Kentucky Colonels

Kentucky Colonels

Clarence white on the acoustic guitar

The Kentucky Colonels were a popular bluegrass band in the 1960s. They included Clarence White, later with The Byrds.  The White brothers started out as the 3 Country Boys in 1954, with their brother Eric. With the addition of Latham, Mack and Sloane, and Roger Bush replacing Eric, they changed their name to the Kentucky Colonels in 1961. They soon became well-known on the bluegrass scene, performing at folk and country festivals. They appeared on Andy Griffith's television show twice. In 1964, they released their most popular album to date, Appalachian Swing!. The band's last performance was in the Fall of 1965. They reunited with Clarence White and performed a few shows in 1973. Clarence was killed by a drunk driver in July 1973. Before Clarence was killed, the White Brothers recorded an album called "Live in Sweden 1973."

Members
 Clarence White - guitar, vocals (born 7 June 1944, Lewiston, Maine, died 14 July 1973, Palmdale, California)
 Roland White - mandolin, vocals (born 23 April 1938, Madawaska, Maine)
 Billy Ray Latham - banjo (born 12 January 1938, California)
 LeRoy Mack - Dobro
 Roger Bush - bass
 Bobby Sloane - fiddle
 Scotty Stoneman - Fiddle Died Mar. 4, 1973 Was son of famous Ernest V Stoneman of country music's Stoneman family.

Discography
 New Sounds of Bluegrass America (1963, Briar International)
 Appalachian Swing! (1964, World Pacific)
 Long Journey Home (1964, Vanguard)
 Kentucky Colonels (1973, Rounder)
 Livin' In The Past (1975, Sierra)
 The Kentucky Colonels with Scotty Stoneman (1975, Sierra)
 The White Brothers Live in Sweden 1973 (1973, Rounder)

Three Little Country Boys

Three little country boys

Clarence White was born on June 7th 1944 in Madawaska, Maine as Clarence Joseph LeBlanc. Nearly all his close relatives were born in Canada of French ancestry - and soon LeBlanc was changed to WHITE.

Musically the family heritage was a rich one and their home was filled with the sound of traditional fiddle music and country music after work and on weekends. Their father Eric White, Sr. played fiddle, banjo, harmonica and guitar.

At the age of 8 Clarence's brother Roland, older by 6 years, learnt his first chords on guitar from his father Eric and two years later got his first mandolin. Although Clarence first played the guitar when he was six years old, the first instrument he owned was a Ukelele given to him by his father for Christmas 1950 and from then he started strumming the Ukelele to accompany Roland's mandolin playing before graduating to the guitar. Clarence gave his first public performance aged 8 at a local "Grange Hall" entertainment in Chinalake, Maine.  They played standard country numbers like "Ragtime Annie", "Golden Slippers", "Rubber Dolly" and "Under The Double Eagle" - a famous march written by Josef Franz Wagner, who was born in Vienna, Austria 1856.

In 1954 the whole family moved from Madawaska, Maine to Burbank, California where they joined an aunt who had preceded them in finding work. Shortly thereafter, they learned of a talent show "Country Show" every sunday on KXLA in Pasadena. Going by the name of THREE LITTLE COUNTRY BOYS, the children won a show, and they began to appear on many local radio & TV shows such as "Squeskin' Deacon's Show", "The Old Riverside Rancho Show" or "Cal's Corral". At that time, Eric, the middle brother, played tenor banjo and bass, Roland was on mandoling with Clarence on guitar and for a short time, their sister, Joanna, sang with them and sometimes played the bass.
 Roland White first heard Bluegrass in 1955 (before the family moved to California, they had not seen live Bluegrass music, and neither was it very popular in California at this time) on a record of Bill Monroe "Pike County Breakdown" and he fell in love with that music.

Joe and Rose Maphis further helped fire the enthusiasm of the young White brothers for Bluegrass music. Joe Maphis gave some tapes of Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian to Clarence, and Joe taught him the basics of various guitar playing styles.
 In the middle of 1957 the three brothers began appearing regularly on a local radio show.
At the age of 19, Roland set out for Nashville and in his absence the White family met Billy Ray Lathum who moved to California from Cave City, Arkansas and the name was shortened to THE COUNTRY BOYS.

