Jesco White is the son of Birty Mae and Donnie Ray (who knew 52 more dance steps than any other mountain dancer) White. He was born and raised in Boone Co., WV, and spent the early part of his life
huffing gasoline,
lighter fluid, and
airplane glue. He met his
wife "with the intention of robbin' her, but (he) ended up fallin' in
love."
According to Jesco's wife, Norma Jean, Jesco can be three people: Jesse (the good Jesco), Jesco (the bad Jesco), and
Elvis. Besides
Elvis, Jesco's true passion in life is literally follwing in his father's footsteps by mountain dancing (From what I can tell, mountain dancing is essentially
clogging to
banjo music).
It was Jesco's mountain dancing "skill" and interesting lifestyle that attracted film makers from Different Drummer Productions and gave them the idea to do a
documentary on him for
West Virginia PBS.
The
documentary, titled
The Dancing Outlaw follows Jesco as he dicusses the
death of his father (as a result of a
shootout in the "holler"), his
marriage...
"And I took the
butcher knife and put it up to her
neck. I said, If you want to live to see tomorrow, you better start fryin' them
eggs a little bit better than what you a fryin' 'em. I'm tired of eatin'
sloppy,
slimy,
eggs!"
...his passion for
Elvis, and his mountain dancing.
The documentary gathered a large
cult following, including the alt-rock band Live (who mention Jesco in their song
Rattlesnake) and actress
Roseanne. She was so intrigued by his mountain dancing that she offered him a guest spot on her
sitcom,
Roseanne.
The Dancing Outlaw 2: Jesco Goes to Hollywood focuses on Jesco's trip to
Hollywood to film his episode of
Roseanne.
Currently, Jesco still resides in Boone Co., WV and has split up with his wife, Norma. He can still be hired out for
parties.