# Music by Genre > Bluegrass, Newgrass, Country, Gospel Variants >  Andy Griffith with Roland and Clarence

## Bob Stolkin

This is classic!

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Ed Goist

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## Bernie Daniel

Very cool!  Anyone know the story about Roland's F-4?   

Boy they look young!

Thanks for the memories.

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## Jim Roberts

Roland holds his pick in a different manner now.

Thanks for sharing...what a great show.

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## allenhopkins

So, correct me if I'm wrong:
Roland White                      mandolin
Clarence White                    guitar
LeRoy "Mack" MacNees (sp?)  Dobro
Billy Ray Lathum                  banjo
Roger Bush                         bass

Not sure if I can tell Eric White from Roger Bush...

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## AlanN

Eric White on Bass.

That got me going on a Clarence White search on youtube. Found a rare recorded interview with him, very cool.

Youtube - amazing.

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## Tom Mullen

Roger Bush joined the group after the show ended. That is brother Eric White playing with his brothers,
I played with Eric many years ago and he was one of the best bass slappers I have ever seen. I would put him up there with The Old Boatwhistle- Vernon McIntyre Sr.

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## Mattg

Great article about the White Brothers in the current version of the Fretboard Journal.

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## Bruce Evans

Haircuts for $1. That _is_ classic.

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## David Zaruba

Great clip.  

But I dunno about that pickin style of Andy's...pretty wimpy.  

Great solo by Roland!

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## Patrick Sylvest

Leroy Mack on that kickin' Dobro!!! 

I just loved the music on the Andy Griffith show. That was really my earliest recollections of bluegrass.

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## f5loar

Eric White, short with light brown hair.
Roger Bush, tall with dark brown hair.
Easy to tell apart. 
I think they were still the Country Boys at this time.
On the Andy show LP from this time period they do about 5 songs with Andy. And yes that is the Tony Rice D28 Clarence is playing.

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## MattH

> And yes that is the Tony Rice D28 Clarence is playing.



The guitar in that video has "dot" fretmarkers.  58957 has had a Gretsch fingerboard on it essentially since the day CW bought it (they bought it with part of the fretboard missing and had McCabe's install the Gretsch fingerboard). 

I've heard that CW had a D-18 in the early days that had an enlarged soundhole like that guitar in the video and 58957.

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## Charley wild

> Leroy Mack on that kickin' Dobro!!! 
> 
> I just loved the music on the Andy Griffith show. That was really my earliest recollections of bluegrass.


I had just started playing Dobro about then and couldn't wait to see the "Darlings" on the show didn't even know who they were back then! I have never seen this show with the Whites! Unbelievable with watching all the reruns all these years and having missed that one! Thanks Bob. Just great!! 
Bruce, that was about the going price for a haircut back then in my hometown. It was .75 in the mid to late 50's when I was getting my "ducktail" trimmed! lol

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## mandozilla

Leroy Mack was at a BG festival I attended a couple weeks ago with his Gospel Band. He's just a real nice guy and a real good dobro (ain't no part of nothin') picker.  :Grin: 

 :Coffee:  :Popcorn:

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## Marty Henrickson

> The guitar in that video has "dot" fretmarkers.  58957 has had a Gretsch fingerboard on it essentially since the day CW bought it (they bought it with part of the fretboard missing and had McCabe's install the Gretsch fingerboard). 
> 
> I've heard that CW had a D-18 in the early days that had an enlarged soundhole like that guitar in the video and 58957.


True, but there is at least one existing photo of Clarence with 58957 with dot markers, presumably stickers(?).  I'm not sure if he was trying to make it look more "mormal", or what.  This was linked on the UMGF a while back, I'll see if I can find it.

Also, the Clarence White "Guitar Workshop" DVD has the Colonels on Andy Griffith, as well as another rare "Hollywood" performance.

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## MattH

> Also, the Clarence White "Guitar Workshop" DVD has the Colonels on Andy Griffith, as well as another rare "Hollywood" performance.




The "Guitar Workshop" portion of that DVD is really great.

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## Marty Henrickson

> The "Guitar Workshop" portion of that DVD is really great.


I agree.  I especially enjoy the part when they bring Roland out.  Clarence and Roland's playing just meshed so well.  What a loss.

The attached photo is the one of Clarence with dot-markered 58957.  You can tell it's the same guitar by the bound fretboard.

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## MattH

Yeah, Roland and CW together was something really special.   The video version of "I Am A Pilgrim" really shows how advanced he had become since Appalachian Swing.  

The latest Fretboard Journal has a really great article on Roland and CW.  

I just realized in that video at 1:36 it looks like the guitar has a bound fingerboard...I guess it could be 58957 at a stage without a pickguard?

