Remembering Tom Zonkger
By John Wooley & Matt Gleason World Scene Writers
Tulsa Daily World
Published: April 3, 2006
       Tom Zonkger, who died last Thursday, was best known to Tulsa music fans as the late Gus Hardin's manager, helping resuscitate the singer's local career after she left RCA Records in the mid-'80s. He also functioned as executive producer for Don White's 1995 album Bits & Pieces, and worked with both White and Hardin in the mid- '90s group Okie Soul.
       "He was a great guy, real encouraging to everybody," White says. "He loved Tulsa music and the Tulsa music business, and he was someone you could always go to and he'd encourage you and do what he could to help."        "Tom was responsible for Gus' comeback," adds veteran Tulsa musician Rocky Frisco, a longtime friend. "That's when I first met him. His deal was to help the younger musicians, like T.J. McFarland, get started, and he helped a lot of the established people, too. As far as I know, he never charged anybody a dime for it." (full article)

Tulsa singers to open for country legend Merle Haggard
By JOHN WOOLEY World Scene Writer
Tulsa World
Published: March 10, 2006
       Tulsa native Jon Wolfe, who's been working out of Texas for the past several years, has been tabbed as the middle act on the Merle Haggard show, set for Friday at the Brady Theater.
       He'll come on after local legend Don White, who'll open things at approximately 8 p.m. (full article)
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Interview with Randy Beavers
By Jan Jones, reprinted by Randy Beavers
Steel Guitar Rag
Published: 2005
       JJ: When did you come to Nashville?
       RB: In 1986. I had worked with some acts out of Nashville when I was seventeen. Roy Clark was booked by the Jim Halsey Agency out of Tulsa. At the time, I worked for Don White and they used his band, so I worked for Roy quite a bit. ... I was thirty years old before I moved to Nashville, ... (full article)

Going it alone
By JOHN WOOLEY World Scene Writer
Tulsa World
Published: November 23, 2005
Half of Farm Couple releases solo disc
       Monica Taylor, whom Red Dirt Music fans know as half of the duo the Farm Couple (Patrick Williams is the other half) has just seen the release of her first solo disc, "Cimarron Valley Girl." She'll celebrate that release Wednesday with an 8 p.m. party and concert at Boston's, 1738 S. Boston Ave., preceding the regular performance of Tom Skinner's Science Project.
       Skinner appears on "Cimarron Valley Girl," as do a number of other well-known artists, including keyboardist Ray Hamilton (who also engineered the disc), Jared Tyler, Don White, Rocky Frisco, Brad James and Williams himself who, she says, was all for the project. (full article)

Yoakam turns it loose for Tulsa
November 23,2005
        ... singer-songwriter Don White, who opened Wednesday's concert.
       White, in fact, nearly stole the show in his opening spot. Accompanying himself on guitar, the Tulsa Sound veteran played what he termed "a little music to find your seat by." It was actually a set of great country blues tunes from the likes of Kieran Kane, J.J. Cale, Hank Thompson and White himself.
       His final number was a country-rock reading of Timbuk 3's "The Future's So Bright (I Gotta Wear Shades)." Let's hope it's prophetic. With a new CD he's currently shopping to major labels, White may yet get the big break he so richly deserves. (The Tulsa World reorganized their archives and this article can no longer be located.)

A rising star
By JOHN WOOLEY World Scene Writers
Tulsa World
Published: March 10, 2005
       A couple of weeks ago, we printed info from Tulsa musician Jim Downing regarding songwriter Micheal Smotherman. Smotherman's visibility is up these days, thanks to his song "Do You Ever Cross My Mind," which appears on "Genius Loves Company," the late Ray Charles' recent Grammy-winning disc. Downing said he was "pretty sure" Smotherman was from around here.
       Now comes another local legend to verify Downing's notion.
       "He's a great songwriter," says Don White of Smotherman. "I used to know him when he worked in Buckwheat with Debbie Campbell; I met him through Debbie. He was playing around Tulsa with her in '69 and '70.
       "I met up with him again in Nashville in the '70s, when I was starting my Don White Honky-Tonk Band. It's been about 10 years since I've seen him, though."
       White says that while Smotherman certainly spent time in Tulsa, he's originally from Erick, a southwestern Oklahoma town of barely 1,000 that's contributed to country music far out of proportion to its size. In addition to Smotherman, Erick artists include singer-songwriter-actor Sheb Wooley (aka Ben Colder) and the late superstar Roger Miller -- who once had Smotherman in his touring band. (full article)

