Dobroist, songwriter. Leroy McNees - Kentucky Colonels 1958 - 1963

Dobroist, songwriter. Leroy McNees - Kentucky Colonels 1958 - 1963 My next repost from the Rhinehart Archives will be a conversation I had with Los Angeles area dobro player, Leroy McNees. This very personable musician and song writer was a member of the Kentucky Colonels between 1958 and 1963. Out of most of those years the band was known as the Country Boys. While the name, Leroy McNees, might not be a household name among most average bluegrass music fans, he has made some important contributions to our music. I’d like to upload this short presentation of Leroy’s association with the Kentucky Colonels. I first got introduced to the Kentucky Colonels after reading a record review in a Swedish newspaper. That was in the summer of 1974 and I was rather new to the bluegrass. I had the Soundtrack from Deliverance, a Flatt & Scruggs LP and some various acoustic blues albums. Kentucky Colonels (formerly the County Boys) was a band from the Los Angeles area, active in the late 1950s to mid-1960s, led by Roland White and his six years younger brother, guitarist Clarence White. During Roland's army service, 1961 – 1963, in West Germany, the band recorded their first LP on the Briar label, The New Sounds of Bluegrass America, in the fall of 1962. Leroy McNees wrote the majority of the songs – some of them have become part of the standard repertoire, I Might Take You Back Again, To Prove My Love for You, If You're Ever Gonna Love Me In 2022 I had a very pleasant and informative conversation with Leroy McNees that we recorded for our series, the Rhinehart Archives. In this video he talks about his days with the Kentucky Colonels and some really cool details about the band. Hope you enjoy the show. If you are into things related to the Kentucky Colonels, this one should be extra interesting. Please share this video on your social media and if you are not a subscriber to my YouTube channel, please become one by mashing the subscribe button. This episode of the Rhinehart Archives was first streamed live on Mar 10, 2021.\Many thanks to Janice McNees for sharing a digitized copy of an 8 mm film she took in December of 1961 of the band. At that point, the band was still known as the Country Boys.