 Roland returned just in time for the group to begin picking small local jobs. Shortly thereafter, they also met LeRoy Mack (LeRoy McNees) who played the dobro and began playing some back-up for the group - Billy Ray played the banjo. They regularly appeared at the "Frontier Club" in Pomona, CA, two nights every week.

Up until about 1959, they had little contact with any live bluegrass or acoustic music except through occasional concerts at the Town Hall Party. The Ash Grove was to be the scene of their introduction to many folk acts. Through the New Lost City Ramblers they met Ed Pearl, manager of the Ash Grove, who subsequently booked the Country Boys. At the time, Clarence and Eric were still in school and the others had day jobs.

 he band (Clarence, Roland & Eric White, Billy Ray Lathum and LeRoy Mack) practiced and recorded songs at LeRoy Mack's parents' residence. They practiced songs like: Angel Of Death / Who Will Sing For Me / Singing All Day / If I Be Lifted Up / Wicked Path Of Sin / Are You Afraid To Die / Let Me Walk Alone / Workin' On A Building / A Beautiful Life / Old Time Religion.
The first COUNTRY BOYS single was released 1959 on the "Sundown" label: "I'm Head Over Heals In Love With You" / "Kentucky Hills".



Clarence White

Clarence White

Clarence White (born Clarence LeBlanc; June 7, 1944 – July 15, 1973) was a guitar player for Nashville West, The Byrds, Muleskinner, and the Kentucky Colonels. His parents were Acadians from New Brunswick, Canada. The father, Eric LeBlanc, Sr., played fiddle, guitar, banjo and harmonica, and his children, Roland, Eric Jr., Joanne and Clarence, took up music at a young age.

White found employment as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, playing on early records of The Monkees, and performed at night with future Byrd Gene Parsons in the group Nashville West. Along with the International Submarine Band and the Flying Burrito Brothers, the band was one of the first to play a seamless blend of country and rock in modern pop music.

White's association with the Byrds began in earnest in 1966, when he contributed his distinctive playing to former member Gene Clark's solo album Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers; he and Gene Parsons briefly joined Clark's touring band shortly thereafter. Striking up an acquaintance with Byrds bassist Chris Hillman (who played mandolin in bluegrass combo The Hillmen before electing to join the rock wave) during the Clark sessions, White contributed twangy lead guitar to two of his songs from the album Younger Than Yesterday: "Time Between" and "The Girl With No Name". Both of the country flavored songs were a bit of a stylistic departure for the group, who until that point had rarely strayed from folk or psychedelic rock.

White was invited back to play on The Byrds' next album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, and he also contributed to Sweetheart of the Rodeo, the group's Gram Parsons-led foray into traditional honky-tonk which has become a landmark recording.

After the abrupt departure of Gram Parsons in 1968, with Hillman following not long after, White was finally invited to join the reconstituted Byrds in September 1968, remaining until the group was finally dissolved by Roger McGuinn in 1973. The White-era group (McGuinn, White, Gene Parsons, and bassists John York and Skip Battin), while never held in the same esteem as the original band and often dismissed as being little more than McGuinn and his backing band, would maintain a loyal following into the early 70s and record five albums to somewhat favorable reception. However, while the original group's ability to play live was often questioned, the latter-day Byrds – propelled by the intertwining lead/rhythm guitars of White and McGuinn – were considered to be one of the live powerhouses of the epoch (see Live at the Fillmore - February 1969). Never one to abandon his roots, White was well known for downplaying his onstage virtuosity, maintaining the stern "poker face" composure common amongst bluegrass musicians.

White died on July 15, 1973 after being struck by a drunk driver. The accident occurred shortly after 2 a.m., while he and his brother Roland were loading equipment into their car following a spur-of-the-moment reunion gig of the Colonels. Especially shaken by his death was Gram Parsons, who would lead a singalong of "Farther Along" at the funeral service and conceive his final song before his own death, "In My Hour of Darkness", as a partial tribute to White.