Post-Byrds and Death
By 1972, the pace of the group had slowed considerably; while they would mount two more tours with percussionist Joe Lala on board for the band's farewell show, much of McGuinn's attention had been diverted to a possible reunion of the original Byrds, contingent on his disbanding of the "other" Byrds. After fulfilling their final obligations in early 1973, the Clarence White-era Byrds broke up.
White remained busy throughout early 1973. In addition to more Browne sessions, he joined with Peter Rowan, David Grisman, fiddler Richard Green and banjo player Bill Keith to form the bluegrass supergroup Muleskinner. The group was scheduled to back up Bill Monroe on a TV broadcast, but ended up performing on their own when Bill's bus broke down on the way to the show. The band played anyhow and the live tapes once thought lost have reappeared and been released in recent years. Shortly after the concert, they made some preliminary recordings, all of which were in the vein of contemporary bluegrass or "newgrass". Then there was the 1973 tour that produced the "Live in Sweden" album, with Alan Munde on banjo.
His final road jaunt was a three-date "country-rock" package tour with the likes of Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, and Chris Ethridge. Even though they had presumably been acquainted with one another in the past, Parsons and White would develop a fast friendship after what was by all accounts a very acrimonious re-acquaintance.
White died on July 15, 1973 after being struck by a drunk driver. The accident occurred shortly after 2 a.m., while he and his brother Roland were loading equipment into their car following a spur-of-the-moment reunion gig of the Colonels. Especially shaken by his death was Gram Parsons, who would lead a singalong of "Farther Along" at the funeral service and conceive his final song before his own death, "In My Hour of Darkness", as a partial tribute to White.
Clarence White was survived by his brothers Roland and Eric and sisters JoAnne and Rosemarie, and his one daughter, Michelle.
Read more about this topic: Clarence White
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“But, when nothing subsists from a distant past, after the death of others, after the destruction of objects, only the senses of smell and taste, weaker but more enduring, more intangible, more persistent, more faithful, continue for a long time, like souls, to remember, to wait, to hope, on the ruins of all the rest, to bring without flinching, on their nearly impalpable droplet, the immense edifice of memory.”
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