An unapologetic throwback to the soft, hazy progressive country of the dawn of the 1970s,
Dee White quietly made his way out of his native Alabama in 2018. That year, he released the first side of
Southern Gentleman, the debut album he recorded with co-producers
Dan Auerbach and David Ferguson.
Born and raised in an unincorporated hamlet called Slapout in Alabama,
Dee White spent his adolescence woodshedding his retro-tinged country songs. His father wound up introducing him to
Harold Shedd, the producer who made his bones with
Alabama.
Shedd made Music City connections for the fledgling singer/songwriter, who started to travel up to Nashville from Alabama when he was 19. He wound up duetting with
Alison Krauss and forming a connection with
Dan Auerbach, who guided him through songwriting sessions and co-produced
White's album with Ferguson at the
Black Key rocker's Easy Eye Sound studio. Featuring cameos from
Krauss and
Ashley McBryde,
Southern Gentleman was released in stages, with its first side appearing in August 2018; the rest of the album followed in March 2019. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine