by Christine McPhee

Do you remember the last time you heard something that changed the way you understood music? I was preparing to perform “I am a Pilgrim” at the Dream Cafe in Penticton with a group of musicians when I first heard the Kentucky Colonels. We learned this specific vocal harmony arrangement from Michael Daves’ Bluegrass Vocals school on Artistworks.

From the first notes I was transfixed by the guitar playing on this song and listened many dozens—possibly hundreds—of times trying to figure out what the heck was going on with the timing in that guitar break. I have since learned I am not alone in my obsession with, and failure to comprehend, the guitar magic of Clarence White. I had the good fortune this winter to participate in an online class lead by Michael Daves, studying his transcriptions of Clarence White’s live recordings from the 1960s and learning about the biography and musical trajectory of arguably the most important guitar player and one of the greatest bands in bluegrass history.

Living in the Past, released on Briar records in 1975,  is a compilation of some of the earliest live recordings from the Kentucky Colonels. The album is curated to sound like you are in the audience of a live show complete with between song banter introducing the band and the songs ahead of each track. While these snippets help create the feeling of being the room with the band, I offer one caveat: the jokes are very much “of their time.” It’s a testament to the quality of the music that I would recommend anyone listen to this many sexist jokes to get at it. Trust me, it’s worth it.

The album includes live tracks from 1961 through 1967, and all these years later crackling off the vinyl you can still hear the complex conversation the instruments are having all the time. This was a band that made music together second by second listening, responding, supporting and pushing against each other with trust and respect and a hearty sense of fun. Clarence White, I recently learned, was the first person to play guitar as a lead instrument in a bluegrass band, and the track “Journey’s End”, on Living in the Past documents the very first bluegrass guitar break performed on stage. In it, you can hear Clarence’s experimental and playful sense of timing was already present at this early juncture. Only 17 when this was recorded, he had been playing guitar for 11 years, and was already the guitar hero of a then 12 year old Tony Rice.

Bluegrass, as we know, is a timing marvel—each instrument has its own role, and those instrument subdivisions lock together to create the extraordinary rhythmic drive we all love to hear and play. Riding above the tight groundwork established by the other core band members Clarence found a way to loosen the reigns of time: never free of them but stretching their confines in a way I don’t think anyone will ever replicate. You’ll hear this again and again as you listen through this album. The only recorded interview with Clarence White that exists is from his feature on the television show Guitar Workshop in 1973, just months before his tragic death being struck by a drunk driver while loading gear after a gig. Clarence, known for being reserved on stage, gives mostly one word answers, but when Bob Baxter asks him about his sense of timing, he replies, “I like to fool with time.” On the liner notes on my copy of Living in the Past John Kaparakis describes Clarence’s sense of timing as something “other rhythm players hear, but can’t believe.” That is certainly my experience.

Living in the Past is not just an album for guitar nerds either; vocally the Kentucky Colonels are one of the best ensembles you’ll hear. Anchored by the brother harmony of Roland and Clarence White, who had been singing together since they learned to talk, Roger Bush (who sings the gorgeous lead on “I am a Pilgrim”) sings lead and bass,  and Billy-Ray Latham high-lead, tenor and high baritone. The Kentucky Colonels arranged thoughtful, sometimes unexpected harmony stacks. Instrumentally they were a force to be reckoned with as well. Roland White was an extraordinary multi-instrumentalist, who played mandolin with the Colonels but eventually left the band to play guitar with Bill Monroe and Bluegrass Boys. Roger Bush provided the groove and foundation on bass, and Billy-Ray Latham pulled threads from the greats of Bluegrass Banjo to weave his own sound into the tapestry of the band. And let’s not forget the fiddle playing of Bobby Stone and later Scott Stoneman.

John Kaparakis asserts on the liner notes that “the Kentucky Colonels were the finest bluegrass band to ever play on the face of the earth.” More than 50 years later I think he’s still right. But don’t take my word for it. Go have a listen for yourself!

Full album playlist available here.