Just this June, a blast from Roland White’s past finally made it to the digital age. Up until then,
I Wasn’t Born to Rock ’n’ Roll — the energized 1976 trad-bluegrass album that Roland recorded with bluegrass quintet Country Gazette and which featured rock ’n’ roll cover art — had only been on vinyl, and had long been out of print. But his career goes back even further than that. White — a respected mandolinist who’s also played guitar in a band or two — got cranking on the West Coast during the ’60s, forming the Kentucky Colonels with his brothers (one of whom, Clarence, went on to join The Byrds). White also played with Father of Bluegrass Lester Flatt — an occasion upon which White moved over to guitar — and in the late ’80s, he joined supergroup The Nashville Bluegrass Band. With the 34-year-old album out once again, he’s rolling out some of that 34-year-old material once more.
— Jewly Hight