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## f5loar

That's it for sure.  The D18 he had would have the dark binding.  I recall it had several fingerboards on it with the last being a Gretsch.  It had intonation problems when they got it.

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## swampstomper

To reopen this thread... I was watching the DVD tonight, which includes a really goofy Bob Baxter hosting his workshop with a tremendous Clarence White... but anyway in the Whoa Mule segment of the Andy Griffith show posted above, did anyone else notice that Roland's F4 has electrical tape over "The Gibson"?  The date is Feb 13 1961 according to the liner notes. Is it a homage to Big Mon? I don't think it can be any trademark problem since Billy Ray's "Gibson" is bright and clear. You can see both clearly as they take a split break at about the 1:05 mark.

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## 300win

It's good that Andy liked miss Ellie, if not they would have run her outta there for coming into a hot recording ! "Whoa Mule' the tune that made Raymond Fairchild famous !

I get a chuckle from the expressions on Clarence and Rolands face.. watching Andy... I wonder if there thinking .... ' wonder if this guy's gonna go to the right chords? ' To me the look on their face is almost as if they are in danger of being suprized.

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## michaelpthompson

I've always wondered if Andy could really play, given what his pickin' style looks like on the TV show, but he did include some good music in several episodes. It does look like he's fingering the chords correctly.

I'm sure the "real" musicians were a bit taken aback by playing with somebody not really in their league, but it gave them national exposure they might never have gotten otherwise, and not just among BG fans.

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## Scott Tichenor

Gee, where have I seen all of this before?

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## swampstomper

Scott, I did my homework before posting, I looked at all the old threads on Roland/Andy Griffith. I still can't find why he put electrical tape over "The Gibson"! A question for a later interview?

Interesting to contrast how specifically Roland answers questions in the linked interview, compared to the recent Bobby Osborne interview, which reads like something the oracle at Delphi might say should she be a mandolinist.

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## Mandolin Mick

I've always enjoyed Andy bringing Bluegrass into the show. He's clearly a real guitarist.

I've seen him on that healthcare commercial ... did he have a stroke? His face looks different, although he looks the same when he smiles.  :Smile:

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## Denny Gies

Thanks Bob, what fun.

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## Marty Henrickson

Scott, thanks for the Roland interview link.  That is classic.  He does such a great job of showing how he embellishes a melody.  Has the instructional DVD he mentions in the interview been finished and released?

Also, rewatching the Andy Griffith video, his fingerpicking style really _is_ odd.  You'd almost think he's "finger-synching", until you notice the bass string vibrating every once in a while.

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## allenhopkins

I remember Griffith on the _Matlock_ show playing an old National resonator tenor guitar at the end of one episode.  Also, don't forget his movie role as "Lonesome" Rhodes, the amoral country/folk singer, TV personality and demagogue, in the 1957 movie _A Face In the Crowd._  Played quite a bit of guitar in that movie, as I recall.  Rhodes was 180º from the amiable though sharp-witted hayseed of later TV shows.

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## JeffD

> I've always wondered if Andy could really play, given what his pickin' style looks like on the TV show, but he did include some good music in several episodes. It does look like he's fingering the chords correctly.
> 
> I'm sure the "real" musicians were a bit taken aback by playing with somebody not really in their league, but it gave them national exposure they might never have gotten otherwise, and not just among BG fans.


My understanding is that Andy Griffith was a respectable guitar player. Nothing flashy, but reliable backup. I read somewhere he had a couple of gospel albums out before his television debut.

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## George R. Lane

If you look closely the tape is only on the mandolin in the closeups. At the beginning you can clearly see 'The Gibson" on the headstock. Strange!!!

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## swampstomper

> If you look closely the tape is only on the mandolin in the closeups. At the beginning you can clearly see 'The Gibson" on the headstock. Strange!!!


Hey, you are right! Now that I look more closely, it seems the "electrical tape" I saw could be tape or similar on the film negative. It seems to move around strangely in the light. Billy Ray's "Gibson" also seems to be obscured a bit, but since he's got the neck angled back it's difficult to read. Notice that there is no visible "Martin" on Andy's guitar, which looks like a D18. Either the headstock is out of the frame or it's all black -- was that edited out too? Could be a trademark or product placement issue.

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## George R. Lane

I too though it might be a trademark or product placement issue. I see it all the time in TV shows where still cameras are shown, I am a retired newspaper photographer, they always use gaffers tape over the name of the camera.

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## Brent Hutto

Of course nowadays they would dub in (digitally, no doubt) the names of whatever instrument companies had payed up for a product placement. Might really be a Gibson for $17,500 it could magically turned into a Timbuktu when it appears on the show. Or a Pepsi for that matter.

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## allenhopkins

> ...I read somewhere he had a couple of gospel albums out before his television debut.


