By Caylie Moore, Features Editor
On Saturday, Oct. 17, Hokes Bluff native and country-soul singer-songwriter Drake White will return to his hometown and bring a gift that he hopes will keep on giving to the local community: Loblolly Fest, a music festival named after the pine trees of Northeast Alabama and infused with the “come-as-you-are” spirit of the South. The Bluff Amphitheater, which is co-owned by White, will host the festival.
For White, however, Loblolly Fest is much more than another festival, and The Bluff Amphitheater is much more than another concert venue. Having grown up just behind the amphitheater, then under the name Gold City Music Park as the home of the renowned Southern gospel group The Gold City quartet, White first discovered the property as a child while exploring the surrounding woods — and that moment has lived with him for decades.
“When I was 12 years old, I moved to Tillison Bend, which is the property right behind the amphitheater. I was Huckleberry Finn-ing through the woods one day, and I was singing ‘Can’t You See’ — one of my dad’s favorite classic rock bands was The Marshall Tucker Band, so I’d already heard songs like ‘Can’t You See’ and ‘Fire on the Mountain’ at that age — when I walked up on this old, dilapidated stage,” White stated in an interview with Features Editor Caylie Moore. “I laid my eyes on what was then the bleachers, and I went, ‘Whoa! What is this?’ It was just in my mom and dad’s backyard. I had trespassed and walked across to the old Gold City amphitheater, which is now The Bluff Amphitheater. I got up on the stage, which was caving in and rusty, and I just started singing one of my dad’s records.”
“So, for 30 years, I have dreamed about this. If Jimmy Buffet from Alabama could build Margaritaville, I wanted to build Bourbon & Bonfire,” before detailing how he came across the opportunity to co-own Gold City with Chad Lee, who first proposed the offer to White, and Josh Santos — through a series of what some might call coincidences but what he knows to be God.
“It’s all God. There’s no way this could’ve happened without some spiritual intervention,” White stated firmly. “What I’m telling you is all true — from squirrel hunting at 12 years old, to singing on the dilapidated stage, to watching it all come to life.”
White also had a lot to say about what he envisioned for Hokes Bluff’s future now that the amphitheater had been revamped and the inaugural festival scheduled, including his hopes that Loblolly Fest becomes a tradition and The Bluff Amphitheater a place where fans can come back year after year to make “memories worth repeating.”
“I want to bring art and festivals as something to look forward to in this region. I want to bring an unbelievable musical lineup that can only be matched by the biggest venues in the world,” he said. “I can already see kids running around and saying, ‘I can’t wait to go to The Bluff and see my favorite artists!’ Riley Green, Ella Langley. That’s what we’re building. Loblolly is us getting [the idea] off the ground and proving the concept.”
White, who suffered a stroke on stage in 2019, also reassured Moore that he has been well since then, stating, “It’s such an honor to still be above ground, living on Earth and playing music. As far as my health — other than a little bit of a limp, which I joke is because I got bit by a shark, an alligator or a bear — I’m good.”
“It’s truly a miracle. It’s a miracle that I’m an owner and a part of it; it’s a miracle I’m still here,” White thoughtfully added. “It’s a miracle that this came into fruition. God listens. He listens to every desire you have. He listened to everything I wanted to do. When I thought no one was listening — paralyzed and in a dark place — He was listening the whole time. I told him, ‘If you get me out of this hospital, I will make sure that I do good with it. I will show people the light.’ That’s what Loblolly Fest is about.”
And White has been making good on his promise to God, if his charity work through Benefit for the Brain — a fundraiser focused on raising awareness about and funding solutions for issues related to brain and mental health — and his musical career are anything to go by. “It’s part of my story, and I’m a storyteller, so it’s my job to tell it for the rest of my life.”
The work will not stop there either. “I have a dream of starting a musical school in or around Hokes Bluff. I want to infuse that area [with music]. If you’re a drummer, or a guitar player, or a wordsmith, or a poet, there’s a place you can go. If your kid is showing musical interest, we can work with that.”
“This is a crazy story. It’s crazy that I was able to be a part of it, much less that I’m owner of it. It’s crazy that it was sitting in my backyard the whole time,” White added in his final thoughts. “That’s the way God works. He’s always there. Once I tapped into Him through struggle and heartache — with the stroke, with the loss of children, with all the stuff life throws at you — I was able to start pushing light back into the world. It’s awesome.”
Loblolly Fest, which begins at 1 p.m. on Oct. 17, will feature live music performances under genres like country, soul and Southern rock and roll, as well as artists like The Marshall Tucker Band, Randy Houser, Kassi Ashton and White himself, with about 20% of proceeds benefiting White’s nonprofit Benefit for the Brain.
For more information about Loblolly Fest or to purchase tickets, readers can visit loblollyfest.com or check out @loblollyfest or @thebluffal on Instagram. For more information about Benefit for the Brain, visit benefitforthebrain.com.
