Ken White

Ken White sat down with Trevor in August 2025, a month before World of Bluegrass came to Chattanooga for the first time.

A banjo for Christmas

Ken got a banjo for Christmas when he was 12 and grew up playing bluegrass in Louisville, Kentucky. Two years later he won the Kentucky State Banjo Championship. He does not usually lead with that. He went to the first few IBMA events in Owensboro, and to the ones in Louisville after the move.

The banjo came first, but the guitar is what spoke to him. Tony Rice was his hero, and Rice's work with David Grisman led him into jazz, from Grisman to Miles Davis and beyond. He studied guitar at the University of Louisville with the jazz guitarist Jimmy Raney.

"Jazz appeals to my intellect, but bluegrass is my heart."

The sideman years

In his twenties and early thirties Ken played music for a living. For about five years he played guitar in New Tradition, a Nashville band whose leaders included Danny Roberts. They played up to 200 dates a year. He also played with fiddlers Vassar Clements and Deanie Richardson of Sister Sadie, and on stages from the Grand Ole Opry to Telluride and RockyGrass. In Nashville he spent late nights at the Station Inn, helping restock the bar for free nachos and pizza.

Life on the road taught him how to pick a gig.

"There are three reasons to take a gig. It either has to be good music, good people, or good money. If you've got two of those, it's a great gig. If you have all three, that's the gig I want to do the rest of my life."

A hillbilly musician who reads

Music school taught Ken to read notation, and that opened doors most pickers never see. He played with the Louisville Mandolin Orchestra, the Nashville Mandolin Ensemble and the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, and he calls sitting on mandolin in the middle of an 80-piece orchestra a once in a lifetime thing. He once played guitar onstage in an opera, in period costume, while the lead soprano sang an aria. He played banjo in a performance of the original jazz band orchestration of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.

Ken never quit playing, even after he stopped calling himself a professional. In 2002 he co-founded Howerton+White, a marketing agency. He also served as president of the Wichita Jazz Festival. He says learning to improvise in a small group shaped how he works in business, too: supporting other people and keeping the big picture in view.

Bringing World of Bluegrass to Chattanooga

Ken started at IBMA on October 2, 2023, chosen from more than 70 applicants. He called it a full circle moment. His first World of Bluegrass as director was the last one in Raleigh, the event's home for 12 years.

His second was the move. In September 2025, IBMA held World of Bluegrass in Chattanooga for the first time, the organization's 40th year. The business conference ran at the Chattanooga Convention Center. The Bluegrass Ramble put 30 bands in five walkable downtown venues. The closing festival, IBMA Bluegrass Live!, built a multi-stage site across Miller Park, Miller Plaza and Patten Square instead of the riverfront, to keep everything close to the hotels and the Ramble. The staff behind all of it numbered seven, backed by local partners and volunteers.

The 2025 Bluegrass Music Awards were held September 18 at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium. That year's Hall of Fame class was Hot Rize, the Bluegrass Cardinals and Arnold Shultz. Ken called electing Hall of Famers one of the best parts of the job, a chance to meet the heroes he had when he was learning to play.

"If you're throwing the party, you don't really get to enjoy the party."

Advice for new pickers

Ken's advice for new players is simple. Have fun, whatever your level, and find other people to play with. Ken planned to stop by Randy Steele's Tuesday jam the next time he was in town.

"I always tell people, as soon as they learn those first three chords, you just need to get out and play with somebody else, and that will teach you a lot."

After IBMA

Ken stepped down as executive director in June 2026. In his farewell statement he said he was proudest of the team he built, and that he would remain a lifetime IBMA member, "singing the tenor part and picking an old Martin forevermore." World of Bluegrass returns to Chattanooga October 20 to 24, 2026.