Clarence indeed did the lead in "Time Between," and "Girl With No Name." I'll never forget the first time I heard that lick in Time Between. I'm pretty sure that the original LP did not mention Clarence as the artist. There I was marvelling at what I considered Roger's best playing, when, in fact it was someone else, (not to take anything away from McGuinn).

As a session guitarist in the mid-sixties, a he cut tracks for, among others, Pat Boone, and The Monkies (Is that him on lead in "Last Train To Clarksville"? I think so).

He was of French-Canadian ancestry, born in Lewiston, Maine, June 7, 1944. His father, Eric, led a family band which included Clarence on guitar and his older brother Roland on mandolin, "that was the toast of country radio in California in the 1950's."

"...Clarence performed on this recording (Nashville West) without the use of the then 'patented,' but not yet manufactured 'B-Bender'-- just a straight 'Tele.' Shortly thereafter, Gene Parsons installed the newly invented 'Bender' onto Clarene's 1952 Telecaster..."

One of the photos in Nasville West also shows Clarence with a Tele with Scruggs tuners on both high and low "E" strings. Also, he frequently did behind-the-nut bends on the "A" and "B" strings.

"White's death on July 14, 1973, at the age of 29-- the victim of a drunk driver as he loaded gear into a car after a gig in Palmdale, California-- was a tragic, incalculable loss to American music."

There is a great, legendary guitarist/singer/songwriter from Scotland named Dick Gaughan, who is incredibly talented with his versions of great, ancient, traditional Scottish ballads. I read in his web site that of the most influential people in his life, Clarence White is among them.

posted 02 March 2001 05:59 AM         

I'm sure that's the material being referred to by those whom he influenced.

posted 02 March 2001 06:10 AM         

The lead guitar on "Clarksville" was done by Louie Shelton, who pretty much was the lead guitar player for all the Boyce/Hart produced songs from the Monkees 1st and 2nd albums. Louie Shelton was part of the Candy Store Prophets, the band for Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart when they were on tour and recording albums (they sing "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight" and "Alice Long"). To see the full sessoinography for "Clarksville" (and others), click here: http://www.rhino.com/features/tracks/76706trx.html

Clarence White did at least one song with the Monkees (that went unreleased until the '80s, though it was featured as part of the TV show's soundtrack). It was a Chip Douglas tune called "Steam Engine", and also featured Red Rhodes on pedal steel.

Another famous guitarist that did session work with The Monkees on certain Nesmith songs was Glen Campbell. Neil Young also did a track with them on a Davy Jones rocker in '69.

Joe

[This message was edited by Joe Alterio on 02 March 2001 at 06:14 AM.]

posted 02 March 2001 06:16 AM         

There's plenty of great post KC material, like Gib Guilbeau's 1969 solo album, the 1969 albums by Ronstadt and Freddy Weller have some great guitar work and are pretty good examples of L.A. country-rock-pop.
The Nashville West, recorded live in 1967 is a must, the Muleskinner album from 1974 (recorded in 1973, and reissued on CD by Sierra Records), and their live set taken from a 1973 TV show ..are pretty much a showcase for one of the finest bluegrass, country and rock hybrids ever. IMHO

For his rhythm work there's Rick Nelsons 1966 and 1967 country albums with James Burton on lead, some Wynn Stewart sessions, while there's some nice licks that pop up here and there, Delaney & Bonnie, Arlo Guthrie, a heap of country cover bands (Bakersfields Big Guitars), and so on.
The reformed KCs in 1966, 1973 and his additions to the first two Country Gazette albums.

The bluegrass years are awesome too, .. of course.

posted 02 March 2001 08:11 AM         

Question: It appears that in some photos, his Tele is actually two Tele bodies glued together. Was that the first prototype of the string-bender equipped guitar? Was it an attempt to have the fatter feel of an acoustic guitar? I think it also has the Plymouth Satellite logo on the front. Just curious.

posted 02 March 2001 10:36 AM         

chipsahoy

[This message was edited by CHIP FOSSA on 02 March 2001 at 10:37 AM.]

posted 02 March 2001 11:35 AM         

quote:

---

I always thought that Louie Shelton's guitar work on The Monkees' song "Valerie" was phenomonal! Few rock players were able to copy it exactly...me included.

