Meet the HughMens
Hughmen Project started during the throws of the COVID-19 Pandemic in August of 2020 when Hugh “Kiran” White traveled from California to visit his father, Hugh “Kevin” White, who was born & raised in Louisiana.
Meet Hugh “Kevin” White
Kevin White started his musical career in the heyday of 1970’s New Orleans while in high school at E.J. (East Jefferson).
He started playing around town at the age of seventeen, taking any gig he could get. He even once filled in for the drummer at the Chris Owens Club. Kevin was tall for his age and grew his sideburns long to pass for eighteen, the legal age at the time. After graduating high school, he attended Loyola Music School on a scholarship for one year. He played in the Saints Band in Tulane Stadium for that season, as it was right next door to the Loyola campus. The Saints were so bad that they used to play “When The Saints Go Marching In” every time they got a 1st down, instead of a touchdown, so they could rehearse the chart.
Kevin left Loyola after his freshman year to go on the road, but not before a stint with Dick Stabile and the Blue Room Orchestra. He also worked on a Russian cruise ship, the M.V.Odessa, out of NOLA to Mexico and Central America.
Going on the road eventually lead Kevin to audition for Wayne Cochran and the C. C. Rider Band (the king of blue-eyed soul). Touring with Wayne took him out west where he made connections that would eventually land him an audition for the Lou Rawls Orchestra. Kevin toured with Lou for over 2 years. In fact, the last time he performed in NOLA was with Lou at the Saenger Theater on Canal St.
Kevin had relocated to L.A. while working with Lou from 1980-83. While there, he had an epiphany that awakened him to the realization that the most important goal in my life was to become a dad. He came off the road and gradually backed away from the L.A. music scene to focus on being around to raise his son, Kiran. Of course he raised him in a musical environment. Drums at first, then piano at the age of six and then him choosing the Bari sax in junior high school.
Kevin moved back to NOLA in 2018. Now, the amazing part of this story is that he had to come full circle to realize that his perfect musical partner is his son, Kiran.
“I always wanted to be more than just a sideman. It’s a hard life as a sideman. A young man’s job. I wanted more. I wanted to be a musical artist, writing and playing my own music.”
Meet Hugh “Kiran” White
Kiran’s first instrument was, of course, the drums. He got his first set of drums from “Santa” when he was 5 years old. A real set of miniature wooden drums, bright Christmas red in color. Replete with a set of Paiste cymbals, with a rolling cymbal bag as he was just a little guy at the time. Santa is mindful like that. His favorite bands were The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Nirvana.
He started taking piano lessons at the age of 6 from a classically trained Russian pianist. He continued playing both piano and drums until he discovered the Bari sax in middle school. He played in orchestra, marching band and jazz band throughout both Junior High and High School.
During this period his musical tastes broadened out to include Rap and R&B, Classic Rock, Big Band Jazz, Bebop and ultimately Modern Jazz.
Though Kiran has not pursued the same musical path as his father, he has embraced his newfound role as both co-composer and player as one half of Hughmen Project.