Old school
By JOHN WOOLEY World Scene Writer
Tulsa World
Published: December 2, 2004
       Legends of the Tulsa Sound regroup once more for annual reunion concert
       Every year or so, under the auspices of his music ministry, native Tulsan Phil Driscoll travels to Tulsa from his Tennessee headquarters ... But when the famed trumpeter comes to Tulsa on Friday as a guest star for the Tulsa Sound Reunion, he'll be in a venue he hasn't seen for a good long while. ...
       "The last time I was in the Cain's Ballroom, I was with Joe Cocker," Driscoll said with a chuckle during a recent telephone interview. "That had to be somewhere around '73 or '74. ... He said that this particular event celebrates "the Tulsa Sound of the '60s, '70s and '80s" (although scheduled performers Jim Karstein, Chuck Blackwell and Larry Bell have their roots in the original Tulsa Sound of the '50s) and that the audience "will see the musicians involved in exporting the Tulsa Sound to famous acts, the sidemen who worked with everyone from Bob Seger to Eric Clapton. Clapton thought the Tulsa Sound was important enough to hire a whole band of Tulsa musicians (including Sims and Oldaker)."
       There'll also be some well-known front men on the Cain's stage Friday, including Driscoll, Dwight Twilley, Scott Ellison, Don White, Glenn R. Townsend, Jim Sweney and Chris Campbell. (full article)

Concert benefits musicians
By JOHN WOOLEY AND MATT GLEASON World Scene Writers
Tulsa World
Published: November 11, 2004
       Sometimes, musicians' rock 'n' roll lifestyles don't lend themselves to financial security.
       On Saturday, a slew of musicians will help their musical brethren during the Fifth Annual GoGirlsMusicFest, a concert at Venue 216, 216 N. Elgin, to benefit the charity MusiCares.
       ... According to MusiCares' Web site, it "helps people we all know -- whether it's a young guitar player who is about to undergo surgery without health insurance, a veteran pianist whose hand injury will prevent him from performing for an extended period, the family of a beloved blues artist who cannot afford to pay for his funeral or a songwriter who has found that substance abuse is consuming his life."
       The concert also will highlight female performers and members of GoGirls.com, an organization devoted to women and their music in Oklahoma and nationally. The show starts at 3 p.m. with a cast of singer-songwriters -- Tom Skinner, Don White and others -- performing their tunes. ... (full article)

