Life & Work with Brennan White

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brennan White.

Hi Brennan, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born in Nashville and raised in Franklin (a unicorn of sorts, I’ve been told). My family moved to Mississippi when I was 14, a week before I started high school, and it was actually in MS where I cut my teeth on playing, teaching, and recording music. The joke I always tell folks that I meet is, “I moved away from Nashville and still ended up being broke playing music full time.”

I started recording music when I was 15, I played in a band throughout high school, but at 18, I started getting my feet wet doing session work at Blue Sky Studios in Jackson and was forever hooked. I proceeded to do session work there and at a couple of other studios in the area. Eventually, I opened up my own space, called The Fairview Sound, out of my home with hopes of being able to help out other artists and use my multi-instrumentalism, engineering abilities, and ear for production to help other folks record music they could be proud of.

As of June 2022, my wife and I moved back to TN to be closer to my brothers and their families, and also so I could finally give my career a chance to blossom into something new and more robust – I yearn to be pushed and challenged by my peers so that I can continue to hone my craft and be in a place where I can expect to always be the dumbest person in the room, and I like it that way.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Being a full-time instructor, musician, and producer has been the furthest thing from “smooth.” I have faced so many failures along the way, cringed to countless recordings of myself playing guitar, sobbed beside my wife so many times over losing work or missed opportunities, and I also had to deal with my own pride and resentment in the process.

Nothing about this has been easy, and from the age of 18 to 27, I maintained a steady stream of playing in several bands (7 at the peak) and working anywhere between 4-7 part-time jobs to make ends meet. That’s what happens unfortunately when the thing you’re best at isn’t something that makes much money in a small city. What I can say is that somehow, I made it work. It wasn’t always pretty and I certainly had to ask for help at points – but I’m still here, I’m still going, and I’m honestly more driven than ever to continue this path and stick it out.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
The things I specialize in the most are producing artists, songwriting, and playing guitar. I play about 5 instruments proficiently, but the guitar has consistently been the instrument that speaks to me the most, and it is certainly what I’m best known for. I love improvising on the guitar especially, and I’ll often sit for hours making up music randomly; a skill I picked up from playing for Modern Dance classes at a small arts university in Jackson, MS. The professor would look at me and say, “something in 3, about this fast, maybe make it spooky or brooding? And 1..2..3..” In about 5 seconds, I had to go from absolute silence to playing completely original music; and NOT just playing guitar, because there’s a big difference between a guitarist and a musician in my mind. My constant aim is to be a musician first and a guitarist second.

I am most proud of the two and a half years I spent running my recording studio and getting to produce so many amazing clients. And the other thing I am most proud of is all of the guitar students I’ve taught over the years. I was REALLY bad at first, but through a few hard failures and some incredible guidance from some folks who believed in me, I became what I would consider a well-rounded, loving, and influential instructor to many students.
Honestly, I never thought that teaching would steal my heart the way it did, it just seemed like a good way to make money while playing guitar when I was 20, but it evolved into more than I could have ever imagined.

The project I am working the most on right now is my own music, which I release under the pseudonym “Codetta South.” I have often pushed my own songs to the back of the bus while I encouraged friends and clients to take the front seats with the smoothest ride and the best views. It has honestly been a form of self-sabotage. Thoughts like “no one care about my music,” or “I have nothing good to say that people will care about” have haunted my mind for my entire life, which has consistently pushed me back into the most comfortable and safest position I know: the gun-for-hire sideman, the sidekick to the band leader, the cheerleader who is dedicated to uplifting others while my own music lay in the darkest corners of my hard drives.

I’ve learned that even if you think you have nothing new to say, you should still join the conversation and start talking – it’s the only way I can think of to test what you know or don’t know.

Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
The largest risk I had probably ever taken before moving back to TN was opening up a recording studio in March 2020. I literally launched it 2 weeks before Covid hit, but I honestly had no other choice – I HAD to make it work so my wife and I could stay afloat. That was a big risk, but it didn’t involve any major overhead because the studio was out of my house and I had already accumulated all of my equipment over the years.

Moving back to Nashville is by far the largest risk I’ve taken, and not just career-wise either. My wife and I are very intentional people who really try to make an effort to reach out to folks and stay connected (honestly, this is more true for my wife than myself, but I admire it so much in her that it has slowly rubbed off on me).

Moving to TN meant leaving all familiarity behind; we can no longer walk into a coffee shop and see 15 people we love at a whim, and the weight of not knowing anyone in a new place was a tremendous risk to both of our mental well-being. Regardless, we really felt it was the right decision, for many reasons, and we’re here for the journey of finding new community and friends as adults, rough seas and all.

Pricing:

• $175/Song for Session Guitar
• $60/1 Hr Lessons
• Free: A cup of coffee and a fun hang.

Contact Info:

• Website: TheFairviewSound.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/codettasouth/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CodettaSouth
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1yoL03PFm0p10kDQbzjr2J?si=coViv2t6TNWqvIrlacZroQ  

Image Credits
Kody Gautier, Brent McQuillin, and Bethany Moore