LeRoy Mack (born 1940), whose given name is LeRoy McNees, was the Dobro player in the Kentucky Colonels, the California band of Clarence and Roland White. He joined them when they were still the Country Boys in the late 1950s and stayed until 1964. He appeared with them on The Andy Griffith Show and wrote eleven of the fourteen songs on their first album. He entered the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame with the Kentucky Colonels in 2019.
Why Mack matters
Mack was the Dobro in the band that brought bluegrass to the West Coast. The Kentucky Colonels played the Ash Grove folk club in Los Angeles and reached a national TV audience on The Andy Griffith Show. His Dobro sat beside Clarence White’s guitar on their early records. The Hall of Fame rates White as one of the best and most inventive guitarists in the music’s history.
Life and career
McNees was born on September 19, 1940, in Glendale, California. He had played some guitar when he met the White brothers in the late 1950s. They told him that if he learned the Dobro he could join their band. He learned it well enough to play on the Country Boys’ first record, a 1959 single of I’m Head Over Heels in Love and Kentucky Hills.
The band played the Ash Grove and in 1961 appeared on two episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, “Mayberry on Record” and “Quiet Sam.” In September 1962 they recorded their first album, The New Sound of Bluegrass America, and took the name the Kentucky Colonels. McNees wrote eleven of its fourteen songs. He left the band in 1964 to work for his father and never gave up his day job.
In 1966 he formed the Born Again Bluegrass Band, a Los Angeles gospel group that lasted 31 years and made 12 albums. He recorded the solo album Hound Dog Ramble with Vince Gill, Byron Berline, and John Hickman. From 2004 to 2014 he and his wife toured as a duo and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity. In 2016 he formed a new group, Gloryland. He is a favorite at the Mayberry Days reunion in Mount Airy, North Carolina.
Playing style
Mack learned the Dobro to join the Whites’ band, and he learned it inside a group built around Clarence White’s guitar and Roland White’s mandolin. He has also played on sessions with Vince Gill and John Denver. In interviews he has described how the Kentucky Colonels opened folk clubs to bluegrass.
Influences and legacy
Mack played beside Clarence White, Roland White, Eric White, Billy Ray Latham, and Roger Bush. His solo album brought in Byron Berline and John Hickman. Tut Taylor also recorded with Clarence and Roland White on Dobro Country.
Essential recordings
The New Sound of Bluegrass America, the Kentucky Colonels Hound Dog Ramble (Sierra/Brier, 1978) LeRoy Mack and Friends of the Kentucky Colonels
Awards and honors
International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, as a member of the Kentucky Colonels (2019)
Watch and listen
A short film on McNees as a Dobro player.
What to learn from Mack
Learn the Dobro part to a Kentucky Colonels song, then play it with a guitar player who takes the lead. In a band built around a lead guitar like Clarence White’s, the Dobro fills the spaces. Practice backup that answers the lead singer and gets out of the way when the guitar takes a break.
Sources
The Kentucky Colonels, Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum Mack, LeRoy, BluegrassBios.com Awards by Category, IBMA
Related players
See the Dobro players hub and the Dobro guide. Clarence White and Roland White led the Kentucky Colonels. Tut Taylor also made a Dobro record with the White brothers.