Filmmaker searching for memories of Dunedin’s Lari White

Her name, she liked to tell folks, rhymed with “starry night.”

For country singer Lari White, the stars almost came close enough to grasp. In the 1990s, the native of Dunedin scored three Top Ten singles (“That’s My Baby,” “Now You Know” and “That’s How You Know [When You’re in Love]).” Her second RCA Nashville album went gold.

White, who died of cancer five years ago at 52, was also a record producer (Toby Keith’s White Trash With Money) and a songwriter (Keith’s “The Lonely,” Travis Tritt’s “Helping Me Get Over You”).

Lari White in “Cast Away.” Image: 20th Century Fox.

As an actress, she appeared in the memorable final five minutes of Cast Away, as the artist whose FedEx package is returned – three years late – by the recently-rescued Tom Hanks. She also played June Carter in the original Broadway run of Ring Of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash.

Los Angeles journalist and filmmaker Joseph Fenity is making a documentary about Dunedin’s favorite daughter. White will narrate the film herself, via audio from an extensive interview Fenity did with her in 2015.

“Ever since I was a little kid,” says Fenity, 40, “I was telling people how cool I thought Lari White was. And now, the journalist has collided with the music fan, and I’m hell-bent to make sure people know who Lari White is.”

To that end, he’s established the Lari White Legacy Project at lariwhite.org, where fans, family and friends can leave their fondest memories.

The response, Fenity reports, has been overwhelming. “Once you know a bit about her career, or about how she lived her life, or how she treated people throughout her life, it’s no surprise.”

For the documentary-in-progress, “I would call someone in Nashville and say ‘Tell me about Lari White,’ and you could almost hear them catch their breath. Then they would say ‘Oh good! I’m so glad someone is doing something on Lari.’”

She once taught alongside Hamilton creator Lin-Manual Miranda. “You’ve never met a kinder, more talented songwriter,” he wrote after her death.

Lari Michele White graduated from Dunedin High School in 1983. As a youngster, she’d performed in her family’s gospel band, and later competed as a classical pianist. She was lead singer in the rock group White Sound during her high school years.

White graduated from the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music in 1987, and transitioned into a role as a backup singer on tours and recordings.

Her boss for one such gig was singer/songwriter Rodney Crowell, who co-produced (with guitarist Steuart Smith) White’s RCA debut, Lead Me Not. She married fellow musician Chuck Cannon in 1994; the couple had three children.

White appeared on Leno, Letterman and all the country TV shows of the era (Nashville Now, Crook and Chase, etc).

But big time success continued to elude her, as the charts were dominated by the likes of Garth, Reba and Wynonna.

“Those are all great artists,” Fenity proclaims. “But then I thought, there are people who maybe didn’t get the top spot, or don’t have as many music videos, or have not graced the cover of Country Weekly or whatever. Who are just as good.”

Fenity grew up just south of Austin, Texas, where country radio ruled. “I was born irritated with certain people not getting the proper amount of spotlight,” he laughs.

Why did Lari White not reach superstar status? As a student of commercial country music, Fenity understands – as many would-be artists are forced to – that talent is one thing, but timing and luck are essential, too.

“There are so many ingredients to how you make that cake,” he says. “Who you make it with, what day it is, what ingredients, generic or not, that you did or didn’t use. Did you promote it that you were making a cake?”

And performers, sad but true, are commodities: “There were three big new female artists out at the time – Shania Twain on Polygram/Mercury, Faith Hill on Warner Bros., and sandwiched in between was Lari White on RCA Nashville,” Fenity says.

“Part of me can’t help wonder if Lari was a year or two earlier, or a year or two later, more people would have heard of her.”

At issue: Martina McBride was RCA’s golden girl at the time. “And to be perfectly honest, if you’re talking about marketing, put those two girls side by side and early facial recognition would have trouble distinguishing them. And I think RCA put a lot more behind certain artists than others.”

Fenity plans to be in Washington, D.C. June 21 when White is posthumously inducted into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame.

He encourages anyone who knew Lari, or has a memory to share, to contact him through the Lari White Legacy Project website.

“The documentary is Part B,” he explains. “Part A is that ongoing, for lack of a better word, living virtual museum. Someplace where people can go and see these memories.

“So the all-points bulletin is this: Hey, tell me your story. I would love for people to know I am still on the search.”