Bob Black - Mandolin Man: The Bluegrass Life of Roland White

The page features Roland White holding a mandolin in one hand and the other hand in the pocket of his jacket. He wears a cap, a checkered jacket, and a neck scarf. The name of the author, Bob Black, is printed at the bottom of the page.

A list of books in the series appears at the end of this book.

The Bluegrass Life of Roland White

BOB BLACK

Publication of this book was supported in part by a grant from the Judith McCulloh Endowment for American Music.

2022 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Black, Bob, 1949 author.

Title: Mandolin man : the bluegrass life of Roland White / Bob Black.

Description: Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2022. | Series: Music in American life | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021054597 (print) | LCCN 2021054598 (ebook) | ISBN 9780252044335 (cloth) | ISBN 9780252086403 (paperback) | ISBN 9780252053320 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: White, Roland. | MandolinistsUnited StatesBiography. | BluegrassUnited StatesBiography.

Classification: LCC ML419.W414 B53 2022 (print) | LCC ML419.W414 (ebook) | DDC 787.8/41642092dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021054597

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021054598

Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field

Frozen with snow.

Langston Hughes

Its hard to beat a person who never gives up.

Babe Ruth

Thanks to Kristie Reynolds Black for her invaluable editing help, her love, and her support all through the writing process, especially during the latter stages when things got really tough. Thanks as well to Diane Bouska for her generous sharing of information about her and Rolands musical life together and for helping me with a myriad of details while putting this book together.

My greatest appreciation, of course, goes to Roland White for unflinchingly telling Kristie and me his life story, especially the part about his brother Clarences death; for arranging interviews with Vic Jordan, Alan OBryant, and Marty Stuart; for putting me in touch with many of the other interviewees in this book; for taking Kristie and me backstage at the Grand Ole Opry and introducing us to the Steep Canyon Rangers; for jamming with me down through the years; and for being a major source of inspiration for the last fifty years.

Thanks also to LeRoy McNees for sharing his memories and photos; William (Billy) Smith for sharing his memories; Jim Lauderdale for sharing his memories; Marty Stuart for taking the time on a busy tour to talk with me about Roland; Richard Bailey for contributing his thoughts about Roland; Jim Renz for sharing his memories; Alan OBryant for sharing his thoughts about Roland and about music in general; Vic Jordan for sharing many stories; Alan Munde for providing information about Country Gazette in addition to sharing his stories about Roland; David Grier for his touching written tribute to Roland; Jody Stecher for sharing his memories of Roland and the Kentucky Colonels; Doc Hamilton for sharing his memories and providing a wonderful photo of Roland with the Blue Grass Boys; Rick Gardner for sharing his Country Gazette photos; Jon Weisberger for sharing information about the 2018 Tribute to the Kentucky Colonels album, as well as his thoughts about Roland; Stuart Duncan for sharing photos from his collection; Rosemarie White for her fond thoughts about her brothers Roland and Clarence; Woody Platt for his information about Rolands part in the Steep Canyon Rangers video Tell the Ones I Love; Kenny Wertz for his recollections of playing with Roland (and for the banjo inspiration he gave me back in the 1960s when he played with the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers); Tom Ewing for the years of work he spent in researching Bill Monroe and bluegrass, and for the column he wrote in Bluegrass Unlimited, Thirty Years Ago This Month, which was of invaluable help in putting this book together; Roline Hodge for her affectionate childhood memories of Roland and her mother, Arline; Lawrence LeBlanc for his stories about Arline, Country Gazette, and debuting with Lester Flatt on the Opry; Doug Green (Ranger Doug) for telling me about living next door to Roland and his family, playing bluegrass together every day.

Additional thanks to Mark Kuykendall and Art Rosenbaum. That music is still out there, somewhere.

Seventeen years had gone by and things had really changed. I hadnt been at the Grand Ole Opry since 1998 (when I performed there with Rhonda Vincent). Now, in March 2015, Kristie and I were roaming the same backstage halls once again, as guests of Roland White. The Opry House had been remodeled since the flood of 2010, when Tennessees Cumberland River was the highest it had been since 1937. But the place somehow didnt seem the samethe brightness and gaiety were gone. The dressing rooms all looked darker, and the general dcor had a more subdued feeling. It certainly didnt feel the same as it had back in 74, when everything was brand-new and I was performing there regularly with Bill Monroe. Everything was fixed up all right, but it all seemed different somehow. I suddenly realized it was me that had changed. I had grown older, somewhat more disillusioned with things in general and the music business in particular.

Inspiration was what I needed. Our return to Nashville was ostensibly to conduct some interviews for this book, but another reasonunknown to us at that timewas to rekindle some of the enthusiasm that had been lost over the years. I think Roland knew this as well, and he was willing to help.

Musically, things were going okay for me. My wife, Kristie, and I had been performing together with our band, Banjoy, for over thirteen years. The members of our group are all friends who support one another. Its the only band Ive ever been with whose members have stayed together in a forever sort of way. What a blessing!

But I was craving some of the excitement of the old days. A pilgrimage to Music City always leaves a mark of some kind, and this time the mark was left by Roland White. I had received a phone call from Roland a few weeks earlier. He told me he was enjoying reading my book Come Hither to Go Yonder: Playing Bluegrass with Bill Monroe. I had known Roland since 1974, and I had enormous respect and admiration for him. We hadnt talked in several years, and I was quite surprised when he unexpectedly called to pay me a compliment. I couldnt believe it; here was a world-class musician going out of his way to let me know he liked what I had written. I didnt often get calls like that. It made me feel really good, like I was somebody who mattered.

I was just a plain old country boy from Iowa. Kristie and I had been living in an old-fashioned farmhouse since 1990, on a gravel road eight miles from the nearest town, unless you count Kinrosspopulation seventy-two. We had restored the house; it was once abandoned and used to store bales of hay. There had been snakes in the walls. The power often went out during storms. It was a great place to practice bluegrass music, though, since there were no neighbors to disturb. Were still there and we still love it.