Clarence White

Not everything of interest that survives of Clarence White is on this approximately 45-minute DVD; most notably, there's no footage of him with the Byrds. But it offers a good assortment of clips from his non-rock activities, about half of it devoted to his April 1973 appearance on the television program Bob Baxter's Guitar Workshop, just a few months before White's death. Previously available as part of a VHS release combining clips of White and Gram Parsons (but not originally broadcast until after White's death, and then only in Los Angeles), Guitar Workshop might be of more interest to guitar players than to general White fans since it focuses on White's technique. Goaded by host Bob Baxter, White demonstrates some of his flatpicking and offbeat-tempoed skills on acoustic folk songs, with accompaniment from (in various combinations) Baxter on guitar, brother Roland White on mandolin, Byron Berline on fiddle, and Alan Munde on banjo. Baxter does his best to draw out commentary from Clarence White, but the guitarist is taciturn to the point of colorlessness. The same can not be said of his guitar playing, though, and since this is the only live footage of White on acoustic guitar, it has considerable archival value. Also on the DVD are a gallery of seldom seen photos, mostly from the early part of White's career; a couple of very obscure lip-synced appearances on The Andy Griffith Show in 1961 as part of the bluegrass band the Country Boys, in which a poker-faced, teenage White can be seen on guitar; and a clip from the little-known 1965 movie The Farmer's Other Daughter in which the Kentucky Colonels, White again on guitar, back country singer Ernest Ashworth on three songs. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide