“Dry your eyes and stand up straight Bugler’s got a place at the Pearly Gates Say goodbye sugar Oh, say goodbye” And so we come to the final year of Clarence White’s life and the eleventh and final (for now) chapter of my Adios Loungeography. I’ve put off this part of his bio for as […]
Read MoreClarence White: Farther Along: 1971
The Byrds entered 1971 heading in opposite directions. As a live unit, there’s no question that the band was at its career apex. The Clarence White-Gene Parsons-Skip Battin rhythm section was massive. If anything, Roger McGuinn was the musical weak link, a disturbing trend that would replicate itself in the studio. I will diatribe later […]
Read MoreClarence White: Easy Ridin’ in ’69
For Clarence White, 1969 began with the release of his first album as a member of The Byrds, Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, and ended with the release of that album’s follow-up, Ballad Of Easy Rider. In between, the band played over 70 dates throughout the US, many of those gigs featuring multiple sets (early […]
Read MoreClarence White and his Bluegrass Bebop: 1964-65
My original plan was to focus solely on Clarence White as an electric guitarist, but it would be professionally remiss to sidestep his formidable acoustic guitar background. So, let’s take a brief tour through CW’s stint in the Kentucky Colonels before matriculating to his work on the Telecaster. Above all, this post and the several […]
Read More