Ralph White Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Mar 10th 2010 12:00PM by David Dennis Jr.
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Ralph White is a renaissance man. His mastery of the fiddle, banjo, accordion and kalimba make him the jack-of-all-trades. His live set consists of original material and covers of songs re-imagined on the banjo. In anticipation of his upcoming SXSW appearance, the Texas bluesman took some time to discuss with Spinner his influences, what artist made him want to perform and his craziest experiences on the road.

How would you describe your music in your own words?

What I'll be playing at SXSW is based on the traditional music I've been playing on the fiddle, banjo, accordion and kalimba since the 1970s. I've also just been evolving. A third of my stuff is original, and the other two-thirds is either traditional or from any other place I want to take music from -- anything from pop songs or traditional music made for the banjo. I play a style that's real, real personal. I don't use the same tunings that traditional musicians play. For example, a set I may play will include a cover by Blind Lemon Jefferson, a solo song and a cover from Pink Floyd from 1969 all played on a banjo or an accordion or a kalimba, with no efforts to recreate the bass, guitar or keyboard arrangements those tunes may have originally had.

Who are some of your early influences?

When I was here in Texas growing up, I was really lucky to hear some of the old blues guys. This stuck with me. Over the years I've been to Africa, Australia [and] Europe and heard all kinds of traditional music. I also had to stop being influenced by music about 10 years ago. I just had to stop. I'm lucky enough to have friends that are ethnomusicologists. They gave me tapes of field recordings, which is more interesting than a lot of studio recordings. There's so much music to be influenced by that I actually have tried to spend the last 10 years being influenced by nothing.

What made you want to start making music?

That would be a performance by Lightning Hopkins when I was eight years old. My parents drove me out to hear this solo bluesman. That kind of music is an underground type of music, though it's performed a lot here in Austin, Texas. It was in a folk club, but it was something that a little white kid would have never been able to hear.

Of all of your instruments, which is your favorite to perform?

It would probably be the banjo with an extra string tuned low. It's the voice I like the most. It works the best. Most of my stuff is on the five-string banjo with an extra low string tuned one step lower than a regular five-string banjo.

What would you say is your biggest vice?

Well, I'm drinking coffee right now. It would probably have something to do with the modern male ego. All vices are kind of related to ego in general. I'm trying to move away from being influenced by that. That's where all vices come from.

What's the craziest thing you've experienced on the road?

I've ridden a bicycle across two or three thousand miles of Africa. I've toured for seven years straight with a band that traveled across the States. I've ridden a motorcycle across Australia, and I've seen a lot of things. The thing that comes to mind right now is one time when I was paddling a kayak down the Nueces River in east Texas, and out of the bushes came a girl with no clothes on who fell in the river right by my boat and went for a swim. That definitely comes to mind.

What are you planning to do this year at SXSW that's different than years past?

I'm a musician that does a lot of improvising. Every show is different. I have way more music than I need for a 45-minute set, so I just go out and play. I'm just an underground folk artist. I don't try to do anything else but play the music that's in my soul.

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