A local legend saved
By JOHN WOOLEY & MATT GLEASON
Tulsa World
Published: August 5, 2004
       About a week ago, Tulsa World news writer Rhett Morgan wrote the story of how veteran KRMG (740 AM) morning personality John Erling helped rescue the victim of a boating collision on Grand Lake. The name of the rescued man, Chuck Browning, undoubtedly rang bells with some people, too -- especially those familiar with Tulsa music and musicians.
       A drummer and vocalist -- Don White calls him "the world's greatest harmony singer" -- Browning has worked since the '60s with performers such as White, J.J. Cale and the late Gus Hardin. He'd been sitting in with Steve White - Don's son and a popular blues-rock performer, as well -- the night of the accident.
       "Chuck was in one of my very first bands," recalls Don. "That would've been in '73 or '74, when we went on tour with Roy Clark and backed up all those (Jim) Halsey acts like Jody Miller and Johnny Duncan. He was with me steadily for about five years, and then off and on after that."
Browning's most recent work includes playing on some of the sessions that yielded Cale's new disc, "To Tulsa and Back." (full article)
Browning recalls accident
       Last week, we noted here that Chuck Browning, the man KRMG radio personality John Erling helped rescue from Grand Lake, was a noted entertainment figure himself, having worked in the studio and on tour with a number of nationally known acts. In addition to his appearances with Tulsa artists such as Don White and the late Gus Hardin , he also toured in the '60s and '70s as the drummer for such stars as Ernest Tubb , Hank Thompson and Skeeter Davis.
       In a recent conversation, Browning explained what happened in the July 24 accident that took the life of the boat's driver, Richard Chapman . Both Chapman and Browning had been at the lakeside Mooney's Sunset Bar & Grill prior to the accident, where Browning had sat in with the band of Steve White, Don White's son.
       ... He said the three crashes were confirmed by members of the Lake Patrol, who found fiberglass from the boat embedded in the bottom of the road. "In a situation like this, there are always rumors floating around," Browning noted. "I thought I should tell what really happened." (full article) Back to Top of the page

Concert Review: J.J. Cale: The same old blues
By MATT GLEASON World Scene Writer
Published: 7/7/2004
J.J. Cale plays a triumphant return engagement in his hometown
       J.J. Cale is a relaxed laid-back hombre. He plays music that follows a well-worn groove down a musical path that doesn't take too many sharp turns and never jostles its passengers.        Cale whose gravelly voice is akin to say Mark Knopfler's played that form of groovy music Monday night to a packed adoring crowd gathered at the Cain's Ballroom.
       ... About an hour into the show some of Cale's longtime chums such as the great harp man Jimmy Markham, guitarist Don White and keyboardist Walt Richmond joined him on the classic ditty "Cajun Moon." The barn-burning roadhouse version of the tune was one of many highlights of the evening which also included an enchanting version of "Magnolia." The band hadn't rehearsed "Cajun Moon" too much it seemed but that didn't trouble Cale. He just held up his guitar and called the tune: "It's in E fellas." That relaxed vibe was bolstered by Cale letting his buds know it was their turn to solo by simply pointing at them or calling out their names. ... (full article)

Home Cookin'
J.J. Cale gathers old cohorts from '50s and '60s to cut 'To Tulsa and Back' disc
By JOHN WOOLEY World Scene Writer
Published: 7/4/2004
       What a perfect idea. For his first studio album in eight years, rock legend J.J. Cale returns to his hometown, gets a bunch of his old pals from the late '50s-early '60s rock 'n' roll scene together, and cuts tracks for a new disc called "To Tulsa and Back."
       ... Of course, once he hit town -- in June of last year -- it was as much a reunion as a recording session. He'd stayed in contact with a few of the musicians from the old days -- including keyboardist Rocky Frisco, bassist Bill Raffensperger and drummer Jim Karstein, all of whom tour with him.
       When it came time to go into the studio, he took the musicians he uses on tour and added a ton of Tulsa A-list players, including Walt Richmond on keyboards, Don White on guitar, Gary Gilmore on bass, Shelby Eicher on fiddle and mandolin and Jim Markham on harmonica. All of those guys ended up on at least one cut of the "To Tulsa and Back" disc. (full article)

Headed west on Route 66
By JOHN WOOLEY AND MATT GLEASON World Scene Writers
Tulsa World
Published: 6/10/2004
       The Cain's Ballroom kicks off the Route 66 Festival with a show and dance from the venerable Western-swing and boogie band Asleep at the Wheel on Thursday -- that's tonight. Tulsa Sound star Don White opens the show.