Griffith won a gospel Grammy in 1997 for his album _I Love To Tell the Story._  Bob Mann on mandolin and Dobro.

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## 300win

I think that was a D-18 Andy was playing. I live about 20 miles south of the town that Andy grew up in. The story is he was a real 'hellion' { he did like that stuff that comes in mason jars } before he went off to Hollywood. I've been around some old folks that knew him back then. Maybe that's where the Darling family characters came from Andy's youth.... or maybe Earnest T. Bass...., I can say this I went to Mt. airy a lot in my youth and still do { my band's got a regular gig there now 2 Friday nights per month}, also went/go to Pilot Mountain, the town that Mt. Pilot is named after in the show. And there were some real original characters in both those towns... and to a certain extent still are...... folks still come down from the Blue Ridge to trade, lot of farmers still.. but it has changed due to other people from across other parts of the country moving in, as I suppose about all small towns in the USA have.

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## Pete Summers

Ah, memories. I still remember dollar haircuts (unfortunately) and I especially remember Elinor Donahue. What a cutie. :Wink:

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## allenhopkins

[QUOTE=300win;896265]I think that was a D-18 Andy was playing.../QUOTE]

Martin manufactured an "Andy Griffith Model" D-18, I think about ten years ago.  It's not in production now; *here* is a write-up w/pics.

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## 300win

[QUOTE=allenhopkins;896344]


> I think that was a D-18 Andy was playing.../QUOTE]
> 
> Martin manufactured an "Andy Griffith Model" D-18, I think about ten years ago.  It's not in production now; *here* is a write-up w/pics.


Yea, I knew about the Andy Taylor D-18. Have seen about a dozen in local music stores over the past 3-4 years.

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## Big Joe

According to Roland, his brother never did play the Tony Rice guitar on ANY recordings or any tv shows.  It garnered mythical status after Tony got it but Clarence never did like the guitar and could not get it to play right.  He prefered a D 18, and according to Roland, that was what he always recorded and performed with.  I would not know personally one way or the other, but that was the info I got from Roland on more than one occasion.  I certainly am not going to question his recollection.  I was not there, he was  :Smile:  .

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## allenhopkins

> According to Roland, his brother never did play the Tony Rice guitar on ANY recordings or any tv shows...I certainly am not going to question his recollection.  I was not there, he was  .


Wasn't there either, but what I heard from someone who saw the Kentucky Colonels when they played in Boston, was that Clarence would use a D-28 on songs/tunes where he was just playing rhythm, and switch to the D-18 if he were playing lead.

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## f5loar

That's what I remember too, 28 for rhythm and 18 for lead work.  Early days he didn't pick that much lead.  And back then you didn't have the set up guys like you do today.  I suspect the 28 was really hard on the fingers to play.  Andy no longer signs autographs due to health issues with his hands.  He don't do much with a guitar these days.  All this Mayberry talk makes me hungry for a Pork Chop Sandwich from Snappy's Lunch in downtown Mt. Airy next to Floyd's BarberShop.  Barney's girl Thelma Lou moved to Mt. Airy and can be seen in person on Sat. at the new Andy Musuem.

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## 45ACP-GDLF5

The guitar that Andy used in TAGS was a 1956 D-18 that he "rescued" from the dumpster after filming  "A Face in the Crowd" in 1957.  Hollywood, in its infinite wisdom, had spray-painted the entire guitar black and then glued rhinestones on it for the movie.  Andy spent 9 days sanding off the paint and rhinestones down to the bare wood.  He then took the guitar to John D'Angelico in NY City and had him restore it to what it looked like from the Martin factory sans the Martin logo on the headstock, and the pickguard.  What you see on TAGS is the same guitar after D'Angelico restored it.

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## swampstomper

Ah, that explains the all-black headstock with no logo, thanks!

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## Marty Henrickson

Great story on Andy's D-18!

Regarding Clarence trading guitars for rhythm and lead, on one of the live Kentucky Colonels CD's (probably Long Journey Home) the frontman mentions Clarence swapping guitars to pick some lead.  Possibly on "Julius Finkbine's Rag", I don't have the CD loaded on my phone right now.

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## Marty Henrickson

The CD I was thinking about was "Livin' In The Past".  During the intro to "Barefoot Nellie", Roger Bush says "...Clarence has to get his other guitar here to do this - takes a little break in it.  Here's one called 'Barefoot Nellie', and thank you."

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## Marty Henrickson

Just a kick to the top, in memory of Andy.  There's some good stuff in this thread.

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Ed Goist

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## Barry Platnick

I gotta say, I'm not one of those guys that studied this stuff. But I watched it fanatically as a kid and when I see it now I still laugh and I feel like I know all the characters.

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