Angel White: Riding the Ghost Trails of the American West

From Deep Ellum’s grit to the Texas plains, Angel White’s debut rewrites the cowboy story with quiet force, carving space for overlooked voices in country.

It was in north Texas, where the ranchland rolls for miles under an open sky, that Angel White found his voice.  

Raised in the rural outskirts of Cleburne, this fifth-generation horseman’s musical sensibility was shaped by old soul records, gospel echoes, and the lived reality of those too often left out of the country music canon. His path through the industry has been quiet but deliberate – rooted in tradition, but never confined by it. 

Before the headlines, White was a busker in Deep Ellum. The nights were long, the pockets often empty, but the education was priceless. Playing to indifferent crowds forced him to sharpen his voice – and his resolve. It also gave him a front-row seat to the beauty of imperfection – a lesson he still carries into the studio and onto the stage. That grit still underpins his live shows today, a reminder that even the most layered studio albums begin with unfiltered connection. 

A powerful musical tradition 

White’s connection to music was forged early. He’s described how his childhood home was filled with sound – everything from gospel records to ‘90s soul. His family’s deep roots in Texas ranching culture ran alongside a quieter but equally powerful musical tradition. Sundays often meant time in church, where White first began to understand the emotional resonance of live performance. While he never formally studied music, he’s said those early environments taught him everything he needed to know about vocal control and presence. 

In March this year, White released Ghost of the West, a debut album that felt like an act of reclamation. Recorded over 12 days in Austin with producer Dwight Baker, it draws on histories that country music has too often overlooked – Black, Native, and Mexican cowboys whose legacies still echo across the plains.  

For White, the cowboy is more a costume than an inheritance. His identity as a Black cowboy is central not only to his image but to the very fabric of Ghost of the West. He’s spoken about how people are often surprised to see a cowboy of colour, and how he feels that figures like him – along with Spanish and Native cowboys – still move through the genre like ghosts, rarely acknowledged despite their real and lasting presence. 

Personal and political  

White’s understanding of cowboy culture is both personal and political. He challenges the mainstream image of the cowboy as exclusively white and male, drawing on his own lineage and broader historical truths. There’s a mythology, he’s suggested, that country music was built on, but many voices were left out. For him, Ghost of the West is a form of cultural reckoning, one that sheds light on overlooked legacies and reclaims space through story. 

In many ways, the album serves as a tribute to those cultural ghosts. It doesn’t just reclaim narratives – it complicates them, showing that country music’s foundations are more diverse and intertwined than the mainstream has often acknowledged. Tracks like “Down by the River” and “Wild Painted Horses” unfold more like ghost stories told around a dying fire – layered, aching, and curiously comforting. 

To read the full article, see our last issue here.

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Editor, Maverick Magazine
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