Sounds Like Ours:
J.J. Cale's return sparks amazing reunion, recording
By JOHN WOOLEY AND MATT GLESASON World Scene Writers
Tulsa World
Published: 7/10/2003
       Homegrown rock music legend J.J. Cale returned to Tulsa a couple of weeks ago, hooked up with a ton of his longtime musical pals, and ended up with a collection of songs that should not only make a dandy disc, but also show the rest of the world -- once again -- just what the Tulsa Sound is all about.
       "This had been in the works for five or six years," notes David Teegarden, the drummer, producer and engineer who produced the tracks at his Natura Digital Studios. "We've been trying to plan everything out for a long time." It all came together on June 18, when Cale and his guitarist wife, Christine Lakeland, hit the studio. Working every day, Cale and a steady stream of Tulsa's best-known musical figures stayed at it for five days, with Teegarden sticking around to do some production work a day later. "He came in with about 30 songs," recalls Teegarden. "We got 17 or 18 of 'em down, which kind of blew him away -- and me, too. ...
        ... The all-star lineup for that day included Don White, Tom Tripplehorn, Tommy Crook, Jimmy Byfield and Mike Bruce on guitars, Steve Ripley on guitar and backing vocals, Jimmy Markham on harmonica, Rocky Frisco on keyboards, Walt Richmond on acoustic piano, Larry Bell on Hammond B3 organ, Bill Raffensperger on bass, Jimmy Karstein and Chuck Browning on drums, and Chuck Blackwell on drums and percussion.
Whew.
(full article)

Happy birthday, old man
By JOHN WOOLEY
Tulsa World
Published: 8/15/2002
       Veteran Tulsa pianist Rocky Frisco, lately heard mostly with The Red Dirt Rangers, celebrates his 65th birthday by going out on the road with another hometown boy, J.J. Cale, beginning this week.
And Frisco, regular keyboardist in the former Tulsan's road band, is just glad to be going anywhere.
       "My birthday was July 26th, and I got the most incredible present -- shingles," he laughs, recalling his bout with the painful disease. "It had me down for three weeks, and $3,000 worth of medication and doctor bills. It was like, `Happy birthday, old man.' I don't recommend it at all."
       ... "It's about the biggest band he's every had, I think." Those guests include famed guitarist Don Preston as well as three very well-known Tulsa sound guys, drummer David Teegarden, guitarist-vocalist Don White and keyboardist Walt Richmond. (full article)

Guthrie Folk Festival 'matures'
By THOMAS CONNER World Entertainment Writer
Tulsa World
Published: 7/15/2002
       ... Performances by standbys prove greatest assest in event's fifth year.
       ... When they closed with Jimmy LaFave's "Red Dirt Roads at Night," guitarist Ben Han was practically doing Pete Townshend windmills. R-a-w-k, rock. LaFave joined the Rangers for that song, and therein lies the real other thrill of this festival's familial spirit: the family is pretty incestuous. Most of the artists respect, admire and maybe even adore each other. As a result, they take advantage of these rare opportunities to play together, to jam, to back each other up.
       To wit: Don White joined Tom Skinner during his set. Later, Irene Kelly, an old acquaintance of White's from Nashville, asked him to join her during her Thursday night set. ("I guess I'd better go listen to her CD," he chuckled that afternoon.) (full article)

Best Country
Published Tulsa World
Supplement to The Spot magazine
September 29, 2000
        To be a working country act in this town, you've got to be able to get the folks on the dance floor and keep 'em there. And, since people often want to dance to what they know, being a cover band is a big part of the job. The country acts nominated for the Spot Music Awards this year can do all of that. But they can do a lot more, too, from putting their own distinct spins on familiar material to slipping good original numbers seamlessly into their sets. In the time-honored tradition of country music, they work hard to please their audiences -- and give a little bit more to those willing to look for it.
       Here are the nominees in the Best Country Performer category. ...
DON WHITE
       When most of today's rockin' country flatbellies were barely a Y chromosome, Don White was tearing up venues all over the place with his raucous blend of hard country and rock 'n' roll. He may be a little more mellow these days -- with a loose easygoing stage presence that's the visual equivalent of a song by J.J. Cale, his good pal -- but he's also writing and singing as well or better than he did when he was a major-label recording act two decades ago. If Leon Russell and Cale represent the rock aspect of the Tulsa Sound, then White owns the country part. (full article)

