Clarence White

Clarence White (born Clarence Joseph LeBlanc; June 7, 1944 – July 15, 1973) He was a member of the bluegrass ensemble the Kentucky Colonels and the rock band the Byrds, as well as a pioneer of country rock during the late 1960s. Ricky Nelson, Pat Boone, the Monkees, Randy Newman, Gene Clark, Arlo Guthrie, and Jackson Browne among others.

Together with frequent collaborator Gene Parsons, he invented the B-Bender, a guitar accessory that enables a player to mechanically bend the B-string up a whole tone and emulate the sound of a pedal steel guitar. White was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Association Hall of Fame in 2016, and again in 2019 as a member of the Kentucky Colonels.

Early years

Clarence Joseph LeBlanc was born on June 7, 1944, in Lewiston, Maine. Clarence's father, Eric LeBlanc Sr., played guitar, banjo, fiddle, and harmonica, ensuring that his offspring grew up surrounded by music. At such a young age he was barely able to hold the instrument and as a result, he briefly switched to ukulele, awaiting a time when his young hands would be big enough to confidently grapple with the guitar.

The Kentucky Colonels

Following the recording sessions for the Country Boys' debut album, the band changed its name to the Kentucky Colonels in September 1962, at the suggestion of country guitarist and friend Joe Maphis.

Around this time, Clarence's flatpicking guitar style was becoming a much more prominent part of the group's music.

The Kentucky Colonels became well known on the bluegrass circuit during this period and made many live appearances throughout California and the United States.

In 1964, the Colonels recruited fiddle player Bobby Sloan and continued to make live appearances at various clubs, concert halls and festivals. Music critic Thom Owens has remarked that White's playing on the album, "helped pioneer a new style in bluegrass; namely, he redefined the acoustic guitar as a solo instrument."

Shortly after the recording of the Appalachian Swing! album, Roland and Clarence undertook some session work backing dobroist Tut Taylor on a Dobro-themed album that was released by World Pacific Records in late 1964 as Dobro Country. In spite of these changes, the Kentucky Colonels dissolved as a band following a show on October 31, 1965.

Session work (1966–1968)

During 1964, White began to look beyond bluegrass music towards rock 'n' roll as an avenue for artistic expression.

By the time the original line-up of the Kentucky Colonels folded in late 1965, White had become a respected and well-known guitarist. White briefly joined Clark's touring band shortly thereafter.

During the Clark album sessions, White reconnected with mandolin player and bassist Chris Hillman, who he had known during the early 1960s as a member of the bluegrass combo the Hillmen. Hillman was currently a member of the Byrds and, in December 1966, he invited White to contribute countrified lead guitar playing to his songs "Time Between" and "The Girl with No Name", which both appeared on the Byrds' Younger Than Yesterday album. White also contributed guitar to the band's follow-up album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, and to their seminal 1968 country rock release, Sweetheart of the Rodeo.

Nashville West

By mid-1967, White had begun performing at night in the band the Reasons (a.k.a. Nashville West), which included bass player Wayne Moore, along with Parsons and Guilbeau (as banjoist-turned-drummer and lead singer respectively). The band mostly worked at the Nashville West club in El Monte, California, frequently borrowing the club's name as their own.

A live recording of Nashville West would eventually be released in 1979, Unterberger also remarked that the recording illustrated Nashville West as having "more electric rock influences than most country acts were using at the time." The need for such a device was driven by White's desire to bend his guitar's B-string up a full tone, while keeping his left hand on the strings and fretboard. In order to achieve this feat, White felt that he needed a third hand.

The Byrds

255px|thumb|Clarence White on stage with the Byrds at the [[Holland Pop Festival in Kralingen, Netherlands, 27 June 1970.]]

Following the abrupt departure from the Byrds of singer and guitarist Gram Parsons in July 1968, White was invited to join the group as a full-time member. He remained until the band was finally dissolved by lead guitarist Roger McGuinn in February 1973. This extended tenure with the band makes White the second longest-serving member of the Byrds after McGuinn. White was brought into the group at bass player Chris Hillman's suggestion, as someone who could handle the band's older rock material and their newer country-flavored repertoire.

Once he was a member of the Byrds, White began to express dissatisfaction with the band's current drummer, Kevin Kelley. Before long, he had persuaded McGuinn and Hillman to replace Kelley with his friend from the recently dissolved Nashville West, Gene Parsons (no relation to Gram). At around this same time, White and Gene Parsons undertook some informal rehearsing and recording with Hillman and Gram Parsons, as part of a prototype version of the Burrito Brothers. However, the pair declined an invitation to join the new country rock group and instead opted to stay with McGuinn's new-look Byrds. Similarly, authors Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz have commented that although the White-era Byrds failed to achieve the commercial success of the original line-up, the group were a formidable live act and a consistently in-demand attraction on the touring circuit.

