“Listen to women, listen to folk, listen to punk rock then go share a smoke with a man with no shoes. That's a good day my friend, now go spread the truth”

— "Listen"

BIO

  Michael Joe White entered this earth in eastern Kansas, cleared up a little jaundice and moved to the deep south where he never left.  It was from his home base in the South Carolina lowcountry that teenage Michael dreamed of either playing guitar for the Violent Femmes or being a drug runner for rock bands, Eventually he abandoned those dreams for the more attainable role of being a guitarist in punk funk bands and acoustic duos/trios touring up and down the east coast.

  An epiphany of sorts occurred in the fall of 2022 at a songwriting festival in Alabama that shifted Michaels focus onto the craft of songwriting and storytelling. Working from his adopted home of Athens, Georgia he set out to share his day in life/southern gothic tales and stories. Michael has immersed himself in the Georgia songwriting community by hosting song rounds and booking a listening room in Athens.

  In December of 2024, Michael recorded his first full length solo album, "there there" at The Woods Brothers studio in West Nashville with members of the Sturgill Simpson and Hayes Carll bands. In December of 2025 Michael repeated the process but with Jano Rix (Wood Brothers) acting as co-producer, drummer and keyboardist. The still untitled sophomore outing is less of a party album and explores the human condition in all of its complexities. The adjectives most associated with Michael’s music are heartbreaking and hilarious,  sometimes simultaneously. While the “waffle house still life” is his default mechanism, global settings and characters come to visit as well.

  “ I am proud of the songs I write,” Michael says. “ Equally, I am proud of the banter and the connective tissue in the live shows, the stories between the stories. I am addicted to the energy and feedback of a live audience.”

  The music of Michael Joe White is deeply rooted in the folk world and pays tribute to the 70”s storytellers such as Harry Chapin, Cat Stevens and Kris Kristofferson. This is offset by a love of punk rock and new wave music which leaves Michaels music anything but boring. The comparisons heard most often are to artists like John Prine, Aaron Raitiere and Todd Snider.  

   Michael has shared his music as far north as Orillia, Ontario, Canada, as far west as Lyons, Colorado and as far east as Granada, Spain. He has opened for the likes of Randel Bramlett, She Returns From War and Gabe Lee. Michael has also garnered the personal endorsements from some of his musical heroes including Nashville songwriting legend Mary Gauthier and New England troubadour/truth speaker Peter Mulvey.

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