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Sneaky Pete Kleinow

December 15, 2023

Peter E. "Sneaky Pete" Kleinow (August 20, 1934 – January 6, 2007) was an American country-rock musician and animator. He is best known as a member of the band The Flying Burrito Brothers and as a session musician playing pedal steel guitar for such artists as 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]

Sneaky Pete Kleinow
Kleinow in 1970
Background information
Birth namePeter E. Kleinow
Also known as"Sneaky Pete"
Born(1934-08-20)August 20, 1934
OriginSouth Bend, Indiana, U.S.
DiedJanuary 6, 2007(2007-01-06) (aged 72)
Petaluma, California, U.S.
GenresCountry rock
Occupation(s)Musician
Instrument(s)Pedal steel guitar

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 edit

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.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] 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 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.

 
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.[6] 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), Little Richard (The Second Coming, 1972), Sandy Denny (Sandy, 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).[4]

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 Sid and Marty Krofft's Land of the Lost (1974–1976) and created the dinosaurs for the comic film Caveman (1981). He was a co-recipient of the 1983 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for his work on the highly successful ABC miniseries The Winds of War. Although often uncredited, Kleinow contributed stop motion and other visual effects to a number of films and miniseries over the next three decades, including Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1980), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), The Right Stuff (1983), Gremlins (1984), The Terminator (1984), Terminator 2 (1991), Starship Troopers (1997), and Holes (2003) while continuing to work sporadically as a professional musician.[4][7]

In 2000, Kleinow formed a group called Burrito Deluxe (also the name of a 1970 Flying Burrito Brothers album) with Garth Hudson, former organist of The Band, Carlton Moody of the Moody Brothers on lead vocals and guitars, bassist Jeff "Stick" Davis of Amazing Rhythm Aces and drummer Rick Lonow, a latter-day drummer for Poco since 1989 and session player. The group recorded three albums, Georgia Peach, The Whole Enchilada and 2007's Disciples of the Truth, which feature his last studio recordings. Kleinow's last performance was at a 2005 Gram Parsons tribute "Gram Fest" concert in Joshua Tree, California, the town in which Gram Parsons had died.

Personal life and death edit

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 convalescent home near the skilled nursing facility in Petaluma, California. Suffering from Alzheimer's disease, he had been living at the facility since 2006.[7]

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 edit

For albums by the Flying Burrito Brothers see their discography.

Solo projects edit

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 edit

Kleinow appears on numerous rock and country-rock albums, including:

References edit

  1. ^ Scott, DeWitt. "The Steel Guitar Hall of Fame/". scottysmusic.com. The Steel Guitar Hall of Fame. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  2. ^ "Fan Club". www.gumbyworld.com. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  3. ^ Clokey, Joan Rock; Clokey, Joe (November 15, 2017). Gumby Imagined: The Story of Art Clokey and his Creations. Dynamite Entertainment. ISBN 978-1-5241-0437-5.
  4. ^ a b c Ankeny, Jason. "Biography of Sneaky Pete Kleinow". AllMusic Guide. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  5. ^ "Sneaky Pete Kleinow – Obituaries – News – The Independent". independent.co.uk. January 10, 2007. Retrieved December 10, 2014.
  6. ^ a b Einarson, J. (2008). Hot Burritos: The True Story of The Flying Burrito Brothers. Jawbone Press. p. 324. ISBN 9781906002992. Retrieved December 10, 2014.
  7. ^ a b c Flying Burrito 'Sneaky' Pete Kleinow dies, Associated Press, January 8, 2007.
  8. ^ "The Rave-Ups - Town + Country". Discogs. November 13, 1985.

External links edit

  • Official Burrito Deluxe website

December 15, 2023
sneaky, pete, kleinow, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, sept. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Sneaky Pete Kleinow news newspapers books scholar JSTOR September 2009 Learn how and when to remove this template message Peter E Sneaky Pete Kleinow August 20 1934 January 6 2007 was an American country rock musician and animator He is best known as a member of the band The Flying Burrito Brothers and as a session musician playing pedal steel guitar for such artists as 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 Sneaky Pete KleinowKleinow in 1970Background informationBirth namePeter E KleinowAlso known as Sneaky Pete Born 1934 08 20 August 20 1934OriginSouth Bend Indiana U S DiedJanuary 6 2007 2007 01 06 aged 72 Petaluma California U S GenresCountry rockOccupation s MusicianInstrument s Pedal steel guitar 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 Contents 1 Biography 2 Personal life and death 3 Discography 3 1 Solo projects 3 2 Other appearances 4 References 5 External linksBiography editKleinow 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 amp 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 nbsp Flying Burrito Brothers Amsterdam 1970 From left to right Sneaky Pete Kleinow Rick Roberts Chris Hillman Michael Clarke Bernie LeadonThrough 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 4 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 5 After signing to A amp 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 6 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 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 nbsp 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 6 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 Little Richard The Second Coming 1972 Sandy Denny Sandy 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 4 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 Sid and Marty Krofft s Land of the Lost 1974 1976 and created the dinosaurs for the comic film Caveman 1981 He was a co recipient of the 1983 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for his work on the highly successful ABC miniseries The Winds of War Although often uncredited Kleinow contributed stop motion and other visual effects to a number of films and miniseries over the next three decades including Cosmos A Personal Voyage 1980 The Empire Strikes Back 1980 The Right Stuff 1983 Gremlins 1984 The Terminator 1984 Terminator 2 1991 Starship Troopers 1997 and Holes 2003 while continuing to work sporadically as a professional musician 4 7 In 2000 Kleinow formed a group called Burrito Deluxe also the name of a 1970 Flying Burrito Brothers album with Garth Hudson former organist of The Band Carlton Moody of the Moody Brothers on lead vocals and guitars bassist Jeff Stick Davis of Amazing Rhythm Aces and drummer Rick Lonow a latter day drummer for Poco since 1989 and session player The group recorded three albums Georgia Peach The Whole Enchilada and 2007 s Disciples of the Truth which feature his last studio recordings Kleinow s last performance was at a 2005 Gram Parsons tribute Gram Fest concert in Joshua Tree California the town in which Gram Parsons had died Personal life and death editKleinow 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 convalescent home near the skilled nursing facility in Petaluma California Suffering from Alzheimer s disease he had been living at the facility since 2006 7 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 editFor albums by the Flying Burrito Brothers see their discography Solo projects edit Year Title Label Number Notes1974 Cold Steel Ariola 87736 LP1979 Sneaky Pete Rhino RNLP 70070 LP1994 The Legend and the Legacy Beautown Shiloh 4096 CD2001 Meet Sneaky Pete Beautown Shiloh BEA225002 2252 CDOther appearances edit Kleinow appears on numerous rock and country rock albums including Joe Cocker Joe Cocker 1969 Through the Morning Through the Night Dillard amp Clark 1969 Untitled The Byrds 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 Don t Explain Robert Palmer 1990 Beth Nielsen Chapman Beth Nielsen Chapman 1990 References edit 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 Clokey Joan Rock Clokey Joe November 15 2017 Gumby Imagined The Story of Art Clokey and his Creations Dynamite Entertainment 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 a b Einarson J 2008 Hot Burritos The True Story of The Flying Burrito Brothers Jawbone Press p 324 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 External links editOfficial Burrito Deluxe website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sneaky Pete Kleinow amp oldid 1184931328, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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