Lawton Constitution
By:  Charlie Clark

The Second Annual "A Bryan White Christmas" was a gift enjoyed by a nearly full house Friday at Cameron University Theatre.
Grammy Award-winning country music singer, songwriter, guitarist Bryan White, now of Nashville, Tenn., is originally from Lawton; his drummer, Monte Booker still lives here; his dad lives in Hobart. Family, friends and plenty of fans added to the concert that felt like a holiday homecoming.

"My show is usually a lot more rock'n'roll," White said from the stage, "but we're doing a lot of Christmas songs tonight."
Still, his version of Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run" and from the TV animation favorite ""A Charlie Brown Christmas" "Linus & Lucy" and "Christmastime," had the audience waving arms and clapping along.
White had said in an earlier interview that it was going to be a "laid back" show, and the relaxed atmosphere made it a comfortable evening.

Opening act was award-winning inspirational country artist Steve Richard. Richard's Southern drawl and strong selection of original works made him a crowd pleaser. It didn't hurt that he gave away copies of his CD "Up To Somthin'" to three lucky members of the audience. With two acoustic musicians backing him, the gifted vocalist delivered on his No. 1 hit "Eighty Acre Church" and a half-hour of songs, concluding with "Silent Night

It's a busy December for platinum-selling country music singer/songwriter Bryan White. Tonight, Bryan will enjoy the honor of singing our National Anthem at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. The event takes place starting at 6:45pm (Pacific) at the Thomas & Mack Center and, in addition to being simulcast to 46 hotels in Las Vegas, will also be broadcast (tape delay) on Great American Country (GAC).

Bryan will also make an appearance on Good Morning Texas Wednesday, December 7th, between 9-10am in support of his performance at the Dallas Opry on December 8th. He will also do a special acoustic performance Sunday, December 11th at North Pointe Baptist Church in Edmond, OK.

All of this comes as Bryan continues his second annual Christmas tour. This tour, which kicked off last Friday in Lawton, Oklahoma, is to promote his third holiday album and also includes special guest Inspirational Country Music Award-Winner Steve Richard, which is sure to spice up the season. Bryan and company will be making stops in Oklahoma City, Stillwater, Woodward, Enid, Edmond and more. It will feature a special blend of yuletide favorites-plus, a sprinkling of his greatest hits including Rebecca Lynn, So Much For Pretending, Someone Else's Star, Sittin' On Go, among others and songs from his current album, Dustbowl Dreams. You can also call 615-297-7002 for tickets and information.

This Oklahoma native began playing drums when he was 5 and after high school, he packed up his guitar, drum sticks, angst, dreams, five hundred dollars and headed to Nashville to pursue a career in country music. The move proved to be beneficial when he was signed to Asylum Records when he was only 20 years old. Since then, he charted six number one singles, eight Top 40 singles, two platinum records, one gold record, joined forces with Shania Twain and together they took From This Moment On all the way up to #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart. He has also garnered several awards, including a Grammy, a CMA Horizon Award, and an ACM New Male Vocalist award. For more information or to purchase tickets to his shows, please visit www.ticketstorm.com.

"Last year was Bryan's first Christmas tour and it was so successful, we decided to make it an annual event," says manager Sharon Eaves. "We appreciate PLA Media being back on our team to promote this tour."

Bryan White is heading home for the holidays and will be kicking off his 2nd annual Christmas tour Friday, December 2nd in Lawton, Oklahoma and will make stops in Stillwater, Durant, Oklahoma City, and more. This show is sure to spice up the season with a special blend of yuletide favorites-plus, a sprinkling of his greatest hits including Rebecca Lynn, So Much For Pretending, Someone Else's Star, Sittin' On Go, among others and songs from his current album, Dustbowl Dreams.

This Oklahoma native began playing drums when he was 5 and after high school, he packed up his guitar, drum sticks, angst, dreams, five hundred dollars and headed to Nashville to pursue a career in country music. The move proved to be beneficial when he was signed to Asylum Records when he was only 20 years old. Since then, he charted six number one singles, eight Top 40 singles, two platinum records, one gold record, joined forces with Shania Twain and together they took From This Moment On all the way up to #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart. He has also garnered several awards, including a Grammy, a CMA Horizon Award, and an ACM New Male Vocalist award.

