Kentucky Colonels 1965-1966 is a 1976 live-recordings compilation released on Rounder Records (0070), documenting the band at Los Angeles's Ash Grove and Cobblestone Club in 1965. The lineup—Clarence White (guitar, vocals), Roland White (mandolin, vocals), Billy Ray Latham (banjo, vocals), Roger Bush (bass, vocals), and Scotty Stoneman (fiddle, vocals), a five-time national champion who joined mid-1965—represents the band's most incandescent phase. Stoneman's tenure lasted only months before the Kentucky Colonels dissolved that October, making these recordings especially precious. The album introduced Clarence White to a wider bluegrass audience as the player who made the acoustic guitar a lead instrument in the genre—a role he would then transfer to the electric guitar with the Byrds—and stands as the primary document of the California bluegrass tradition.
Tracklist
- 1 Soldier’s Joy alt version 1:35
- 2 The Fugitive 2:57
- 3 Reuben’s Train alt version 3:34
- 4 One Tear alt version 2:17
- 5 I Might Take You Back Again alt version 1:53
- 6 Head Over Heels alt version 2:34
- 7 Shady Grave 1:19
- 8 I’ll Never Love Anybody But You 1:59
- 9 Polka On The Banjo 2:20
- 10 Take Off Your Cheaters 0:52
- 11 The Old Country Church alt version 2:26
- 12 Earl’s Breakdown alt version 2:59
- 13 Give This Message To Your Heart 2:13
- 14 Ruben’s Train (Encore) 2:11
- 15 Cotton Eyed Joe alt version 2:32
- 16 Soldier’s Joy (Conclusion) 0:40
- 17 I’ll Go Steppin’ Too 2:36
- 18 Flint Hill Special alt version 2:45
- 19 Shuckin’ the Corn alt version 2:07
- 20 John Hardy alt version 3:29
- 21 Mad Banjo 1:53
- 22 Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down alt version
- 23 Sunny Side of the Mountain alt version