His style was a subtle mix of tap and clog dancing that is native to the Appalachian Mountains and Appalachia.
[1] His son, Jesco White, known as "The Dancing Outlaw," who has also been the subject of several documentaries, has carried on his style and continues to perform.
D. Ray was profiled as a famous mountain dancer on a PBS special titled Talking Feet: Solo Southern Dance - Flatfoot, Buck and Tap,[1] and is referred to in The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia.
[2] The 1991 PBS film Dancing Outlaw chronicled son Jesco's abilities as a mountain dancer.
Steve Allen Rowe, 30, a fellow resident of Boone County, West Virginia, town of Prenter, shot D. Ray and his sons Jesco and Dorsey White with a 12-gauge shotgun outside D. Ray's home on July 2, 1985, after quarreling with White and his sons.