[Erik Clampitt]

http://www.tompkinssquare.com/

Roland White’s 1976 solo album ‘I Wasn’t Born To Rock ‘N Roll’, originally issued on the Ridge Runner Records label, is re-mastered from the original tapes and released for the very first time on CD.

This album features Alan Munde, Kenny Wertz, Roger Bush and Dave Ferguson playing traditional tunes, as well as a composition called “Powder Creek”, co-written by Roland & Clarence. This was the first appearance of this special tune on an album, a song which Roland now describes as having been composed with his brother on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1963!

The package includes original liner notes by Gene Parsons (The Byrds), new reflections from Roland, original album artwork, and one unreleased bonus track not included on the original LP!

[Silverface]

I bought the vinyl version when it first came out; one of the classic album covers. If you've never seen it you MUST buy it - not as patently weird as Country Gazette's "Traitor in Our Midst", which has been nominated for worst album cover of all time (which is a great honor...) but when you see the front and then turn it over...well...Lloyd Loar is spinnin' in his grave.



Musically it's tremendous - I was in the first year of my 10-straight years of bluegrass gigs and the sound on this album was a template of what we tried to get: a "presence" and definition that was NOT typical of most southern bluegrass albums of the time, which had the "one mic" sound. Roland, Byron, Dan Crary, John Hickman,Grisman, Rice et al on the west coast and Trischka, Statman and the upstate New York crowd separately (and later blended together in various iterations) drastically changed both the recorded and live sound of bluegrass by mic'ing each instrument and each voice individually. Most festivals still had a max of 4-5 mics on stage and bands played "Monroe style" with soloists stepping up and those not soloing moving back; almost all the traditional-band albums sounded like that as well, with clear vocals and one instrument, with all the other instruments sounding like mud. When the "newgrass/spacegrass" players became more prominent (and Roland was on the front end after playing with Clarence and Grisman - still short a couple of mics on stage but far more than "normal") "bluegrass sound" turned upside down, with ALL instruments being heard equally and players controlling their own volume/dynamics by "working the mic" via angles and distance. Guitar players (I was mostly playing guitar at this time) primarily benefited since they could now solo and be heard!

Many festival soundmen didn't get it, and it took lot of arm-twisting to get them to set up the right number of mics, set the volume once and then NOT touch the levels again. There was a classic Ton Rice interview line where he had told a sound man to go smoke a joint while the band set their OWN levels and EQ.

Anyway - this album is a VERY clean example of the newer sound. Little processing, great definition and a sound like they're in your living room. I hope the mix to CD didn't get over-processed.

[Murr]

He looks like Clarence.

[Brian]

I think that's Clarence's Nudie jacket that Roland is wearing...

[Brian]

Just got my copy of Roland's CD re-issue today...AWESOME!