Muleskinner (band)

Last updated
Muleskinner (band)
Muleskinner youtube.jpg
L-R: Bill Keith, Clarence White, David Grisman, Peter Rowan, Richard Greene. Hidden behind R. Greene: Stuart Schulman.
Background information
Origin Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres
Years active1973
Labels Warner Bros., Micro Werks
Past members David Grisman
Clarence White
Richard Greene
Bill Keith
John Kahn
John Guerin
Peter Rowan

Muleskinner was an American bluegrass supergroup, active during the early 1970s. [1] [2]

Contents

Early history

In the late 1960s, Peter Rowan and David Grisman played together in a psychedelic band Earth Opera. The band didn't last longer than couple of years and Rowan went on to join Seatrain, where he reconnected with Richard Greene. Rowan and Greene had been members of Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys in 1964-1966. After two albums with Seatrain, Greene and Rowan went on to form Muleskinner with banjoist Bill Keith, whom Greene had played with in Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band in the early 1960s, and Clarence White, former guitarist of Kentucky Colonels and The Byrds, along with bassist John Kahn and drummer John Guerin, who also worked for The Byrds.

Planned show with Bill Monroe

This lineup can be considered as a bluegrass supergroup, a term not often used with bluegrass. The original start of the group was connected with Bill Monroe, as Richard Greene (who played for his Bluegrass Boys before), was asked to put a band together to join him in a television program. However, Monroe's bus had some technical problems and Muleskinner had to play the whole evening on their own and it was a success.

Recording contract

All this resulted in a recording contract with Warner Bros. and the band recorded its first studio album, Muleskinner , which included elements from jazz, country and progressive bluegrass.

Clarence White death

The album was successful, but the band ended under tragic circumstances: guitarist Clarence White was killed by a drunken driver just couple of months after the record was released. [3] The band also recorded a live album in 1973, [4] which was released 25 years later.

Discography

Members

Related Research Articles

John Kahn was an American bassist. From 1970 to 1995, Kahn was Jerry Garcia's principal musical collaborator outside of the Grateful Dead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Rice</span> American bluegrass musician (1951–2020)

David Anthony Rice was an American bluegrass guitarist. He was an influential acoustic guitar player in bluegrass, progressive bluegrass, newgrass and acoustic jazz. He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clarence White</span> American musician (1944–73)

Clarence White was an American bluegrass and country guitarist and singer. He is best known as a member of the bluegrass ensemble the Kentucky Colonels and the rock band the Byrds, as well as for being a pioneer of the musical genre of country rock during the late 1960s. White also worked extensively as a session musician, appearing on recordings by the Everly Brothers, Joe Cocker, Ricky Nelson, Pat Boone, the Monkees, Randy Newman, Gene Clark, Linda Ronstadt, Arlo Guthrie, and Jackson Browne among others.

Old & In the Way was a bluegrass group formed in 1973. It was composed of Peter Rowan, Vassar Clements (fiddle), Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, and John Kahn. When the group was forming, it was intended that John Hartford would be the fiddle player. Based on Hartford's engagements, and Clements' reputational stature in the bluegrass community, Clements became the group's fiddler.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Rowan</span> American bluegrass musician

Peter Hamilton Rowan is an American bluegrass musician and composer. He plays guitar and mandolin, yodels and sings. He is a seven-time Grammy Award nominee.

<i>That High Lonesome Sound</i> 1996 live album by Old & In the Way

That High Lonesome Sound is the second live release of bluegrass music by Old & In the Way. Like the first one, Old & In the Way, it was recorded at the Boarding House in San Francisco in October 1973. It was released in February 1996.

<i>Breakdown</i> (Old & In the Way album) 1997 live album by Old & In the Way

Breakdown is the third live release of bluegrass music by Old & In the Way.

Seatrain was an American roots fusion band based initially in Marin County, California, and later in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Seatrain was formed in 1969, subsequently drawing some members from the Blues Project when it broke up. Seatrain recorded four albums and disbanded in 1973.

<i>Old & In the Gray</i> 2002 studio album by Old & In the Way

Old & In the Gray is a bluegrass album released in 2002 by the surviving members of the band Old & In the Way – Peter Rowan (guitar), David Grisman (mandolin), and Vassar Clements (fiddle). Banjoist Jerry Garcia and bassist John Kahn, both of whom were deceased, were replaced by Herb Pedersen and Bryn Bright, respectively.

