Background

Josh White was born Joshua Daniel White in Greenville, S. C. , the son of Dennis White, a preacher, and Daisy Elizabeth Humphrey. He sang in the choir of the Church of God in the Saints of Christ in Greenville. His mother hoped that he would become a preacher, but at the age of seven he began guiding and singing with blind black street singers.

Education

He commented, "I never got beyond the sixth grade, " although he is recorded as having attended Stirling High School in Greenville between 1928 and 1932.

Career

He wandered the streets of southeastern cities and Chicago, leading a series of blind street singers and learning their songs. Among the street singers White led were Blind Joe Taggart, with whom he first recorded on the Paramount label in Chicago in 1928, as well as Blind Lemon Jefferson, who, White recalled, taught him to sing "lonely" songs. In 1932 he first went to New York City to record many of Lemon's songs. There he joined a folk group, Clarence Williams' "Southernaires, " performing as the Singing Christian, at $18 a performance. He appeared with them on the "Harlem Fantasy" radio show and made recordings with them on the Banner/ARC label. In 1936, White's career nearly ended when, as the result of a fall on an icy pavement, he injured his fingers so severely that doctors predicted he would never play again. He worked as an elevator operator and then gradually began to play again at Harlem rent parties, experiences that he later referred to in his hit recording of "One Meatball, " which sold a million copies. In 1939, White formed the Josh White Singers, with which he appeared at Café Society Downtown. He began to perform there alone in 1943. In 1940 he appeared as Blind Lemon Jefferson in the Broadway play John Henry, which starred Paul Robeson. In the early 1940's he recorded on the Columbia label and appeared with Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter) at the Village Vanguard jazz club and on the radio. He played again on Broadway in Blue Holiday in 1945 and in A Long Way from Home in 1948. After a government-sponsored tour of Mexico in 1942, he became a favorite performer of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, frequently entertaining at the White House. He gave Library of Congress concerts during the 1940's, recorded on the Library of Congress label, and performed on weekly radio shows for the Office of War Information (OWI). In the last years of the war, White toured and recorded with Libby Holman, performed with Paul Robeson in the Langston Hughes operetta The Man Who Went to War on OWI radio, and in a salute to Fats Waller at Carnegie Hall in 1944. In January 1945 he performed at President Roosevelt's inaugural ball, appeared in the film Crimson Canary, and began the concert career that would keep him on tour and in recording studios in America and abroad for the rest of his life. In 1950 he toured Europe with Eleanor Roosevelt. White's own songs were often strongly critical of society, and in an appearance before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1950 he testified that his opposition to racial discrimination had led him to become a "sucker" in performing for organizations later determined to be Communist fronts. He also said that he had never been a Communist. Some critics felt that White failed to support Paul Robeson and by implication criticized him to the committee. He appeared at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. An automobile accident in 1966 forced him to limit his activities. He died in Manhasset on Long Island, N. Y.

Achievements

• White's performances were notable for his smooth baritone and his clear diction, but they emphasized, too, the wide range of emotions demanded by his repertoire: songs that ranged from his own compositions and from those sung by Georgia chain-gang prisoners to spirituals, pre-Civil War songs, and the ballads that had been passed down from English and Scotch-Irish settlers in the mountains of the S. As a collector, composer, and performer, White was a major contributor to the blues and to American folk music that drew its substance from city streets, urban and rural honky-tonks, and American concert halls by way of the sophisticated urban cabarets that were a feature of American society at midcentury. His best-known songs include "Ball and Chain Blues, " "Delia, " "Hard Times Blues, " "Jim Crow Train, " "Silicosis Blues, " "Uncle Sam Says, " and "Welfare Blues. " He was also a major influence on the emerging style of younger performers, including Harry Belafonte, Oscar Brown, Jr. , and Dave Van Ronk.

Works

More photos

• book

  • From New York To London - The Classic Recordings ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED 2CD SET

    (It has been many years since Josh White received anything...)

  • Josh White Sings The Blues & Sings, Vol. 1 & 2

    (Probably our single most-requested folk/blues artist has ...)

  • The Josh White Song Book

    (original paperbound song book, a classic)

  • Josh White: Society Blues

    (First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylo...)

  • Chain Gang Songs
  • Josh At Midnight

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• Critical assessment of White's talents and performances varied widely, ranging from Don McLean's obituary statement in Sing Out (Winter 1960) that "he was one of the finest artists America ever produced" (generally considered an exaggeration) to Arnold Shaw's description of him in The World of Soul (1970) as "a pre-Belafonte black sex idol. To folk singing, if not the blues, he brought matinee sexuality, bell-like diction, and pop appeal. " Carter B. Horsley called him in the New York Times"a leading popularizer of the blues [who] captivated audiences with his casual charm and his authoritatively sensual style. "

Connections

White married Carol Carr on December 23, 1934; they had five children, two of whom, Beverly White Saunders and Joshua Donald White, became folksingers, appearing frequently with White in the late 1950's and early 1960's. His son later performed as Josh White, Jr. White suffered a heart attack in June 1961 but continued to perform.

Father:

Dennis White

A preacher

Mother:

Daisy Elizabeth Humphrey

Spouse:

Carol Carr

Son:

Beverly White Saunders

Son:

Joshua Donald White