COCHRANE— Chasing her dream of sharing her music with the world, Sharon Marie White has reignited her music career over the past year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 56-year-old Cochranite said music has been a part of her life since her childhood in Napinka, MB, where she first picked up a guitar.
“I’ve been doing this since I was 15. When I was in high school, I took guitar lessons, and our teacher who was at the school, he had a few of us students. After about a year… he said ‘I think you guys are all good enough, why don’t we put a little band together," she said.
White’s life-long love affair with music began that day and she has been creating music in some capacity ever since.
As a group, White and her band played at bars and festivals anywhere they could.
“That was kind of my start into it, but then you get married, you have kids, but I always kept doing the music,” she said.
White’s music blends the genres of country, the blues and folk together, but always at the heart of her songs, is storytelling, she said.
Her involvement with music was fairly serious until she and her husband moved to Cochrane roughly 20 years ago, she said.
“I’ve always been in bands all of my life, and I just assumed when we moved here that I would find people to play with. But I was spoiled because I was always the person that someone would call and say, ‘hey do you want to be in a band?’ I was too shy to go out and pursue that here,” White said. “I let it go by the wayside for a while. We bought some recording equipment about 12 years ago, but again, our business got really, really busy and I didn’t really pursue it at all.”
White and her husband started their own company, and soon the demands of life became too much, and she put aside her serious pursuit of music.
Around that same time, White said, she and her husband installed a small recording studio in their home where she records her songs. Her husband mixes the songs once they’re recorded and has even helped her shoot a music video for her single, "Small Town Prayer."
White and her husband both work in the oil and gas sector, which keeps them very busy through the summer months. In the winter, when business lags, White said, she has ample time to record.
Although she had stopped seriously pursuing music for nearly 20 years, she never stopped playing or writing songs.
Playing was always in the back of her mind, but she said, she felt embarrassed chasing a dream so late in life.
“Last year, when I was starting out again, I thought ‘what am I doing? I’m 56,’” she said.
White was able to eventually push those thoughts aside, drawing inspiration from other performers, like Dolly Parton and Cher, who have maintained their performance careers into their seventies.
“I think I just decided to forget about the age thing, and just to go for it,” she said. “Life is so short, so I just thought ‘let's give it a go,’ and my husband is very supportive too.”
White said she began reaching out to Alberta radio stations but has had some difficulty getting her music played locally, and has since turned to other outlets.
She belongs to several musician groups online and would look for places where other independent artists had their music played.
She compiled a list of DJs who play indie country and began reaching out to them.
“I was a little deflated about that, but then all of these other opportunities came up. I’m getting my music played in Ireland, and Scotland, and the UK, and Australia and everywhere else, but I can’t get airplay very much in Alberta,” she exclaimed.
She said these other successes are validating for her, and motivated her to keep going.
In April of 2020, she submitted her song, "Shine," to the Canadian Indie Country Countdown, an Ontario-based program hosted by broadcaster Walter Scott James.
White’s song hit number one on the fan-voted charts.
“All of these opportunities are coming,” she said. “I try not to focus on the negative part of it because you can get really down about that. Right now, I want to focus on writing better songs and getting my music out there.”
White said technology and social media have been crucial tools in getting her music career off the ground.
White has hired Nashville-based musicians to play along with her songs, including Rascal Flatts drummer Jim Riley, who she hired through Air Gigs, an online musician finding service.
“There’s a site called Air Gigs, where you can hire musicians, and who did he find but Jim Riley,” she said. “He goes on air gigs and you can hire him and he lays down the drum track, and then he hires all of these musicians for you, and you just tell him what instruments you want on the track. Sometimes he gives feedback on what he hears, and so I’ve been working with him.”
Not only has technology enabled White to network with musicians and DJs to find a home for her music, it also allows her to collaborate with musicians all over the world.
“Because of technology we have all of this at our fingertips now. You can send files back and forth and you can have anybody play on your songs. That is amazing,” she said.
White said she does not know where her music career will take her, but is excited for the possibilities.
“I would just like to put out a few good songs, and maybe, come retirement, I think it might be nice to make a few bucks, at least enough to record that next song,” she said.
