Effron White is a singer/songwriter from the
Ozark Mountain town of Fayetteville, Arkansas. In 2004, he was a winner in the Kerrville Folk Festival's prestigious New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters. The Ozark Music Awards voted his song, "Yankee Dime", the Best Original Song in 2002; and the Northwest Arkansas Music Awards named him Best Folk Artist in the same year.
Effron's gravelly vocal quality - reminiscent of Tom Waits, John Prine, and Bob Dylan - is surprisingly soothing to the listener, and is well-suited for rollicking rock and blues tunes, as well as folk and country ballads. He combines his earthy vocal delivery with a variety of rhythmic guitar styles - sometimes employing a very percussive flat-pick style, other times beautiful, laid back fingerpicking. With a smattering of harmonica added to the blend, an Effron White show is a fun and moving experience.
As a songwriter, Effron draws his influences from those legends of the past who are looked upon as poets as much as songwriters, such as, Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt, John Prine, and, Guy Clark. It also becomes evident that he draws upon elements of these artists' methods of delivery in getting his songs across. He seems drawn to those artists who, as Effron puts it, "...don't have a so-called good singing voice, but can write a powerful song and drive it right into your soul with a voice from the heart."