Country Gazette stood among the most pivotal bluegrass ensembles of the 1970s while ranking simultaneously as one of that period’s strongest country draws across Europe, merging traditional bluegrass textures with country-rock energy and thereby planting early roots for the newgrass approach that gained traction throughout the following decade. Formed in Los Angeles during 1971, the group originated with fiddler Byron Berline, bassist Roger Bush, and banjoist Billy Ray Latham, each of whom had previously performed alongside Dillard & Clark. Guitarist Herb Pedersen joined next but soon gave way to Alan Munde. Not long after the ensemble’s inception, Berline and Bush contributed to the Flying Burrito Brothers’ final pre-breakup release, Last of the Red Hot Burritos, an album that closed the group’s initial run before its members reconvened later in the decade. During those same sessions Berline and Bush recruited guitarist Kenny Wertz for Country Gazette, and once the Burrito Brothers dissolved, the returning trio completed work on the band’s first album, A Traitor in Our Midst.
United Artists issued A Traitor in Our Midst in 1972. That summer Country Gazette performed at Disneyland and quickly secured opening slots alongside Steve Miller, Crosby & Nash, and Don McLean, signaling an intent to reach listeners oriented toward rock. Later the same year the band recorded and issued Live in Amsterdam. Its follow-up studio effort, Don’t Give Up Your Day Job, arrived in 1973. Afterward the musicians moved to the European label Ariola, which put out Bluegrass Special before the year ended, underscoring the act’s greater commercial foothold on the Continent than at home.
Byron Berline departed in 1975 to establish Sundance, and Roger Bush exited that same year. Roland White, handling guitar, mandolin, and vocals, entered the lineup the next year, after which Live appeared. Fiddler Dave Ferguson was added subsequently, and the resulting Out to Lunch surfaced on the domestic independent imprint Flying Fish; Ariola distributed the same collection in Europe under the title Sunny Side of the Mountain. Kenny Wertz exited following those sessions. Ridge Runner then released two further albums: 1977’s What a Way to Earn a Living, captured with Berline rather than Ferguson, and 1979’s All This, and Money, Too!
Flying Fish presented American and Clean in 1981 and America’s Bluegrass Band in 1982. The ensemble dissolved after the latter but reassembled in 1983 with Roland White, banjoist Alan Munde, bassist Mike Anderson, and dobroist Gene Wooten. Over the ensuing five years the musicians toured both the United States and Europe before Country Gazette split permanently in 1988. Roland White subsequently became a member of the Nashville Bluegrass Band.