Tickets for "A Bryan White Christmas" are available at: www.ticketstorm.com. There will also be a non-perishable food drive taking place at each stop along his tour to help those in need this holiday season. Ticket prices are $15 in advance (general admission) and $20 at the door. Children 6-12 years are $5 and kids under 5 are free. For more information, please visit: www.bryanwhite.com.

2011 "A Bryan White Christmas"
(Dates, markets and venues are subject to change without notice)

Friday, Dec. 2nd (LAWTON, OK)
Cameron University Theatre @7pm

Saturday, Dec. 3rd (OKLAHOMA CITY, OK)
ACM & UCO Performance Lab @7pm

Friday, Dec. 9th (STILLWATER, OK)
Lowery Activity Center @7:30pm
Tickets for this event are available @ http://tickets.stillwater.org/

Thursday, Dec. 15th (ENID, OK)
Gaslight Theatre @7pm

Friday, Dec. 16th (WOODWARD, OK)
Woodward Arts Theatre @7pm

Saturday, Dec. 17th (Wichita, KS)
The Orpheum Theatre @ 7:30pm

Opening for Bryan is Inspirational Country Music Award-Winner Steve Richard (www.steverichardmusic.com)

 

Lawton, OK and Cameron University welcome back native son, Bryan White for his 2nd Annual "A BRYAN WHITE CHRISTMAS!" with special guest Steve Richard and a performance by the Lawton Christian School Children's Choir that you won't want to miss!    Tickets are available now on www.ticketstorm.com

For more shows, click here to visit Bryan's tour page.  More tickets - click here!

Our Live Guitar Lessons continue to grow and we are able to attract more and more notable names as guests each month to dispense their guitar knowledge to us and you. If you joined us on October 11, you were able to see and chat with me and Bryan White as we discussed songwriting and guitar (watch the recording). Bryan brought quite the resume, which includes a Grammy, 2 Gold albums, 2 Platinum albums, 6 number 1 hits, and a little ditty he did with Shania Twain "From This Moment On", with him to the humble set of Live Lessons. He downloaded a wealth of songwriting information for guitarists and I've distilled the hour-plus lesson down to Bryan White's Top 20 Songwiting Tips:

1.  Songwriting takes different approaches: an idea, a title, a portion of a chorus is the catalyst for the song, other times it may be a musical idea triggered by an open tuning or new chords.

2.  Stay disciplined: A song may start with a flash of inspiration but discipline is what gets the song written.

3. Point back to the main idea: The individual phrases of the song need to point back to the main idea of the song – every part of the song needs to point back to the main idea.
4. Keep people wanting more: don’t give away too much before the first chorus.
5. It helps to work with others. People you feel comfortable with where no one is worried about what the other person thinks.
6. Dare to suck: my personal favorite!
7. Force yourself to write: It is good to occasionally force yourself to write and be creative even when you don’t feel inspired. Putting yourself under some constraints helps you to be disciplined about your writing and the process of writing.
8. There needs to be a cadence to the rhyme scheme of the choruses or other parts of the song.
9. Start by writing out your thoughts: At the beginning stages of the song sometimes it helps to just write out a “stream of consciousness” of random, unedited, free-flowing thoughts about what is on your heart, or whatever is bothering you about the world, or perhaps a relationship – writing exactly what you are thinking. Then take those pages filled with thoughts and put them away for a couple of days and then come back to them.
10. Answer these questions when writing a song: What are you trying to say? Who are you trying to say it to? Why would anybody want to hear what you’re saying?
11. Co-writiers can be a big help: When you get stuck creatively, a co-writer can help give you a different perspective or give you the key to unlock the stuck part of the song to get you moving again.
12. Hum or sing while writing: Singing melodies or “dum-dum” lines before the lyrics are done can help solidify the melody.
13. Know your creative times: we all have certain times of the day or week when we’re most creative. Know these times well and use them.
14. Be goofy: When writing have fun, be free, do something goofy to keep creative and loose.
15. Know what inspires you: Like #13, surround yourself with the things that make you creatively come alive.
16. NSAI: Nashville Songwriters Association International is a great place to submit your material.
17. Songwriting is tough work: keep at it. Like learning guitar, it takes hard, consistent work to produce great songs.
18. Think of a song as a short story: often we think in stories and it can help to write the same way.
19. Don’t try to impress others: songwriting is about your individuality more than anything else.
20. Find out what the best style is for you: listen to the songs and writers that inspire you & learn from them.

Courtesy of Gibson's Learn & Master Guitar Blog with Steve Krenz