Introduction

Biography

White be­gan his mu­sic­al ca­reer play­ing the fife in the War of 1812.

He lat­er col­lab­o­rat­ed with his brother-in-law, Will­iam Walk­er, in col­lect­ing folk tunes and camp meet­ing me­lo­dies, but when Walk­er pub­lished The South­ern Har­mo­ny and Mu­sic­al Com­pan­ion in 1835, he gave no credit to White, cre­at­ing a life­long rift be­tween the two men.

In 1844, White pub­lished The Sac­red Harp, which like Walk­er’s vol­ume, used shaped notes.

White worked as a news­pa­per ed­it­or in Har­ris County, Geor­gia, in the 1840’s, and taught mu­sic at the Ham­il­ton Fe­male In­sti­tute there. In 1865, he was elect­ed may­or of Ham­il­ton, Geor­gia.