“They said, 'We saw you on The Andy Griffith Show, how did you get that job?' I thought it was just a local show. “When the show broadcast a few weeks later, we started getting calls from our cousins in Maine," recalls Roland White. They shared stages with established greats like Joe and Rose Lee Maphis, Lefty Frizzell, and many others, and eventually landed a spot performing on the nationally televised The Andy Griffith Show. Soon after moving to California, the family band-first calling themselves the Country Kids and then the Country Boys, before finally recording as the Kentucky Colonels-began winning talent contests and performing on local radio and television. By the time the family relocated to Burbank, California, in 1954, the White siblings-Roland on mandolin, Eric junior on banjo, and Clarence on guitar-had the beginnings of a band and, judging by what happened next, they were already somewhat accomplished. White began playing guitar when he was 5, although his father gave him a ukulele to play until he was big enough to handle the larger instrument.
Between the radio, singing, and practicing instruments, music was ever-present. Clarence's mother often played their massive collection of country and popular records around the house, and his older brothers and sister sang, harmonized, and played instruments. His father, Eric, was a multi-instrumentalist, as were his father's siblings who lived nearby. His family was French-Canadian (their last name was originally LeBlanc) and music was an important part of their lives. We spoke with his older brother Roland White (whose incredible book, The Essential Clarence White: Bluegrass Guitar Leads, explains the intricacies of his brother's bluegrass playing), Clarence's close associates Parsons and Herb Pedersen, and even some of his musical heirs, like Brad Paisley, to tell White's story.Ĭlarence White was born on June 7, 1944, in Lewiston, Maine.
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White, in spite of his resume and extensive discography, was just getting started when he was killed by a drunk driver in 1973. The turnarounds, phrasing, and off-time things he used to do have inspired guitar players for the last 50 years." He used to say to me, 'What you don't play is as important as what you do play.' Some of the things he originated, you'll hear guitar players emulate today. “He was a minimalist, just putting in what was really necessary. “His concern was to make the artist sound good," says Gene Parsons. And yet White, despite his stature, remained an understated team player. Whole schools, encompassing acoustic flatpickers such as Tony Rice to steel-inspired Tele players like Brad Paisley and Marty Stuart, trace straight back to White.
White's originality and mastery of the instrument put him in the unique position of revolutionizing not one, but two distinct styles of guitar playing. He and his bandmate Gene Parsons (no relation to Gram) invented the StringBender (often called a B-Bender), which let him execute pedal-steel-like bends without taking his hands off the neck. When he joined the Byrds, White was a relative newcomer to electric guitar, but he would soon innovate a way of playing that instrument. Though he was only 24 years old, by 1968 he had almost a decade's worth of recording and touring experience, and his early recordings with the Kentucky Colonels had redefined the role of bluegrass guitar. As a session musician, he had already played on three Byrds' releases.
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