Tomorrow (July 15) will mark the 36th anniversary of the day when Clarence was killed by a drunk driver, cutting short the budding career of a true guitar innovator, not to mention robbing his family and friends of his companionship.

Roland will share stories from their early days with The Kentucky Colonels, and Katy will offer up some of their music. They will also discuss the book he has recently published, The Essential Clarence White, which includes transcriptions for 14 songs he recorded in 1962.

Tune in online at 9:00 a.m. at www.bluegrasscountry.org to hear the show.

They talk about both he and brother Clarence’s music careers and about the new Clarence White instructional book/CD package that Roland has recently published.

Clarence and Roland White are also the subject of an in-depth feature in the current (Spring ‘09) issue of the magazine. Written by music journalist Geoffrey Himes, the article includes some of the same stories Roland discusses in this online interview, as well as a wealth of archival photographs.

Longtime fans of the White brothers will have heard some of these stories about how Roland and Clarence discovered bluegrass music living in Maine in the 1950s, but many new fans may not be familiar with them. Roland tells them so lovingly and in such detail…

It’s well worth the time to give this hour-long discussion a listen.

The 102-page spiral-bound book features 14 songs and tunes with variations, in notation and tablature, and comes complete with 2 CDs.

Page two indicates the scope of the book …

“This book presents Clarence White’s early but fully realized acoustic guitar style, as demonstrated in the recordings he made at home in 1962. Our intent is to provide an entry point for intermediate players to understand and begin to play in this style, and to impart the flavor of Clarence’s early musical environment.”

All of the songs/tunes can be found on the CD OF home recordings, 33 Acoustic Guitar Instrumentals, on the Sierra label.

Co-author Diane Bouska had this to say about the choice of tunes ……….

“We used those tunes mainly because Clarence plays several choruses in succession on most of them, so he naturally develops variations and you can hear him very well since there is only the one rhythm guitar on most tunes (and Clarence is alone on some).

Another auxiliary factor is that we had access and rights to use the music, and we could find enough PD among them to be able to put together a book. Another good thing about them is that they’re perhaps not as complicated as some of his later work. We hope, and think, that intermediate players will really be able to get a foothold with these.”

In addition to the instructional material, there is a brief biography with photos, but, purposely, it is limited to Clarence White’s early years. There is only a brief mention of the Byrds, for example.

Disc 1 contains a video clip from the Bob Baxter Guitar Workshop show in 1973 — there are two complete tunes, Soldier’s Joy, and the Crawdad Song.

“These are included not because the songs are in the book but because we wanted people to be able to see Clarence playing, see his technique up close.”

Disc 2 has rhythm tracks along with which students can play at slow or fast tempo. There is a foreword by Marty Stuart and a selected discography by Art Malmin.

The book is available at a cost of $34.95, plus $4.85 for Priority Mail from Roland White’s website, which includes sample pages and sound clips from the book.

The article includes a good bit of historical information about Clarence, including his influences, and comments from some of today’s legends who were influenced by his playing. One quote that seems to sum up the feelings most professionals have for Clarence is from guitar great Tony Rice.

I couldn’t play like him. I still can’t play like him. Nobody else can either.

Despite Rice’s accurate assessment that no one can play like Clarence, Nygaard feels that we can still learn from him and capture at least a little part of his style in our own playing. To that end, the article includes tablature examples for 13 different licks and passages, including one rhythm passage, a turn through 9lb Hammer, and some wilder licks that might take a bit of practice to master.

The online version of the article includes mp3 audio files to let you hear Nygaard perform the lick as an aid to your learning experience.

If you are a guitar player, here is a chance to grab a couple new moves that will not only expand your mind and playing, but make the other pickers you play with take notice.