Nashville West was a short-lived American country rock quartet, that was briefly together in the late 1960s. The group comprised multi-instrumentalist Gene Parsons, guitarist Clarence White, singer-guitarist-fiddler Gib Guilbeau and bassist Wayne Moore. Parsons and White left the band to join The Byrds while Guilbeau and Parsons later joined the Flying Burrito Brothers.

Richard Greene is an American violinist who has been described as "one of the most innovative and influential fiddle players of all time". Greene is credited with introducing the chop to fiddle playing while working with Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, the invention of which he attributes to pain in his wrist and arm and "laziness". He featured the technique in his performances with Seatrain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Keith (musician)</span> American banjo player (1939–2015)

William Bradford "Bill" Keith was a five-string banjoist who made a significant contribution to the stylistic development of the instrument. In the 1960s he introduced a variation on the popular "Scruggs style" of banjo playing which would soon become known as melodic style, or "Keith style". He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Kentucky Colonels (band)</span> Bluegrass music band

The Kentucky Colonels were a bluegrass band that was popular during the American folk music revival of the early 1960s. Formed in Burbank, California in 1954, the group released two albums, The New Sound of Bluegrass America (1963) and Appalachian Swing! (1964). The band featured the influential bluegrass guitarist Clarence White, who was largely responsible for making the acoustic guitar a lead instrument within bluegrass, and who later went on to join the Los Angeles rock band the Byrds. The Kentucky Colonels disbanded in late 1965, with two short-lived reunions taking place in 1966 and 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Grisman discography</span>

David Grisman has issued albums with his groups the David Grisman Quintet and Old & In the Way, performed in duos with Jerry Garcia, Andy Statman, Martin Taylor, Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard, John Sebastian, Tony Rice, and played in the psychedelic band Earth Opera with Peter Rowan. He has produced solo albums and collaborated with musicians in many genres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Rowan discography</span>

This article presents the discography of singer, composer, guitar and mandolin player Peter Rowan.

<i>Watch</i> (Seatrain album) 1973 studio album by Seatrain

Watch is the fourth and final album of the band Seatrain, recorded in 1973. It is marked with the departure of Peter Rowan and Richard Greene and the use of more session musicians on instruments like vibraphone, cello, accordion, tuba and oboe. Original members Andy Kulberg and Jim Roberts still remained with the group, though Roberts only contributed to three of the album's nine tracks.

<i>Muleskinner</i> (album) 1973 studio album by Muleskinner

Muleskinner is the eponymous debut album by the progressive bluegrass group Muleskinner, recorded at the Record Plant, Hollywood, California, March 27 through April 14, 1973, and released later that year. It is their only studio album. The album was re-released by Ridge Runner in 1978 and re-issued on a compact disc in 1994 under the title A Potpourri of Bluegrass Jam, which was a banner on the front cover of the original album release.

<i>Muleskinner Live: Original Television Soundtrack</i> 1998 live album by Muleskinner

Muleskinner Live: Original Television Soundtrack is a live album by the progressive bluegrass supergroup Muleskinner. It was recorded in 1973 and originally broadcast in the late 1970s, but the album was not released until 25 years later, in 1998. Maria Muldaur provides harmony vocals on "Sitting Alone In The Moonlight".

<i>Live at the Boarding House: The Complete Shows</i> 2013 live album by Old & In the Way

Live at the Boarding House: The Complete Shows is a four-CD live album by the bluegrass band Old & In the Way. It was recorded on October 1 and October 8, 1973, at the Boarding House in San Francisco, and contains the complete concerts from those dates. It was released by Acoustic Disc and Acoustic Oasis on October 1, 2013. The album includes 55 tracks, 14 of which were previously unreleased.

Richard Greene is an American violinist. In addition to his 11 solo albums and his recordings with Seatrain, Muleskinner, and the Greene String Quartet, he has been featured as a performer on many albums by other artists.

References

  1. Muleskinner bio
  2. Steve Kurutz. "Muleskinner". Allmusic . Retrieved January 13, 2012.
  3. Clarence White death
  4. "New Camptown Races, Dark Hollow". YouTube. 2006-06-08. Retrieved January 13, 2012.