Alice McLain White
Alice McLain White (born 1956) is a bluegrass mandolinist, bassist, and singer. She was born Rose Alice McLain and grew up in Hindman, Kentucky, where her father, Raymond Kane McLain, directed the Hindman Settlement School. Her mother, Betty, encouraged the family to form a band. In 1968 Alice began performing with her father and her siblings Raymond Winslow and Ruth, at first under the name Bluegrass State. The family moved to Berea, Kentucky, in 1970, and she enrolled at Berea College. She started on mandolin and later also played bass. She met mandolinist and guitarist Al White on the Grand Ole Opry and married him in 1977, after which he joined the band. The McLain Family Band made 14 overseas tours, many sponsored by the U.S. State Department, and performed in all 50 states and more than 60 countries at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and the Grand Ole Opry, plus appearances on Hee Haw and The Johnny Cash Show. The band stopped touring extensively around 1990 and but returned in 2018 for its 50th anniversary. It received the IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award in 2013 and was inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2024. She, Al White, and Ruth also formed the trio Al, Alice & Ruth in 2011.
In the newsletter
- No. 32 April 2003