 8” for Isbell’s Georgia Blue album. White’s crooning vocals have also been compared with the late Roy Orbison.

For his stripped down solo tour, White carries an acoustic guitar onto the stage and produces magic. On this evening at Eddie’s Attic in Decatur, Georgia, he took full advantage of the intimate space (Eddie’s seats around 165). White tapped into a good portion of his solo work and some from the Civil Wars catalog. He doesn’t shy away from a handful of covers on this tour. He’s covered Elliott Smith, Jimmy Dorsey, The Beach Boys, and John Prine. The show closer on this night was an emotionally perfect cover of E.L.O.‘s “Can’t Get It Out of My Head.”

Emily Weisband opened the show.

Catch John Paul White on tour and check out his music at his website.