The first Byrds' album to feature White as a full member was Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, which was released in early 1969. The album included a re-recording of the Gene Parsons and White-penned instrumental "Nashville West", The Ballad of Easy Rider album followed in November 1969, on which White could be heard leading the band through a rendition of the traditional song "Oil in My Lamp", representing the guitarist's first lead vocal performance as a Byrd.

1970 saw the Byrds release the double album (Untitled), which consisted of one LP of live concert recordings and another of new studio recordings. Upon release, the album was a critical and commercial success on both sides of the Atlantic, peaking at number 40 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and reaching number 11 on the UK Albums Chart. Two of the album's studio recordings featured White singing lead vocals: a cover version of the Lowell George composition "Truck Stop Girl" and a rendition of Leadbelly's "Take a Whiff on Me" (the latter also featured White playing mandolin). In addition, excerpts from an instrumental jam, recorded during the (Untitled) album sessions and logged in the Columbia Records' files under the title of "Fifteen Minute Jam", were later released as "White's Lightning" and "White's Lightning Pt.2" on The Byrds box set and the remastered double CD version of (Untitled) respectively.

255px|thumb|Clarence White (third from left) on tour with the Byrds in the Netherlands, June 1970.

The 1971 Byrdmaniax album saw White singing lead vocals on "My Destiny", written by Helen Carter, and "Jamaica Say You Will", penned by the then little-known songwriter Jackson Browne. In addition, White received a co-writing credit for the album's bluegrass instrumental "Green Apple Quick Step". This song also featured White's father, Eric White Sr., on harmonica.

Farther Along, released in November 1971, would prove to be the final album by the White-era Byrds. It featured White singing the Gospel hymn and title track "Farther Along" and a cover of the Larry Murray composition "Bugler".

Following the release of Farther Along, the band continued to tour throughout 1972, but no new Byrds album appeared. In late 1972, the original five-piece line-up of the Byrds reunited and, as a result, McGuinn decided to disband the existing version of the band. Parsons had been fired in July 1972 and Battin was dismissed by McGuinn in early 1973.

Despite being on tour or in the recording studio with the Byrds for the majority of the time between 1969 and 1972, White continued to undertake selected session work for other recording artists. During this period he played on Joe Cocker's 1969 album Joe Cocker!, Randy Newman's 1970 album 12 Songs, and the Everly Brothers' Stories We Could Tell from 1972. Other albums that White contributed his guitar playing to while he was a member of the Byrds include Linda Ronstadt's Hand Sown ... Home Grown (1969), Rita Coolidge's Rita Coolidge (1971), Marc Benno's Minnows (1971), Jackson Browne's Jackson Browne (1972), Gene Clark's Roadmaster (1973), and a trio of Arlo Guthrie albums: Running Down the Road (1969), Washington County (1970) and Hobo's Lullaby (1972).

In mid-February 1973, just prior to the break up of the White-era version of the Byrds, White joined with guitarist Peter Rowan, mandolinist David Grisman, fiddler Richard Greene, and banjoist Bill Keith to form the bluegrass supergroup Muleskinner. The musicians initially assembled as a one-off pickup band to back bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe for a television program, but ended up performing on their own when Monroe's tour bus broke down on the way to the television studios. A VHS video cassette of the broadcast was also released in 1992 and later re-issued on DVD.

As a result of the success of their appearance on the television broadcast, the band was offered a one album recording contract with Warner Bros. Records. Sessions for the album took place at the Record Plant in Los Angeles between March 27 and April 14, 1973, with Richard Greene and Joe Boyd producing. The music the band recorded for the Muleskinner album (a.k.a. A Potpourri of Bluegrass Jam) was in the vein of country rock, traditional bluegrass and progressive bluegrass (or "newgrass"). It was also one of the first bluegrass albums to feature a full drum kit. White's distinctive guitar and mandolin playing can be heard on the tracks "Do Not Disturb", "On the Spot", "Sonic Bummer", "I Must Be a Tree", "Banjo Dog", "Back Again", and "Drunkard's Dream" (the latter of which also features White contributing harmony vocals).

Returning to the U.S., White's final bout of touring took place with the New Kentucky Colonels in June 1973, as part of a four-date country rock package tour with Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Country Gazette, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Gene Parsons, Byron Berline, and Chris Ethridge among others. Although Gram and Clarence had been acquainted with one another since the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo sessions, the pair would develop a fast friendship during the mini-tour, after a very acrimonious re-acquaintance. Following the end of the package tour, White entered the recording studio with producer Jim Dickson on June 28 and 29, 1973 to begin work on a solo album. He recorded a total of six songs, four of which would belatedly be released on the archival album Silver Meteor: A Progressive Country Anthology in 1980. The accident occurred shortly after 2 a.m. while White and his brother Roland were loading equipment into their car following a White Brothers concert. Clarence was survived by his wife Susie, daughter Michelle, and son Bradley. Clarence was 29 years old.

