Muleskinner was an American bluegrass supergroup, active during the early 1970s.

Early history

In the late 1960s,

Peter Rowan Peter Rowan (born July 4, 1942) is an American bluegrass musician and composer. He plays guitar, fiddle, dobro, banjo, bass, piano and mandolin. He has a wide vocal range and yodels. He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall o ...

and

David Grisman David Jay Grisman (born March 23, 1945) is an American mandolinist. His music combines bluegrass, folk, and jazz in a genre he calls "Dawg music". He founded the record label Acoustic Disc, which issues his recordings and those of other acousti ...

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 Richard Marius Joseph Greene (25 August 1918 – 1 June 1985) was a noted English film and television actor. A matinée idol who appeared in more than 40 films, he was perhaps best known for the lead role in the long-running British TV series ...

. 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 Clarence White (born Clarence Joseph LeBlanc; June 7, 1944 – July 15, 1973) 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 ...

, former guitarist of

Kentucky Colonels The Kentucky Colonels were an American professional basketball team based in Louisville, Kentucky. They competed in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1967 to 1976. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky Colonels. The Colo ...

and

The Byrds The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) being the so ...

, along with bassist

John Kahn John Kahn (June 13, 1947 – May 30, 1996) was an American bassist. From 1970 to 1995, Kahn was Jerry Garcia's principal musical collaborator outside of the Grateful Dead. Biography John Kahn was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Adopted at birth by ...

and drummer

John Guerin John Payne Guerin (October 31, 1939 – January 5, 2004) was an American percussionist. He was a proponent of the jazz-rock style. Biography Guerin was born in Hawaii and raised in San Diego. As a young drummer, he began performing with Buddy ...

, who also worked for

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 William Smith Monroe ( ; September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the " Father of Bluegrass". The genre takes its n ...

, as

(who played for his Bluegrass Boys before), was asked to put a band together to join him in a

television program A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via Terrestrial television, over-the-air, Satellite television, satellite, and cable te ...

. 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. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

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

was killed by a drunken driver just couple of months after the record was released. The band also recorded a

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

in 1973, which was released 25 years later.

Discography

* '' Muleskinner'' (1973) (re-released as ''A Potpourri of Bluegrass Jam'' in 1994) * '' Muleskinner Live: Original Television Soundtrack'' (1998, recorded 1973)

Members

- mandolin *

- guitar, vocals *

- violin, vocals * Bill Keith - banjo *

- bass * Stuart Schulman - bass *

- drums

References

External links

* Muleskinner on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

New Camptown Races, Dark Hollow
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muleskinner American bluegrass music groups 1973 disestablishments in California Musical groups disestablished in 1973 Progressive bluegrass music groups