Raymond Kane McLain April 18, 1928 - February 14, 2003

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Raymond K. McLain's Story

Some Wise Things He Said

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Feature Story by Erin Cline

"Raymond Kane McLain, a Remembrance", by Rachael White  NEW

Raymond Kane McLain
by Loyal Jones

Raymond Kane McLain, leader of the world-renowned McLain Family Band, educator and librarian, was born in Alliance, Ohio, on April 18, 1928.  He is the son of the late Raymond Francis McLain (President of Transylvania University, the American University in Cairo, Egypt, and Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of Alabama) and Beatrice Kane McLain (folklorist and dance leader).  Raymond K. graduated from Denison University with a degree in music theory, did graduate work at Harvard University in music composition, and after two years of army service, he studied folklore at the University of North Carolina.  In 1952, he married Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Winslow from Madison, Wisconsin.

McLain's study and collection of Appalachian music took him to eastern Kentucky and a job at the Hindman Settlement School as recreation director in 1954.  Two years later, he became Executive Director of the School where he served for 14 more years.  As director of the Hindman Settlement School, among other things he designed, replaced, and modernized buildings for the settlement's students and regional programs and raised funds, making it possible for the rural Knott County students to go to high school.  With his interests in folklore, he promoted Appalachian Mountain culture, music and dancing of the region, and took Settlement School students to perform across the US at events such as the World's Fair in New York City.  As Music Director for the Berea College Country Dancers, Raymond K. toured the US and South America and performed at the White House for President John F. Kennedy.  McLain edited a collection of regional folk songs for the Council of the Southern Mountains published as Songs of All Time.   He also worked with the War on Poverty projects in the 1960s that brought federal funds and programs into the area.  His wife, Betty, who had previously been recreation director at the school, assisted with programs as they reared their five children.

Their children, Raymond W., Alice, Ruth, Nancy Ann, and Michael, grew up with a love of music of all kinds, especially the music of the Appalachian region.  It was a logical step for Raymond K. to form the McLain Family Band in 1968 when they began performing and doing a weekly show at WKYH-TV in Hazard, KY. 

In 1970, the family moved to Berea, KY, where Raymond K. joined the music faculty at Berea College and created the country's first university level Bluegrass and Appalachian music courses.  The McLain Family Band's overseas touring began after playing for the National Endowment for the Arts Music Committee which met that year in Berea.  Composer Gian Carlo Menotti was so charmed by the band that he invited them to play at his Spoleto Festival in Italy in 1972.  While abroad that summer, they also had musical engagements in Germany and Belgium.  Over the next 18 years, the McLain Family Band made 14 overseas tours performing in a total of 62 foreign countries.

In the mid 1970s, the McLain family bought their Big Hill Farm near Berea and for 13 years hosted the internationally recognized annual McLain Family Festival showcasing family bands from the US and abroad.  Between 1969 and 1989, as one of the top traditional music bands in the US, the McLains performed at bluegrass festivals, toured for arts councils and gave community concerts in all 50 states, as well as having solo concerts at the nation's most prestigious concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, the Grand Ole Opry, the Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Kentucky's Composer in Residence at the time, Phillip Rhodes, impressed by the McLains' superb musicianship, wrote orchestral arrangements of original McLain songs, commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.  Rhodes also wrote for the McLains the first major work ever written for bluegrass band and symphony orchestra, the Concerto for Bluegrass and Orchestra, which was commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Kentucky Arts Commission.  Peter Schlickle, of "P.D.Q. Bach" fame, composed a major work for the McLains, Far Away From Here. McLain and son, Raymond W. wrote Troublesome Creek Suite and The Fast Lane which were orchestrated by Newton Wayland.  As the first bluegrass band to perform with symphony orchestras, the McLain Family Band performed these pieces in over 200 concerts with more than 100 orchestras nationwide, including Cincinnati, Louisville, Atlanta, Detroit, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Anchorage, Rochester, Houston, Denver, Phoenix and the National Symphony Orchestra. 

The McLain Family Band was unique, in part, because of Raymond K's background in classical music theory as well as his understanding of traditional music and culture.  Raymond K. wrote many original musical pieces and arranged other classical and popular compositions for the band, one of the most stunning being his arrangement of the third movement of Bach's Second Brandenburg Concerto.  His Recorder Quartet, written while he was in high school, is still available from Schirmer Music Publishers.  The McLain Family Band released 14 recordings through their record company, Country Life Records. 

