Comedic Singer to Perform in Alexandria’s West End

Focus Music is presenting an evening of original songs and humor with Don White in concert at 7 p.m. May 19.

The concert will take place at Church of the Resurrection, 2280 N. Beauregard St. Tickets are $18 general and $15 in advance at www.focusmusic.org. For more information, call 703-380-3151 or email herb@focusmusic.org.

White, who is based in Boston, is known for taking his audiences from laughter to tears, sometimes in the course of one song. His vocals range from talk-singing to an almost operatic power to a nasal drone, depending of the song's subject. His between-song patter is there with the storytelling of Bill Cosby or Garrison Keillor, perhaps because his subjects usually involve the joys, annoyances, embarrassments and sorrows of family life.

White doesn't claim to be a master guitarist—some of his funny songs are reminiscent of the ditties Adam Sandler played on "Saturday Night Live." But what he lacks in vocal or instrumental talent, the singer/songwriter makes up for in the soul of his lyrics or spoken-word pieces. Today, he also frequently performs with Christine Lavin, a founder of the Four Bitchin' Babes and another singing comedian.

"It's hard to describe what it is that Don does onstage, because there simply isn't anyone out there like him," Lavin said in a news release. "I'm a brave performer to share the bill with someone who knocks audiences out the way he does.  But I've discovered if audiences know me and don't know him—they become instant fans of his. If they know him and don't know me, the same thing seems to happen for me. Everybody wins."

In 2009, the two released “Christine Lavin and Don White Live At The Ark—The Father's Day Concert,” two hours of songs and stories recorded in June 2009 in Ann Arbor, Mich.

The newest of White’s eight albums is “Winning Streak,” released in 2010. It includes the Cosby-esque “My Wife Hates Baseball,” and “Be Afraid,” a song about pride, fear and watching your children launch into adulthood.

In 2006, White published “Memoirs of a C Student,” a collection of 12 short stories. In 2008, he released “Family Man,” a DVD documentary of two June 2006 sold-out shows in Somerville, Mass., with select footage from earlier White performances.

Watch a YouTube video and a storytelling example here.

A volunteer-run nonprofit, Focus in Alexandria presents monthly folk and acoustic music shows, usually on the third Sunday night of the month. Focus also presents shows in Rockville and Mount Vernon.