Among their many other notable accomplishments are a prominent appearance in the 2000 movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?, portraying a family band performing “Keep on the Sunny Side” at a small-town political rally, as well as a performance as part of Down from the Mountain, the concert film featuring selections from the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack and related music.

     Just last month, the Whites received the 2008 Grammy award for best Southern, bluegrass, or country gospel album for Salt of the Earth, their recent collaboration with Ricky Skaggs, to whom Sharon White Skaggs, a member of the group, is married.

     In addition to Sharon White Skaggs, who plays guitar, the group includes her sister, bassist Cheryl White Warren, and their father, pianist and mandolinist Buck White.  All three musicians sing, and the group is known for its harmony vocals.

     Buck White began his musical career performing Western swing, honky-tonk country, and bluegrass in his native Wichita Falls, Texas, in the late 1940s, and became known as one of the most proficient musicians in the region. 

     In 1961, he and his wife, Pat, and their children moved to the Fort Smith, Arkansas, area.  There, Buck and Pat White formed the Down Home Folks with Arnold and Peggy Johnston.  A few years later, Sharon and Cheryl White teamed up with the Johnstons’ two boys to organize the Down Home Kids, sharing the stage with their parents during performances.  The sisters later joined the Down Home Folks.

     Following a successful performance at Bill Monroe’s Bean Blossom bluegrass festival in Indiana, the White family decided to move to Nashville to pursue a full-time musical career in 1971.  Pat retired from the group two years later, but Buck, Cheryl, and Sharon, in collaboration with other Nashville-based musicians, recorded several progressive bluegrass albums as the Down Home Folks in the 1970s.

     They participated in the recording of Emmylou Harris’s Blue Kentucky Girl album in 1979 and subsequently toured with Harris as her opening act.  Sharon White married Ricky Skaggs in 1982. 

     The following year, the group recorded its first album as the Whites, a selection of traditional and progressive country music called Old Familiar Feeling.  Released on the Warner Brothers label, it generated several of the hit singles mentioned above.

     The Whites recorded a complete album of country gospel music, always a substantial part of their repertoire, entitled Doing It by the Book in 1988.  Other albums by the Whites include Give a Little Back (1996), A Lifetime in the Making (2000), and, most recently, Salt of the Earth, recorded in cooperation with Ricky Skaggs, which has garnered international acclaim. 

     Salt of the Earth features a number of country gospel standards, including “Wings of a Dove,” composed by Willow Springs native Bob Ferguson.

     “As their recording career illustrates, the Whites are versatile musicians who perform a variety of genres within the string band tradition, including gospel, bluegrass, and multiple styles of country, equally well, and yet they put their own distinctive stamp on everything they do,” Meacham commented.
    
     He continued, “What’s always impressed me about the Whites is that although their vocal and instrumental styles are decidedly traditional, they often select repertoire that’s especially interesting from a compositional perspective and involves a broader harmonic palette than much traditional country music does.” he continued. 

     "I'm certain that many folks in and near West Plains are already thoroughly familiar with this group, but those who aren't are very likely to be fans of the Whites after this year's Old-Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival," said Meacham

 

As Wil Maring sat for long summer hours as a teenager at her family's roadside vegetable stand, picking out self-made tunes on her Sears guitar to pass the time, she never dreamed of the path she would one day follow. Wil has become a highly acclaimed songwriter, a previous winner of the prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at Merlefest, and has appeared on the Grand Ole Opry with her original music, in addition to touring extensively in Europe and Japan. She honed her songwriting skills playing music professionally in Europe with her group Shady Mix.

Wil Maring and virtuose guitarist and fiddler Robert Bowlin have been recently combining talents to create beautiful original acoustic music which straddles the fence between bluegrass, folk and country music. Wil’s beautiful airy vocal style and heartfelt lyrics have raised the eyebrows of the acoustic music world in recent years with the release of her three solo cds and four band cds with her band Shady Mix. Robert, a two-time National Fingerpicking and Flatpicking Guitar contest winner, has been a band member with legendary artists like Bill Monroe, Maura O Connell, Kathy Mattea, the Osborne Brothers, and many more. Their music will leave audiences spellbound long after the show is over. For bigger venues, Wil sometimes appears with whole band, Shady Mix, which includes instrumental lineup of upright bass, fiddle, mandolin, and sometimes banjo.

As Dave Higgs, respected host of Nashville Public Radio's nationally syndicated bluegrass program describes the performance: "Absolutely, hands-down some of the most mesmerizing, exciting, interesting and enjoyable acoustic music I have ever heard. Wil's songs are just in a league of their own, and the picking.... the interplay between (the musicians) is simply astonishing. Not clones -- but an inspired group with a different message. I love it!"