Clarence White

Jerry Dragon · From: Gate City Va.

I was just wondering how many of you guys know who he was?

Jon Graboff · From: Santa Fe, New Mexico

me. saw him play 5 or 6 times and went down front to watch him up close. wow!

Brint Hannay · From: Maryland, USA

I saw him once, with the Byrds, in 1970, from pretty far back in the crowd. I knew nothing about the B-Bender at the time, and found his movements odd-looking. I already dug his playing, from the Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde album, but I didn't know he wasn't doing everything with his fingers alone. My recollection is that he played great at that show (at American University in Washington, D.C.), though my recall is, shall we say, hazy.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Ah ... yes. Is this a trick question? In my circles, almost all guitar players know about Clarence, and many are heavily influenced by him.

I also saw him with the Byrds in Boston - I think it was 1969. I was right up next to the stage, and his Tele playing was radically different than anything I had heard before. I don't really know how to argue whether he was more influential on Tele or acoustic guitar. I always wish I had seen him with the Kentucky Colonels.

There were a bunch of really interesting guitar players around that time whose playing was permanently warping my blues/rock'n'roll brain - Clarence, Doc Watson, Robbie Robertson, Mike Bloomfield, John Cipollina, Jesse Ed Davis, Amos Garrett, Jim Messina, Roy Buchanan, and no doubt others.

Steve Feldman · From: Central MA USA

Yep, or I should say 'of course'.
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Brendan Mitchell · From: Melbourne Australia

Clarence was a legend in the early country rock scene . If I remember right he was hit by a drunk driver while loading his car after a show . His album Nashville West is well worth a listen .

Alvin Blaine · From: Picture Rocks, Arizona, USA

I saw Clarence play at a very young age, and he was the first famous musician I remember where I was when I heard he had died. It was the first time someones passing seemed to effect me, I was 12 years old at the time.
About 10 or 12 years later I worked at a music store and sold a bass to, Clarence's brother, Eric LeBlanc, Jr.
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Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

I took guitar lessons from him in 1962.

He was working as a teacher at L.A.'s legendary Ash Grove, (where Herb Steiner and I both hang out.) The place strted a "school of folk music." Clarence was one of the teachers, I was a student.

He showed me how to play Wildwood flower.

This was during the time he and Roland had just started the Kentucky Colonels. At the time they band called itself "the Country Boys."

Clarence and I had many mutual friends from the place. I was never close with him but when he died it was a personal loss for many people we both knew.
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D Schubert · From: Columbia, MO, USA

He's a huge influence on my six-string playing, both electric & acoustic. Crosspicking, B-bending, etc., etc.

Steve Hitsman · From: Waterloo, IL

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Marty Stuart has his Telecaster and Tony Rice, his Martin.

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

I was lucky enough to meet him once and talk for quite a while in the "green room" at the Ash Grove in early '73 or so. I wasn't a bluegrass player or a Tele picker at the time, but a few years later was doing both - and realized I learned more about both styles and music in general in that 45-minute talk than in any other situation.

Clarence is unique because he essentially was a trailblazer in two totally different styles of playing, and not only did he lead the way but he completely reinvented himself without sounding like anyone else. He and Doc Watson were the first to have major impact using guitar as a lead instrument in bluegrass (and Clarence more than Doc, as Doc wasn't often in a bluegrass band setting) - Clarence's timing was also unmatched, as he'd leave tons of "air", let notes hang between measures, play bass notes (like the typical "G" run" on mixed beats, all sounding effortless. He was also a very early bluegrasser to be influenced by Django - I have a recorded demo/lesson he did for Bob Warford where he plays some incredible fiddle tunes, then some blues, then goes into a couple of Django tuns - and this was 1964, long before Grisman/Rice et al headed that direction.

When he turned to electric he adapted a lot of his timing, but played in a completely different ay - and once he and Gene Parsons created the shoulder-strap b-bender he literally invented a new style, making the b-bender not a guitar with a gadget attached, but an instrument NOT the same as a "straight" electric guitar. And despite what a lot of folks not that familiar with his playing think (mostly from hearing OTHER b-bender players) he didn't use it for "faux pedal steel - in fact he rarely played ANY steel-sounding licks, and he taught me to specifically avoid that way of using it as a weak steel imitation - to instead use the bends in a non-steel way. Difficult to explain, but pretty easy to hear the difference (he admitted his early bender playing DID take a lot from steel - and then he intentionally "unlearned" it; there's a huge difference between, say, his 1969 Live at the Fillmore playing and later live releases.).

Really one of the most influential guitarists to ever live. Folks think of him influencing the "country rock" players; but he was also a big influence (bender-wise) on Jimmy Page, Pete Townsend and amazingly James Hetfield of Metallica; and one of his "fans" was a guy named Jimi Hendrix...

The really interesting thing is that his recorded work is amazing, but not even his best stuff. There are dozens of bootlegs circulating that are downright witchcraft.

Plus he was just a nice, humble, friendly guy and very willing to give tips and show "tricks" to anyone who was interested.

Several years ago we started a Clarence White Forum, and have "bender jams" in the L.A. area every year or two. His daughter Michelle is part of the "group" that hangs out on the forum.

www.clarencewhiteforum.com
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Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Jim Pitman · From: Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA

For his last recorded effort on Bender Tele - correct me if I'm wrong, it's the "Muleskinner" album released in 1973. This was a very cool musical direction concept record in my book. It had acoustic bluegrassers like Bill Keith, Peter Rowan, David Grisman, and Richard Green mixed with Clarence playing both acoustic and electric. It was sidelined with his death later in the same year. By the way Bill Kieth did a pretty nice job playing his Emmons PSG.
I've always thought that early bluegrass had quite the influence on rock and roll and it was interesting to hear it come around and connect again on this record.

