{"id":115421,"date":"2022-10-19T12:06:27","date_gmt":"2022-10-19T17:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=115421"},"modified":"2022-10-19T12:06:54","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T17:06:54","slug":"qa-with-gene-parsons-of-the-byrds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=115421","title":{"rendered":"Q&#038;A with Gene Parsons of The Byrds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1545664804358300\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block; text-align: center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1545664804358300\" data-ad-slot=\"8616314829\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=115421\" rel=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=115421\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-115422 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Gene-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Gene-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Gene.jpg 730w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Exclusive Interview by Karen Beishuizen<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Gene Parsons is a drummer, guitarist and singer who was a member of The Byrds from 1968-1972, Nashville West, Flying Burrito Brothers and Parsons Green. He invented the Parsons\/White B-Bender, which gives guitarists the option to create a pedal steel guitar sound.<\/p>\n<p><strong>KB: What did you want to be when you grew up? A musician?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I never thought I would be a professional musician. I wanted to be involved in the machine work. I grew up with machining, wielding, fabricating and repairing machinery.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: How old were you when you started to play drums and guitars?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I began playing stringed instruments when I was 8 or 9. I began playing drums around age 22.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: You and Clarence White played together in Nashville West. Did he asked you to join The Byrds where he was a band member?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Shortly after Clarence became a Byrd member, he insisted that I should be their drummer.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: You played drums, guitar, banjo and harmonica on albums 8-11: Did you write songs for these albums and what are the titles?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I wrote a few songs for these albums. Some of the titles are Yesterday\u2019s Train, Gungadin, Nashville West.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: After the Byrds, you joined The Flying Burrito Brothers with other former Byrds members. Do you know who came up with such a cool name?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I do not. Chris Hillman is the man to ask that question. I am sure he will be able to answer it.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: You and your ex-wife Meridian Green formed the duo Parsons Green in the mid-80s: What is the album Birds of a Feather about?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>It doesn\u2019t really have an intended theme. It was simply a collection of tunes.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: If you were to make an album now with your 7 favorite songs: which songs would you pick and why?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Good question. The answer is, I don\u2019t really know. There would certainly be some of the new songs I have written over the last few years.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: Are there currently artists out there you would love to collaborate with?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I would probably want to do an album with my daughter Lily and my wife Star. Maybe bring in some other musicians such as Marty Stuart.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: You invented the B-Bender which gives guitarists the option to create a pedal steel guitar sound: How did you come up with this idea and which guitar players are using your device now?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I am writing a book which has a section in it about the development of the stringbender but here is the very short version: Clarence and I were experimenting with sounds on his guitar where I was pulling the B string over the nut while he played the guitar. This was to attempt a steel guitar effect. It required three hands to do it. Clarence asked me to come up with a way he could do this with only his two hands, and he wanted it to be done without taking his hands of their normal playing position. I thought about it for a few days and came up with the idea of using the shoulder strap attached to a lever to accomplish it. I subsequently built the first model and installed it in Clarence\u2019s telecaster. Marty Stuart still plays that guitar and string Bender today.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: Are you still active in the music or do you spend more time in your guitar workshop?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I spend most of my time in the workshop, but I am still playing in two bands and sometimes as a solo act. One of these bands is our newly formed New Nashville West where my daughter Lily plays bass, and I am playing the pedal steel guitar. I also continue to play on other recording projects as well.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Check out Gene\u2019s website: <a href=\"http:\/\/stringbender.com\/\">HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Exclusive Interview by Karen Beishuizen Gene Parsons is a drummer, guitarist and singer who was a member of The Byrds from 1968-1972, Nashville West, Flying Burrito Brothers and Parsons Green. He invented the Parsons\/White B-Bender, which gives guitarists the option to create a pedal steel guitar sound. KB: What did you want to be when [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115422,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28132,17984],"tags":[29729],"class_list":["post-115421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns-by-karen-beishuizen","category-entertainment-news","tag-qa-with-gene-parsons-of-the-byrds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115421"}],"version-history":[{"count":-3,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/115422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}