---

The funniest thing in the world is to try and watch Nesmith replicate the fingering to the solo on the TV show.....he stands there looking at the fretboard VERY seriously, acting as though he knows what he's doing (remember he's a rhythm guitarist, not a lead guy!). Of course, he was a good actor, so I'll bet a lot of people thought he really WAS (or COULD) play that!

posted 02 March 2001 07:13 PM         

Bob Carlson

posted 03 March 2001 10:30 AM         

I had a chance to play this wonderful instrument on more than one occasion. It is a wild contraption that just radiates 'character' and 'class'

posted 04 March 2001 05:26 PM         

Fender builds a commemorative version of this guitar, which is similar but not really a reproduction of the original. Stringpull Guitars in Virginia builds a Nashville West guitar that's a lot closer to White's original. Neck is all maple, color is sunburst (not from '54?), pickguard is non-original tortise shell pattern. If you look close, you will see two decals (city crest for Frankfort, Germany and a picture of western tailor Nudie) on the guitar, as well as the chrome name plate from a Plymouth Satellite, that happened to be stuck on the guitar in 1973, when Clarence died. They have never been removed. This guitar that Marty Stuart now owns and plays is one of the "Holy Grails" for Telecaster nuts.

posted 05 March 2001 05:47 AM         

Tony retired this Martin guitar from road work and is now playing Santa Cruiz.

posted 05 March 2001 08:47 AM         

On the standard model, there is a 1" diameter hub behind the B string that works like a single-string changer. When the strap button is pulled up, an L-shaped linkage stretches a foot-long return spring and raises the B string. This has approximately the same "feel" as pushing down your A pedal with your left foot.

These have been commercially available for 20+ years, as a Parsons-White Stringbender. I have a couple of P/W equipped guitars. Fender now installs a Parsons-Green Stringbender in their factory-made guitars. This is similar, but all the parts are mounted on a single metal plate for faster assembly. Not quite the same feel or sound. And there are other devices out there that do the same thing (Glaser, Hip-Shot, etc.) but the P/W is the grandaddy of 'em all.

There is also a second P/W linkage available for raising the 3rd string, G->A, that is actuated by a pull-chain attached to your belt. Although they're traditionally a Tele thing, Gene Parsons can also install benders in other solid and hollow-body guitars, including dreadnaughts.

posted 05 March 2001 11:48 AM         

There is another B-Bender builder in PA, Charlie Mcvay makes and installs great systems. Mcvay Music, Cranberry PA

------------------
Slide It On Over

[This message was edited by John Rickard on 05 March 2001 at 11:55 AM.]

posted 13 March 2001 05:53 AM         

At the time of Clarence's death, he was working in a multi-career style approach.
There was the reformed KCs, which were jamming together for years, in fact they played the Ash Grove in 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1973.
The White Brothers did the mini-tour of Europe starting with Herb Perderson who had to bail, and bringing in Alan Munde of Country Gazette, who Clarence helped on their first two albums in 1972 and 1973.
After the tour it was planned for a new version of the White Brothers led KCs with Butch Robbins, but this was of course scuttled with the accident.
At the same time, clarence had been jamming in Northern CA for years, the group nicknamed the bluegrass dropouts signed to Asylum for a studio album, it was a part-time group and became known as Muleskinner.
They also did a TV special with Bill Monroe, except Bill couldn't make the live taping, so that's why it's just a Muleskinner gig, this was all in a couple of months I might add, this whole Muleskinner thing.

The Muleskinner album was later released on Warner Bros in 1974 (long story) and vanished with no promotion.
Meanwhile Clarence was doing studio sessions, recording his solo debut for a new Warner Bros deal and not long before his death he played a mini-promo tour of WB artists like Gram Parsons, the New Riders Of The Purple Sage, etc.

There was no new studio album from the KCs, although in 1973 Clarence was going through some 1960s live tapes to issue as an album with John Delgatto's new Sierra/Briar label.

The KCs did the Euro tour, later gigs were planned, and of course the new line-up I mentioned. At the time most of the group had other gigs, and even Eric White had his own country-rock band in the Palmdale area.

It was in Palmdale where Clarence and Roland were struck by the drunk driver, they'd been playing an after hours jam.

posted 13 March 2001 08:23 PM         

Thanks for the info. I have the "Muleskinner" live video as well as the soundtrack and the studio album. I also have the video of Clarence w/ Roland doing the Television guitar workshop. I can't remember the workshop host's name but he seems to be quite rude at times to both Clarence and Roland, although he may not have meant to be.

posted 14 March 2001 06:54 AM         

It's hard to say where he would have gone, he may well have become part of the bluegrass mafia of the 1970s and 1980s, like Ricky Skaggs, Grisman, Greene, etc.

posted 18 March 2001 06:43 AM         

Gib is a fine songwriter, and he has a home studio, so maybe we'll see somthing new soon. He does have his own label, and recently issued a compilation of rare material from 1968 to the early 1990s.