Song:Dark Hollow
Album:Muleskinner Live: Original Television Soundtrack
The term "supergroup" is thrown around pretty casually these days. But if you're a bluegrass fan, you will want to check out the bluegrass supergroup Muleskinner. These great musicians were put together for a one off TV show. Singer, songwriter and guitarist Peter Rowan and mandolin player David Grisman are both from Boston. Their psychedelic band Earth Opera recorded two unsuccessful albums on Elektra in the late 60s. When Earth Opera split up, Rowan met violinist Richard Greene and joined his band Seatrain. Grisman joined the Grateful Dead spinoff band Old And In The Way and of course he had a long association with Jerry Garcia. Los Angeles PBS station KCET were planning a Bill Monroe concert TV special and they needed a band to open for Monroe. Greene played with Monroe and was asked to form a band just for the show. So he brought in Rowan along with banjo player Bill Keith who had also played with Monroe and was a member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, guitarist Clarence White from the Kentucky Colonels and The Byrds, bassist John Kahn from Jerry Garcia's solo band and drummer John Guerin from Tom Scott's LA Express. Does that seem like a supergroup to you? When the time came to tape the show, Monroe couldn't make it because of mechanical problems with his tour bus. So KCET decided to do the show with this one off bluegrass supergroup Muleskinner. The show was so well received, it earned the band a contract with Warner Bros. They recorded their only studio album A Potpourri Of Bluegrass Jam in 1973. It was highly acclaimed and Muleskinner planned to continue. Sadly, Clarence White was killed by a drunk driver on July 15, 1973 at age 29. Obviously it devastated the rest of the band and they chose not to continue. You can get the PBS concert video on DVD. The TV soundtrack sat in a vault for many years before it was released in 1998. The Micro Werks reissue label re-released it on CD in 2009. John Kahn died in 1996 and John Guerin died in 2004. But the others are all successful and active today. Muleskinner is a must for bluegrass fans. Here's Muleskinner performing New Camptown Races and Dark Hollow on the Feb. 1973 PBS special at Los Angeles station KCET.
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