Josh White - Posthumous Honors

Posthumous Honors

• In 1983, Josh White, Jr., starred in the long-running and rave-reviewed biographical dramatic musical stage play on his father's life, Josh: The Man & His Music, written and directed by Broadway veteran Peter Link, which premiered at the Michigan Public Theatre in Lansing, Michigan. Subsequently, the State of Michigan formally proclaimed April 20, 1983, as "Josh White & Josh White, Jr. Day."
• In 1984, when asked why his father's recordings were so hard to find, Josh White, Jr. said, "Normally, when a person of my old man's stature passes away, a flood of re-releases and best-of packages are dumped on the market. But when he died there was only one memorial album that Elektra put out and, after that, there was nothing. That's why in my performances I never omit a section devoted to my father's songs, his interpretations of other people's songs, and his style of guitar playing."
• In 1987, the Josh White, Jr. tribute album to his father's music, Jazz, Ballads and Blues (RYKODISC, produced by Douglas Yeager), received a Grammy nomination.
• In 1996, Josh White, Jr. released a well received second tribute album to his father's music, entitled House of the Rising Son (Silverwolf, produced by Josh White, Jr., Douglas Yeager and Peter Link).
• On June 26, 1998, the United States Postal Service issued a 32-cent postage stamp honoring White, unveiling it on Washington, D.C.'s National Mall, followed by a concert tribute of his songs by Josh White, Jr. This same year, Smithsonian Folkways released an album of White's work, entitled Free and Equal Blues, his only solo album released on the label (though he was featured on several compilation works both before and after).
• From 2002 to 2006, the historic Americana show Glory Bound, which starred Odetta, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Oscar Brand, and Josh White, Jr., toured America, in a salute to the first three folk and blues artists to be honored with U.S. postage stamps, Josh White, Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie.
• On February 27, 2010, a 36" high bust of White was unveiled at the LeQuire Gallery in Nashville, Tennessee. It is part of an exhibit by the sculptor Alan LeQuire entitled "Cultural Heroes", which will tour museums across America in the Fall of 2010. The exhibit's other cultural heroes, whose busts are honored alongside White, were: Bessie Smith, Paul Robeson, Marian Anderson, Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie and Billie Holiday.