Don White indulges his country side
By JOHN WOOLEY World Entertainment Writer
Tulsa World
Published: 12/27/2001
       Years ago, Texas roadhouse rocker Delbert McClinton and Tulsa-based singer-songwriter Don White were sharing a bill somewhere, and McClinton made -- as White remembers it -- this observation: "You're kind of a country guy with a blues flavor, and I'm kind of a blues guy with a country flavor."
       For the past two years, in addition to his continued live gigs, White's been indulging the country side of his personality on Vinita radio station KITO (96.1 FM/1470 AM). There, he and KITO's Dave Boyd host a 1 p.m. Wednesday program called "Not Necessarily Nashville," featuring acts that don't get much exposure on corporate country radio.
       Now, White's got a second show going. Called "The Don White Show -- Music with a Groove," it's heard over Rogers State University's KRSC (91.3 FM), aka The Wave, every Sunday at 10 p.m.
       The shows are similar, White says, in that he plays a lot of discs done by his music-business friends, and occasionally plays a live number himself.. "This just gives me a little more experience doing it on my own," he explains. "And it widens my playlist a little bit, puts a few more people on the air that ought to be on the air." If the KITO show emphasizes White's country leanings, then the KRSC show probably leans a little more toward his blues side. ... (full article)

Review: Yoakam resurrects lightning-hot
excitement of rockabilly
JOHN WOOLEY World Entertainment Writer
September 19, 2000
        ... Opening for Yoakam was the veteran Tulsa Sound figure Don White, who held the crowd's attention nicely with a selection of originals and well-chosen cover tunes, doing it for the most part with just his voice and guitar. His vocals contained that rough-edged, world- weary romantic quality that calls to mind Willie Nelson, among others, and his rhythm and slide-guitar playing was sure-handed and often inventive.
       Among the highlights were his "My Baby Ain't Lazy," which rolled along in a relaxed groove that perfectly suited the lyrics, and a reading of "She Thinks I Still Care" that found a new-sounding approach to that classic song.
        White's guitarist-vocalist son Steve joined him for the last two songs, the languid J.J. Cale number "Magnolia" and a fine one called, I believe, "Small Town." It ended with a crowd-pleasing jam in which Steve strummed his guitar while Don chorded it and vice versa. (full article)

Dwight Yoakam
By World's own Service
Tulsa World
Published: 9/15/2000
       Opening for Yoakam is veteran Tulsa singer-songwriter Don White, a Spot Music Award nominee in the Best Country Artist category this year. White has worked in the studio or on tour with the likes of Marty Stuart, Johnny Rodriguez, and fellow Tulsans the Tractors and J.J. Cale. His songs have been recorded by the Oak Ridge Boys, Rosanne Cash and Suzy Bogguss, among others. His newest solo disc is due out later this year. (full article)

Dwight Yoakam
Stephen Holman, Tulsa World
Friday, September 15, 2000
       Dwight Yoakam performs Sunday at the Brady Theater, 105 W. Brady St. Tickets are $28 and $35 at the Brady Theater box office or by phone at 747-0001. Don White opens at 7:30 p.m.
       ... Opening for Yoakam is veteran Tulsa singer-songwriter Don White, a Spot Music Award nominee in the Best Country Artist category this year. White has worked in the studio or on tour with the likes of Marty Stuart, Johnny Rodriguez, and fellow Tulsans the Tractors and J.J. Cale. His songs have been recorded by the Oak Ridge Boys, Rosanne Cash and Suzy Bogguss, among others. His newest solo disc is due out later this year. (full article)

