Died On This Date (July 14, 1973) Clarence White / The Byrds, Kentucky Colonels
themusicsover Clarence White
June 7, 1944 – July 14, 1973
Clarence White started his professional career as founding guitarist for the Kentucky Colonels, a progressive bluegrass outfit formed with his brothers. The Colonels were making a name for themselves in the Los Angeles area in the early ’60s, but their dreams of fame were soon derailed by the one-two punch of the British Invasion, and Bob Dylan going electric. White quickly found plenty of session working on records by the likes of the Monkees, International Submarine Band, and the Flying Burrito Brothers, after which he landed with the Byrds. His tenure with the Byrds started in 1966 with the California-country years of Gram Parsons, a perfect home for his style of playing. In the years following the Byrds break-up, White went back to session work, working with Randy Newman and Jackson Browne. He also joined a bluegrass “supergroup” called Muleskinner, playing alongside Peter Rowan, David Grisman, Bill Keith and Richard Green. Muleskinner’s contemporary sound would be the foundation of what would later be called “new grass.” Then in the early morning hours of July 14, tragedy struck. While loading gear into his car after a Kentucky Colonels reunion gig, White was struck and killed by a drunk driver. He was just 29.
What You Should Own
Gram Parsons was a highly influential singer-songwriter who helped launch what would later be called country rock and then alt-country or Americana. Parsons began playing the guitar as a teenager to escape a less than ideal home life. The first group he played with, the Shilohs, were a folk band in the tradition of the Kingston Trio. When the band broke up, he and other Boston area folk musicians formed the International Submarine Band with whom he began to develop a sound the borrowed the best from country, folk and rock. They enjoyed moderate success, primarily getting airplay on the up-and-coming progressive radio stations. In 1968, Parsons was asked to join the Byrds as a replacement for David Crosby and Michael Clarke. He started on keyboards but soon switched to guitar, helping guide the group down a more country rock path. Parsons left the Byrds in the summer of 1968. He joined back up with the Byrds’ Chris Hillman soon after to form the Flying Burrito Brothers whose debut, The Gilded Palace of Sin would be a direct influence on the likes of the Eagles, Dwight Yoakam and later, Wilco and Ryan Adams. By the early ’70s, Parsons was working as a solo artist while recording and performing with good friend, Emmylou Harris. It was during this period that Parsons’ inner demons were taking control in the form of substance abuse. He was also spending more and more time in an area he had become fond of, Joshua Tree National Monument in the desert outside of Los Angeles. He liked to go there and take LSD while searching for UFOs. It was during one of these trips that Gram Parsons apparently overdosed on morphine and alcohol and died at the age of 26.