Watch John Paul White Take ‘The Long Way Home’ in Moving New Music Video

[Paste Magazine]

By Scott Russell

John Paul White didn’t leave, he just took “The Long Way Home” on the recently released lead single from his forthcoming third solo album, The Hurting Kind, and now the Tennessee-born, Alabama-based Grammy winner has shared a moving music video to accompany the track, premiering right here at Paste.

The somber, black-and-white video, shot by Allister Ann and edited by Michael Kessler, finds White onstage, in the studio and everywhere in between, surrounded by trusted collaborators and adoring fans, but missing those closest to his heart. Sped-up shots of the road flying by emphasize White’s state of perpetual motion as the song crescendos, until he finally plays its last notes and is able to set his labors of love aside, at which point the clip abruptly ends, drawing a dividing line between White’s professional rigors and personal respite.

“It’s the one song that has the distinction of making my kids cry. I didn’t see this song as tugging at any heart strings, but when I played it, especially for my 11-year-old, he was tearing up,” White says of “The Long Way Home.” “Especially the line, ‘Don’t you dare kiss me goodbye’ in the bridge. That’s the one that always gets him. I didn’t see that coming, but he knows how much it hurts to leave.”

“My kids know I have to play music, and they love that I do it,” White continues. “They’re very supportive, but thankfully they don’t want me to leave.”

Watch White’s “The Long Way Home” video and 2016 Paste Studio session below. The Hurting Kind is out April 12 on Single Lock Records and available for preorder here.