Among the most enduring family harmony acts in country music, the Whites began as a bluegrass ensemble, achieved mainstream country success during the 1980s, and eventually focused on gospel material. The official lineup consisted of Buck White on vocals, piano, and mandolin together with his daughters Sharon on vocals and guitar and Cheryl on vocals and bass, yet the group’s origins reached back to Buck’s initial band in 1947. Throughout the 1950s he performed bluegrass, honky tonk, and Western swing alongside various ensembles, most prominently the Blue Sage Boys, before relocating his family to Arkansas in 1961. Shortly afterward Buck and his wife Pat joined another musical couple, Arnold and Peggy Johnston, to form the Down Home Folks. Before long Sharon and Cheryl joined the Johnstons’ two sons to perform as the Down Home Kids; when the family relocated to Nashville in 1971, they became part of the regular Down Home Folks roster.
During the 1970s the Down Home Folks released five bluegrass albums before Pat stepped away from the group in 1973. Their profile rose when Emmylou Harris included them on her 1979 album Blue Kentucky Girl and invited them to open for her on tour. To highlight their family connection they adopted the name the Whites, after which Buck, Sharon, and Cheryl pursued a country direction and entered the charts for the first time in 1981 with their reading of “Send Me the Pillow That You Dream On.” A Top Ten country single arrived the following year with “You Put the Blue in Me,” the same year Sharon married Ricky Skaggs. In 1983 they issued their debut album under the new name, Old Familiar Feeling, on Warner Brothers and added dobro virtuoso Jerry Douglas to their backing band. Both “Hangin’ Around” and “I Wonder Who’s Holding My Baby Tonight” reached the Top Ten in 1983, as did “Give Me Back That Old Familiar Feeling” and “Pins” in 1984. The Whites switched to MCA and released three albums between 1984 and 1987, coming closest to another Top Ten placement with the single “If It Ain’t Love (Let’s Leave It Alone).” Their shift to gospel occurred in 1988 with Doing It by the Book on the Word label. Much of the 1990s passed without a recording contract, yet they resurfaced in 1996 with Give a Little Back on the independent Step One imprint. A further Whites album, A Lifetime in the Making, appeared on Skaggs’ Ceili label in 2000.
