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Sneaky Pete Kleinow Dead at 72
• Former Flying Burrito Brother guitarist influenced a generation of pedal steel guitarists
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By
The Minx , Music Biz Editor
Thursday,
11 January, 2007
Tributes poured from the world’s top steel guitarists on the announcement of the death of pedal-steel ace "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow who died in California on 6 January aged 72.
"He really was a man alone on a mountain top...sticking with his tuning and his 8 string Fender when the rest of the steel world around him was flocking to E9 and C6 on their Sho-Buds and Emmons'. He carved out his own style and gave us a different way to approach the pedal steel and the way it could be played." Skip Edwards
Kleinow started playing pedal steel guitar as a teenager in South Bend Indiana, and before his musical career took off, Kleinow originally worked as a special effects artist and stop motion animator for movies and television, including the Gumby, and Outer Limits TV series, as well as classic cult movies such as 7 Faces of Dr. Lao and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm.
At night, Kleinow would sit in with Bakersfield Sound-oriented combos and early country-rock aggregations playing the pedal steel guitar; through this scene he became acquainted with Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons of the Byrds, helping the group to replicate their newly country oriented sound onstage with banjoist Doug Dillard.
After leaving the Byrds in 1968, Parsons and Hillman invited Kleinow to join their new band, the Flying Burrito Brothers. Subsequently, Kleinow left behind his career in visual effects and spent the next thirteen years as a professional musician. During a musical career that spanned six decades, Kleinow helped define the country-rock genre in the late 1960s and 1970s.
As one of the first pedal steel players to work in a rock context, incorporating liberal use of electronic innovations like the fuzzbox and backwards recording techniques. As such, Kleinow's style of playing was immediately influential upon second-generation players such as Jerry Garcia and Buddy Cage of the New Riders of the Purple Sage and sessionman Al Perkins.
Since 1981, he once again focused on creating special effects for movies such as The Empire Strikes Back, Gremlins, The Right Stuff, The Terminator, and Terminator 2 while continuing to work sporadically as a professional musician.
In 2000 Kleinow founded Burrito Deluxe, following the rebirth of alt-country music and fronted it until he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2005. His last recording with the group is scheduled to be released next month, said Brenda Cline, the band's manager
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