Memphis has more than its share of gifted session players, cats who can be called in to make any recording date sparkle with soul. Some, like the Hi Rhythm Section or Kirk Whalum, become celebrities in their own right. But there’s a subset of such players who are just as vital to the local musical ecosystem, yet ply their craft in relative obscurity. Before glioblastoma brain cancer caused him to pass away before his time last April, multi-instrumentalist Luke White was one such figure.
As Toby Vest, musician and producer/engineer at High/Low Recording, told the Flyer at the time, “I haven’t made a record of my music that doesn’t include Luke as a guitar player, singer, confidant, or co-writer.”
And player/promoter Tim Regan, who played with White in Snowglobe, mused that he “was a very gentle soul, very loving, but he was also very confident. If there was something that wasn’t good in a piece of music, he would let you know. And the most powerful thing was that, in all his singing and playing, he was completely 100 percent focused and present on making those things as good as they could be.”
White, Vest, Hulett, and Postlethwaite in 2023 (Photo: Courtesy Jeff Hulett)
Indeed, White put his personal stamp on so many recordings, and in live shows with so many bands, not to mention his own recorded work, that his legacy will long outlast the days he walked among us. And that’s what lies behind a new initiative being launched by his closest friends and colleagues, the Luke White Memorial Fund, which officially becomes a thing this Friday, February 27th, at B-Side, with a show featuring Jeff Hulett & the Hand Me Downs and Toby Vest & the Dream Machine.
Hulett, who also played with White in Snowglobe, explains how it all began. “When he died, we friends of Luke’s were trying to think of ways to keep his memory alive. And since I’ve used Music Export Memphis for projects, as have other musicians I know, it just seemed like a no-brainer to try to collaborate and do something with them. So we had an initial meeting with Elizabeth Cawein, and we started with this whole idea of, you know, what did Luke like to do? Luke liked to record. He was always at High/Low with Toby Vest, or as a hired gun for people that came in, playing on different sessions.”
Thus, the fund will provide grantees with a day-long session at High/Low Recording, plus mastering services by Jacob Church at JLC Audio. Grant submissions will be reviewed by a committee made up of White’s friends, family, and bandmates. “People on the review committee will include myself, Tim Regan, and Brad Postlethwaite from Snowglobe, Pam and Kenny White, Luke’s parents, Toby Vest, and a few other colleagues and peers,” Hulett explains. “And the whole idea is, we want to get young artists to apply.”
Elizabeth Cawein, Music Export Memphis’ founder and executive director, was delighted to be part of the initiative. “We’re a place where people can make a tax donation,” she says, “and we are obviously also an experienced grant maker, so we’re used to paying money out to individual artists and managing that whole process. That just makes it really, really simple. There was nothing that had to be set up by Luke’s friends. We had all the infrastructure ready to go.”
But ultimately, she says, she was content to simply facilitate what White’s associates wanted. “It’s definitely Luke’s friends and family that are driving it and bringing it to life, and frankly, they’re the reason why it already has so much traction. They have money raised before the event has even happened. This grant is going to be incredible for an artist to receive, and Luke would have loved that.”
Beyond the studio time and mastering services, Hulett says they hope to somehow involve photographer Tommy Kha. “We’re trying to weave in a way to get Tommy involved, because Tommy and Luke were super buds. So we’re trying to figure that out. One idea was to get Tommy to come to the session and take photos of bands that win the grant. But that’s all aspirational at this point.”
Clearly the fund is a work in progress, but Hulett says the show will serve as the official announcement that the fund is up and running. “We’ll probably accept applications for six weeks, just so people have time to put their name in the hat,” says Hulett, “and then we’ll have a little bit of a review period, and then probably be able to announce the grant recipient in May.” But the ultimate goal is to raise enough funds to make this an annual event, Hulett says. To that end, B-Side will donate a portion of the night’s profits to the fund, in addition to what’s raised by the $20 suggested donation.
As a bandleader himself, Hulett is preparing some very Luke White-specific music for Friday’s show. “Me and Luke were in a band together called Jeffrey James & the Haul,” he says, “so we’re gonna dust off some of those songs that we used to do, and I actually have a new song called ‘Song for Luke,’ that I wrote after he passed, and we’re going to be playing that — if I can get through it.”
For Hulett, the presence and support of White’s parents will make the night that much more meaningful. “Pam and Kenny will be there, and they couldn’t be more excited about this way of keeping Luke’s memory alive, and his passion for Memphis music. You know, they both got tattoos in honor of Luke. So, once they give me a hug, then it’s just gonna be like, ‘All right, well, I guess I’m probably gonna cry tonight.’”