1934 – SNEAKY PETE KLEINOW, PEDAL STEEL GUITARIST TO THE STARS, IS BORN
Posted on 1:52 AM by STU SWEATMAN

Pete Kleinow

1934 – Sneaky Pete Kleinow, pedal steel guitarist to the stars, is born in South Bend, Ind. He’s played on albums by the Bee Gees, the Lemonheads, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Stevie Wonder, and many more.

Sneaky Pete Kleinow


Kleinow in 1970

Peter E. "Sneaky Pete" Kleinow (August 20, 1934 – January 6, 2007) was an American country-rock musician, songwriter, and motion picture special effects artist. He is best known as a member of the band the Flying Burrito Brothers and as a session musician for such artists as Neil Young, Joan Baez, Jackson Browne, The Byrds, Joe Cocker, Rita Coolidge, Eagles, The Everly Brothers, George Harrison, The Steve Miller Band, Joni Mitchell, The Rolling Stones, Ringo Starr, Stevie Wonder, Spencer Davis, Linda Ronstadt and many others.

Biography

Kleinow was born and raised in South Bend, Indiana; inspired by Jerry Byrd, he took up the pedal steel guitar in high school. Following graduation, he was employed for over a decade as a maintenance worker at the Michigan Department of Transportation. In 1963, he relocated to Los Angeles, where he began a career as a visual effects artist and stop motion animator in the film and television industry. After uncredited work on The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962), The Outer Limits (1963–1965), and 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), Kleinow became closely associated with the long-running children's series Gumby and Davey and Goliath while moonlighting in the city's country-oriented nightclubs as a member of Smokey Rogers & the Western Caravan (from which his distinctive nickname originated) and the Detours (often deputizing for bandleader Red Rhodes, then concurrently employed as a session musician).


Flying Burrito Brothers (Amsterdam, 1970). From left to right: Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Rick Roberts, Chris Hillman, MIchael Clarke, Bernie Leadon

Through this scene he became acquainted with Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons of the Byrds in 1968, helping the group to replicate their newly country-infused sound onstage with banjoist Doug Dillard on several local club dates. Guitarist Roger McGuinn later alleged that Hillman and Parsons intended to replace Dillard with Kleinow and did not countenance Kleinow's inclusion alongside Dillard in an upcoming European tour, a decision that hastened Hillman and Parsons' departure from the band. After signing to A&M Records and briefly considering Lloyd Green ( who, as per Hillman, "would have never left a lucrative career as a session man to go out with us" ), Parsons and Hillman invited Kleinow to join their new project: the Flying Burrito Brothers. For Kleinow, the opportunity was the culmination of his desire to "finally make a living with music," and he would work for much of the next decade as a professional musician. Never paragons of commercial success (the band's first album, The Gilded Palace of Sin, peaked at #164 on the Billboard album chart), the Flying Burrito Brothers would go on to influence generations of popular musicians.

One of the first pedal steel players to work in a rock context, Kleinow favored the outmoded Fender 400, a cable-operated eight-string model. According to bandmate Bernie Leadon, "Sneaky uniquely played an eight-string Fender cable pull steel tuned to B6 instead of the more common C6. He played an usually more jazz or swing tuning in a style that most other players use an E9 tuning for. His rationale was [that] B is the 'five chord,' or dominant chord, to the key of E. This resulted in absolutely-to-Pete steel licks. And no one else thinks like him anyway." In addition to favoring atypical tunings, Kleinow liberally incorporated such electronic accoutrements as the fuzzbox, the Leslie speaker and the Echoplex into his style. His unorthodox style of playing would immediately influence a number of second-generation country rock pedal steel players, including Jerry Garcia, Buddy Cage of the New Riders of the Purple Sage and his eventual replacement in the Burrito Brothers, session musician Al Perkins.


The nudie suit worn by Kleinow on the cover of 1969's The Gilded Palace of Sin, along with his Fender 400 pedal steel guitar, displayed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

Favoring a relatively abstemious and reclusive lifestyle in comparison to some of his bandmates (nevertheless, according to bassist Chris Ethridge, he "loved to drink wine" and frequently exhibited science fiction films at the "Burrito Manor" shared by Parsons and Hillman in Reseda throughout 1968); intolerant of the group's infamously erratic live performances; and increasingly disenchanted by his exclusion from the creative process—including the diminution of his parts in released mixes and the summary rejection of his songwriting efforts—Kleinow eventually left the Flying Burrito Brothers in 1971. Despite this setback, the imprimatur of the band allowed Kleinow to enjoy a lucrative career as a session musician throughout this period. He appeared on albums by Joe Cocker (Joe Cocker!, 1969), Delaney, Bonnie and Friends (To Bonnie from Delaney, 1970), Joni Mitchell (Blue, 1971), Billy Joel (Cold Spring Harbor, 1971), Little Feat (Sailin' Shoes, 1972), Frank Zappa (Waka/Jawaka, 1972), the Bee Gees (Life in a Tin Can, 1973), Yoko Ono (Feeling the Space, 1973), John Lennon (Mind Games, 1973), John Cale (Paris 1919, 1973), Linda Ronstadt (Heart Like A Wheel, 1974), Harry Nilsson (Pussy Cats, 1974), Stevie Wonder (Fulfillingness' First Finale, 1974 and Songs in the Key of Life, 1976), Fleetwood Mac (Heroes Are Hard to Find, 1974), and Leonard Cohen (Death of a Ladies' Man, 1977).

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Southern Rocker
Published on May 28, 2018

Track 5 from their second album released in 1972 copyright Warner Bros. Records. After their excellent debut album only sold about 11,000 copies, the band was in danger of losing their recording contract. For this album, they made an effort to appeal to a wider audience by writing more mainstream songs. Lowell George really came into his own as a songwriter here and was able to create catchy tunes in a variety of styles. Thankfully, he maintained the quirkiness and honesty of his previous songs, with stellar results. Four out of five people with ears give it five stars. Recorded from CD. Written by Lowell George and produced by Ted Templeman. RIP Lowell George, Richie Hayward, Milt Holland & Pete Kleinow. Featuring:

Lowell George – Lead vocals, lead, rhythm & slide guitars, background vocals, harmonica, baritone sax & drum machine
Bill Payne – Hammond B3 organ, Wurlitzer electric piano, acoustic piano, accordion & background vocals, lead vocals on “Cat Fever”
Roy Estrada – Bass & background vocals
Richie Hayward – Drums, percussion & background vocals
Special Guests:
Milt Holland – Percussion on “Easy To Slip” & “Trouble”
“Sneaky” Pete Kleinow – Pedal steel guitar on “Willin’” & “Texas Rose Cafe”
Debbie Lindsey – Background vocals on “Cold, Cold, Cold” & “Sailin’ Shoes”
Ron Elliot – Rhythm guitar on “A Apolitical Blues”

CountryDan
Published on Oct 8, 2006

Artist: Flying Burrito Brothers
Song: Christine's Tune
Album: The Gilded Palace of Sin (1969)

Gram Parsons
Chris Hillman
"Sneaky" Pete Kleinow
Chris Ethridge