Peter Dollard · Posted 23 Oct 2008 8:16 am **Doc's Influence**

While it is certainly true that Doc played electric guitar in a VFW band in the fifties he was playing Black Mtn Rag and other bluegrass fiddle tunes on a Les Paul developing the style that made him famous. These dances were essentially as much country as they were anything else. Doc's version of Black Mtn Rag sets the standard for that song. Although his arrival at country music might have been perceived differently because of the electric guitar thing the first song he ever learned on the guitar was the Carter Families "When The Roses Bloom In Dixie" and I think that should serve as a beginning point for his heritage.

Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

Jerry,he was on a few Andy Griffith shows. Whoa!

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Dave Harmonson · From: Seattle, Wa

I was influenced very much by Clarence. As others have said here, on both electric and acoustic guitar. He definitely had a style of his own that always gives me a smile. His passing was very tragic indeed and deeply saddened me. I never met him, and heard him only once with The Byrds in '72.

A couple of months back I had a conversation with Gene Parsons concerning my B-bender and talked about where Clarence may have gone with his playing had he not been lost so young. I feel that he would have put less emphasis on bending strings and would have broadened his scope in many directions. Gene told an interesting anecdote of how after Clarence had had his bender for about a year, Gene pulled him aside to remind him that he didn't have to be using the bender all the time. He told him not to forget about all the great stuff he had done without one. If you listen to his music chronologically you can hear this development. There have been many fine bender players to follow, but I still haven't heard anyone really sound like Clarence. His syncopation and timing was very unique indeed.

Speaking of bootlegs, I had an old friend who had a reel to reel tape of Clarence playing before a show at Fillmore in SF. He plugged into a Sony and played about an hours worth of licks. I wish I still had access to it. I haven't been in touch with my old friend for a long time. There's great stuff on it. He practices intros such as You Ain't Going Nowhere, Positively 4th Street, plays around with Buckaroo, and just noodles for part of it.

Still miss Clarence. From a Parsons/White bender picker since '76.

Frank Freniere · From: The First Coast

Hey Brint -

Was that an outdoor show with J. Geils? I was there, too.

Ben Jones · From: Seattle, Washington, USA

I had never heard of Clarence until i became interested in country rock and i still dont know much about him. Can anyone recommend an album or two to try?

I have a dvd-r with a very funny tv show where Clarence is being interviewed and shows some guitar technique while a bunch of people (presumably beginning guitar students) in the audience sit around with their guitars in their hands. Its very odd.

David Nugent · From: Gum Spring, Va.

The guitar Marty Stuart plays often on the Opry is Clarence's original B-Bender model. It is a sunburst Tele with some sort of shield decal on the front... As a sidenote, as stated, the D-28 that Tony Rice uses once belonged to Clarence but was not the guitar that he preferred to flatpick on. Clarence once stated in an interview that he favored his D-18 for that purpose and used the "28" mostly for rhythm. And as Stu stated, you can catch the Country Boys (Clarence and Roland White,Billy Ray Latham,Leroy"Mac"Macnees,and Roger Bush) on the Andy Griffith Show as Andy's backup group in the "Folk Album" episode.

Charlie Thompson · From: South Carolina, USA

I was lucky enough to play in a band that opened for The Byrds in February 1972 and therefore met Clarence. He and Roger McGuinn came out to the the club our band gigged at later that night and I guess that it wasn't too much longer after that he was killed.
A couple of years ago I was in another band that opened for Marty Stuart and there back stage was Clarence's B bender. I asked if I could play it and was allowed. The most noticable thing was how heavy it was. It was about as thick as two telecasters.
I asked the tech what he did with it between shows and he said he kept it in the back of his Chevette!

Steve Feldman · From: Central MA USA

A little off-topic, but the tone that Clarence was getting on 'Untitled' and other recordings was just unbelievable. I can listen to 'Lover of the Bayou' and still get chills up my spine. Anyone know what he was playing through? I saw them in ~1971, but this wasn't on my radar back then...
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Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Brint Hannay · From: Maryland, USA

I'm very partial to "Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde". And one individual song, "Time Between", on the "Younger Than Yesterday" album (when Clarence was not yet a member of the band, but a session player) ranks among my very favorite guitar performances of all time, by anybody. Tele tone to die for, and tasteful to the nth.

John Steele · From: Renfrew, Ontario, Canada

I once got whacked on the head with Clarence's telecaster.
I think that might have been my fifteen seconds of fame.
-John

Jason Odd · From: Stawell, Victoria, Australia

The Muleskinner LP, issued on Warner Brothers in 1974, was a country-rock / bluegrass supergroup with Clarence playing some amazing stuff, I think that album showed how much he'd refined his wilder earlier playing as an electric picker, although when he played on sessions like those he did with Wynn Stewart, he was totally able to slip into the background and compliment everything.

The Muleskinner album was cut in 1973, originally intended for Asylum, but moved to WB during the big changes at the labels (Elektra, Warner Bros., Atco, Atlantic, Cotillion, Reprise, Asylum, etc merged to become a super label) .. and then delayed (like Gram Parsons last album) for almost a year following Clarence's unfortunate death.

Sierra Records have a new CW compilation coming out which features his other bar band the Roustabouts (which actually had a steel player), and rare Byrds and CW solo recordings.

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