Dee White:
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.
Taylor Craven:
From Clarksdale, Mississippi, Taylor Craven has twice received recognition in American Songwriter Magazine. He was a top ten finisher in the 2014 and 2015 Texas Troubadour Songwriter Classic, selected by Ray Wiley Hubbard and the late Hal Ketchum. He has shared the pen with songwriting masters Mark Sherrill, Wood Newton, Rafe Van Hoy and Bo Roberts, to name a few. His co-write with Roberts, “Somewhere Between Bridges” was recorded by Outlaw Country legend, Dallas Moore. “Claws (A Cat’s Letter to Santa)”, co-written with Tommy Crawford, was recorded by Hall of Famer Ray Stevens. Taylor is a founding member of the Mississippi Songwriter Alliance and Festival.