Resurrecting Okie Soul
After a Quarter of a Century
Gus Hardin and Don White Reunite
By John Wooley
Tulsa World September 17, 1993
        Ask Gus Hardin about the first time she sang with Don White, and she can tell you when it was immediately - despite the fact that it happened a quarter of a century ago. "Don was working with Bill Davis in Soul Incorporated - those were Bill's James Brown days," recalled Hardin Wednesday night. "And I got up and sang "Natural Woman' with 'em. It was in '68 or '69. The club, at that point, was called the Vapors. And Gailard Sartain was in the audience." Sartain wasn't in the audience at Studio 212 on Wednesday night; ... But Bill Davis was. And so were a number of other stellar Tulsa musicians, local music-industry figures, club owners and other interested parties.
        They were all there to see Hardin and White, reunited in the new band Okie Soul, demonstrate in a live performance just exactly where they were taking the Tulsa Sound. ... Fittingly, the band opened with fellow Tulsan J.J. Cale's "The Breeze," with Fittingly, the band opened with fellow Tulsan J.J. Cale's "The Breeze," with White and Hardin alternating lead vocals. and Hardin alternating lead vocals. (full article)

NASHVILLE IT AIN'T
John Worley, Tulsa World
Sunday, April 9,2000
        It's just before 1 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon in Vinita, and inside the little building beside the big tower just off the highway, Tulsa Sound legend Don White and longtime radio personality Dave Boyd are getting ready to roll into another installment of "Not Necessarily Nashville." Inside the studio, Boyd is showing a visitor that his radio station, KITO (96.1 FM/1470 AM), isn't only equipped with a state- of-the-art CD player, but -- unlike most other stations these days -- with a functioning turntable for vinyl records.
        "We still play 45s sometimes," he says. "Heck, I can play 78s. ... "
        Meanwhile, White looks over the playlist for his hour-long show and tunes his guitar, indicating that a live musical segment will be included this week. "I always put a few songs together, but that doesn't necessarily mean those are the ones we're gonna play," says White with a crooked grin. "I try to play people from around here or people I know. It's not that I have that many friends; it's that all my friends happen to make albums." (full article)

Preview: 'Take Me Back to Tulsa,' the Tulsa
Centennial homecoming celebration
Tulsa World
Published: August 03, 1997
When: Sept. 19-21
       Where: Major Tulsa venues, including the Riverparks Amphitheater, the Brady Theater, Greenwood Cultural Center, Cain's Ballroom, the Performing Arts Center and the Maxwell Convention Center ...
       Some of them are Tulsa legends who went on to national and international stardom. Some are longtime T-Town headliners who preferred to stay in town, or who returned home after career-building stints elsewhere.
       All of them have made their contributions to the eclectic musical style known as the Tulsa Sound. And on the weekend of Sept. 19, they'll all come back, or stick around, to play it again at venues all over town. ...
       Brady Theater: It's a big blowout that entertainment coordinator Steve Bailey calls "The Best of Tulsa," ... The other acts on the bill comprise a Who's Who of the Tulsa music scene. They include Don White, Blue Combo, the Tiptones, Mystery Band, Bill Davis, Brandon Jenkins -- and more to be announced. ... (full article)

Don White Makes Annual Pilgrimage Back to Tulsa Roots
By John Wooley
Tulsa World
Published: December 16, 1990
        Since the early '60s, when he began touring regionally with the rockabilly artist Buddy ("Party Doll")Knox, White has given concert support to such acts as Roy Clark, Asleep at the Wheel, the Oak Ridge Boys and Willie Nelson. "After that Buddy Knox tour, I said I'd never ride a bus again," White recalled recently. "Except for one time, I haven't, either."
       He has also done a great deal of studio playing since moving to Nashville in the early '80s.
       ... These days, White is an established presence in Nashville,working clubs with his band and selling songs to a number of recording acts.
... "I wrote the song with Freddy Weller. The name of it is `A Whiter Shade of Blues,' and we figure that even if the record doesn't go anywhere, it'll be great just to sit down and listen to B.B. do it." (full article)