Gram Parsons was especially shaken by White's death; he led a singalong of "Farther Along" at White's funeral service and later conceived his final song (before his own death), "In My Hour of Darkness", as a partial tribute to White.

Musical influence

Clarence White helped popularize the acoustic guitar as a lead instrument in bluegrass music, building on the work of guitarists such as Doc Watson. Prior to the advent of the more aggressive flatpicking style pioneered by guitarists like Watson and White, the guitar was strictly a rhythm instrument, save for a few exceptions (such as the occasional guitar track by banjoist Don Reno). Many of the most influential flatpickers of the 20th century cite White as a primary influence, including Dan Crary, Norman Blake, and Tony Rice. Rice owned and played White's highly modified 1935 Martin D-28. David Grier and Russ Barenberg are two other acoustic guitarists who were heavily influenced by White's guitar work. White's bluegrass playing with the Kentucky Colonels was also a considerable influence on Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead,

On the electric side of the guitar spectrum, White was similarly influential. Together with fellow Byrds bandmember Gene Parsons, White invented the B-Bender device. This device raises the B-string (second string) of the guitar a whole step by the use of pulleys and levers attached to both the upper strap knob and the second string on the guitar. It is activated by pushing down on the neck, and produces a "pedal steel" type sound. Arlen Roth, heavily influenced by this style, did not at the time know that White and Parsons had invented a B-bender, so instead developed his own unique all-finger bending version of this technique. This was heavily documented in his ground-breaking book, "Nashville Guitar", all of his recordings, as well as his book "Masters of the Telecaster". Subsequently, his Telecaster sound became as notable as his bluegrass playing. Marty Stuart, another guitarist influenced by White's playing, now owns and regularly plays White's 1954 Fender Telecaster with the prototype B-Bender.

Music archivist and writer Alec Palao has called White "one of a handful of true greats amongst the instrumentalists of 20th century popular music", before adding that "the waves created by the guitarist's idiosyncratic style are still forming ripples within bluegrass, country and rock 'n' roll." In 2003, White was ranked No. 41 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. In 2010, guitar manufacturer Gibson ranked White at No. 42 on their Top 50 Guitarists of All Time list.

Selected album discography

NOTES:

This discography does not include albums that Clarence White played on as a session musician, with the exception of Dobro Country, on which he is billed by name.
Sources for this section are Johnny Rogan's book Timeless Flight Revisited and the Kentucky Colonels discography at the AllMusic website.

Kentucky Colonels

The New Sound of Bluegrass America (1963)
Appalachian Swing! (1964)
Kentucky Colonels (1974) — UK reissue of Appalachian Swing! with two bonus tracks.
Livin' in the Past (1975) — Various live recordings from 1961 to 1965.
The Kentucky Colonels 1965-1966 (1976) — Live recordings.
Scotty Stoneman, Live in LA with the Kentucky Colonels (1979) — Live recording from 1965.
Kentucky Colonels 1966 (1979) — Studio demo recordings for an unreleased album.
Clarence White and the Kentucky Colonels (1980) — Live recordings.
On Stage (1984) — Live recordings.
Long Journey Home (1991) — Live recordings from the 1964 Newport Folk Festival.
Live in Stereo (1999) — Live recordings from a 1965 concert in Vancouver.
Bush, Latham & White (2011) — Live recordings from 1964.

Tut Taylor, Roland and Clarence White

Dobro Country (1964)

Nashville West

Nashville West (a.k.a. The Legendary Nashville West Album) (1979) — Live recordings from 1967.

The Byrds

Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde (1969)
Ballad of Easy Rider (1969)
(Untitled) (1970)
Byrdmaniax (1971)
Farther Along (1971)
Live at the Fillmore – February 1969 (2000)
Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971 (2008)
The Lost Broadcasts (2011) — Live recordings from the Byrds' 1971 appearance on the Beat-Club television program.

Muleskinner

Muleskinner (aka A Pot Pourri of Bluegrass Jam) (1973)
Muleskinner Live: Original Television Soundtrack (1992) — Live recordings from a 1973 television broadcast.

The New Kentucky Colonels

The White Brothers: The New Kentucky Colonels Live in Sweden 1973 (1976)
Live in Holland 1973 (2013)

Clarence White

33 Acoustic Guitar Instrumentals (2003) — Recorded in 1962.
Tuff & Stringy Sessions 1966–68 (2003) — Various studio sessions.
Flatpick (2006) — Recorded 1964, 1967, 1970 and 1973.
White Lightnin (2008) — Various recordings from 1962 to 1972.

Clarence White

Early years

The Kentucky Colonels

Session work (1966–1968)

Nashville West

The Byrds

Musical influence

Selected album discography

Kentucky Colonels

Tut Taylor, Roland and Clarence White

Nashville West

The Byrds

Muleskinner

The New Kentucky Colonels

Clarence White

Tut Taylor & Clarence White

References

External links