Sneaky Pete Kleinow
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Sneaky Pete Kleinow | |
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Flying Burrito Brothers |
Peter E. "Sneaky Pete" Kleinow (August 20, 1934 – January 6, 2007) was an American country-rock musician and animator. He was a member of the band the Flying Burrito Brothers, and worked extensively as a session musician, playing pedal steel guitar for Joan Baez, Jackson Browne, The Byrds, Leonard Cohen, Joe Cocker, Rita Coolidge, Eagles, The Everly Brothers, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, The Steve Miller Band, Joni Mitchell, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Spencer Davis, Little Richard, Linda Ronstadt, Jimmie Spheeris and many others. He is a member of the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame.[1]
Kleinow is also noteworthy for having composed the Gumby theme song as well as being an animator on the 1960s iteration of the show.[2][3]
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 frequently employed as a session musician).
Through this scene he became acquainted with
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 a 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.
Favoring a relatively abstemious and reclusive lifestyle in comparison to some of his bandmates (nevertheless, according to bassist
In 1974, Kleinow was briefly part of a new band, Cold Steel, before co-founding the reconstituted Flying Burrito Brothers with original bassist Chris Ethridge later that year. He remained with the band (which also recorded and performed as Sierra) until 1981 before rejoining again from 1984 to 1997. The later iterations of the band enjoyed several minor country hits on Curb Records. His first solo album, Sneaky Pete, was released in 1978 and The Legend and the Legacy followed in 1994.
Following a second stint on Davey and Goliath in 1972, he returned to visual effects in earnest as an animator on
In 2000, Kleinow formed a group called Burrito Deluxe (also the name of a 1970
Personal life and death
Kleinow was married to Ernestine Kleinow for 54 years until his death. They had three sons and two daughters together.[7]
Kleinow died on January 6, 2007, at a
Three months before his death, local singer songwriter Jan White and bassist Pat Campbell gave Kleinow a final private concert, performing several Gram Parsons songs for him, set in the nursing facility's garden. Kleinow was brought to tears and expressed his joy and gratitude for the special moment.
Discography
For albums by the Flying Burrito Brothers see their
Solo projects
Year | Title | Label | Number | Notes |
1974 | Cold Steel | Ariola |
87736 | LP |
1979 | Sneaky Pete | Rhino | RNLP-70070 | LP |
1994 | The Legend and the Legacy | Beautown/Shiloh | 4096 | CD |
2001 | Meet Sneaky Pete | Beautown/Shiloh | BEA225002, 2252 | CD |
Other appearances
Kleinow appears on numerous rock and country-rock albums, including:
- Joe Cocker! - Joe Cocker (1969)
- Through the Morning, Through the Night - Dillard & Clark (1969)
- (Untitled) - The Byrds (1970)
- (1970)
- New York City (You're a Woman) - Al Kooper (1971)
- Helen Reddy - Helen Reddy (1971)
- Cold Spring Harbor - Billy Joel (1971)
- Linda Ronstadt - Linda Ronstadt (1972)
- Blue - Joni Mitchell (1971)
- Byrdmaniax - The Byrds (1971)
- Jackson Browne - Jackson Browne (1972)
- Sandy - Sandy Denny (1972)
- Waka/Jawaka - Frank Zappa (1972)
- The Lady's Not for Sale - Rita Coolidge (1972)
- Suite for Late Summer - Dion DiMucci (1972)
- Jennifer - Jennifer Warnes (1972)
- The Second Coming - Little Richard (1972)
- No Ordinary Child - Jane Getz (1972)
- Casey Kelly - Casey Kelly (1972)
- For Everyman - Jackson Browne (1973)
- Feeling the Space - Yoko Ono (1973)
- Mind Games - John Lennon (1973)
- Don't Cry Now - Linda Ronstadt (1973)
- The Original Tap Dancing Kid - Jimmie Spheeris (1973)
- Perfect Angel - Minnie Riperton (1974)
- Pussy Cats - Harry Nilsson (1974)
- Heart Like a Wheel - Linda Ronstadt (1974)
- Heroes Are Hard to Find - Fleetwood Mac (1974)
- Kinky Friedman - Kinky Friedman (1974)
- Playing Possum - Carly Simon (1975)
- Ringo's Rotogravure - Ringo Starr (1976)
- White on White - Brian Cadd (1976)
- Death of a Ladies' Man - Leonard Cohen (1977)
- Making a Good Thing Better - Olivia Newton-John (1977)
- Down on the Farm - Little Feat (1979)
- Town and Country (album)[8] - The Rave-Ups (1985)
- I'm Your Man - Leonard Cohen (1988)
- Robert Palmer(1990)
- Beth Nielsen Chapman - Beth Nielsen Chapman (1990)
References
- ^ Scott, DeWitt. "The Steel Guitar Hall of Fame/". scottysmusic.com. The Steel Guitar Hall of Fame. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
- ^ "Fan Club". www.gumbyworld.com. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
- ISBN 978-1-5241-0437-5.
- ^ a b c Ankeny, Jason. "Biography of Sneaky Pete Kleinow". AllMusic Guide. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
- ^ "Sneaky Pete Kleinow – Obituaries – News – The Independent". independent.co.uk. January 10, 2007. Retrieved December 10, 2014.
- ^ ISBN 9781906002992. Retrieved December 10, 2014.
- ^ a b c Flying Burrito 'Sneaky' Pete Kleinow dies, Associated Press, January 8, 2007.
- ^ "The Rave-Ups - Town + Country". Discogs. November 13, 1985.