After being Executive Director of the Hindman Settlement School, teaching at Berea College, and a 20 year career as leader of the McLain Family Band, Raymond K. moved to Lexington and earned a degree in Library Science from the University of Kentucky.  He worked at the Lexington Public Library for 10 years before retiring in 1996.  Denison University, his alma mater, awarded Raymond K. an honorary Doctor of Music degree.

McLain's dedication to education and music continues as all his children are involved in music and education.  Raymond W. is Assistant Director of the Bluegrass and Country Music Program at East Tennessee State University, Michael leads the Bluegrass Ensemble and teaches acoustic instrument instruction at Belmont University, Al White, husband of Alice and former member of the family band, teaches similar courses at Berea College, Alice teaches first grade at Silver Creek Elementary School near Berea, and Nancy Ann and Ruth are both Executive Supervisors with Usborne educational books. 

Raymond Kane McLain is survived by 5 children, their mother, Betty Tallmadge, 12 grandchildren, longtime companion, Peter Taylor, sister, Rosemary Ware, who is a singer-songwriter in Jackson, Mississippi, and mother, Beatrice Kane McLain who lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

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Mail this page Musician Raymond McLain, 74, dies   By Paula Burba pburba@courier-journal.com The Courier-Journal Raymond Kane McLain, a classically trained musician who moved to Eastern Kentucky in the 1950s and formed a bluegrass band with his five children, died of cancer yesterday at his home in Lexington, according to a daughter, Ruth McLain Smith. He was 74. ''Bluegrass music first and last is fun,'' McLain wrote in 1972 for the program of the Festival of Two Worlds in Italy, where his family band was to be the only bluegrass act. ''As genuine contemporary folklore in the United States, it has inherited the vigor of its varied origins, the sincerity of the Anglo-Saxon ballad, the hoopla of the minstrel show, the sociability of the singing game and the square dance, the loneliness of the cowboy life, the sass of ragtime, the fervor of the camp meeting and the pathos of the blues.'' ''I think he was able to deal with people at the folk level, who played the music by ear, and was capable of analyzing it,'' Loyal Jones of Berea said yesterday. Jones founded and directed the Berea College Appalachian Center and worked with McLain there for many years. A native of Alliance, Ohio, McLain grew up in Lexington, where his father, Raymond F. McLain, was president of what was then Transylvania College from 1939 to 1951. His mother, Beatrice Kane McLain, was a folklorist and dance leader. McLain earned a music degree at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. He did graduate work in music composition at Harvard University and in folk-music studies at the University of North Carolina. He returned to Kentucky in 1954 with his wife, Mary Elizabeth ''Betty'' Winslow, of Madison, Wis. He took a job as recreation director at the Hindman Settlement School. Two years later, he became executive director of the school, founded in 1902 as a mountain pioneer educational and cultural center. McLain began the modernization of the school, including designing several buildings as an amateur architect, Mike Mullins, the current executive director of the school, said. He also took students to perform at events, including the 1964 World's Fair in New York City. From Hindman, the family moved in 1970 to Berea, where McLain joined the music faculty at Berea College. McLain offered the first course in bluegrass music in the United States at Berea College, as well as Appalachian music and dance courses, and directed its Country Dancers. The McLain Family Band was formed in 1968 when it began performing a weekly show on WKYH-TV in Hazard. McLain played bluegrass with his three oldest children, Alice, Raymond W. and Ruth. The younger children, Nancy Ann and Michael, joined the band later. By the mid-1970s the family had moved to Big Hill Farm near Berea and were hosts of the annual McLain Family Festival of folk and bluegrass bands. The band stopped touring in 1989. McLain worked 10 years at the Lexington Public Library before he retired in 1996. A memorial service is planned for Monday at 4 p.m. at Acton Folk Center in Berea. Memorial gifts may go to the Carter Music Center Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 111, Hiltons, Va. 24258.

email this    print this    license this    reprint this   Posted on Sat, Feb. 15, 2003   Bluegrass legend was patriarch of family band By Jennifer Hewlett HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER   Raymond McLain, the patriarch of a musical family that introduced bluegrass music to many people throughout the world, died yesterday at his home in Lexington. Mr. McLain, who was 74, had Parkinson's disease and cancer. The McLain Family Band performed in all 50 states and 62 foreign countries, primarily between 1969 and 1989. They played at Carnegie Hall, the Grand Ole Opry, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and at the Spoleto Festival in Italy. The band initially included Mr. McLain and his three oldest children. His two youngest children and extended family members played with the band later. "Certainly Mr. McLain and all of his offspring, which are all just an incredible family of musicians, have meant an enormous amount to the world of bluegrass in general and to Kentucky," said Dan Hays, executive director of the International Bluegrass Music Association, based in Owensboro. "They've probably opened up more doors to friendship for the music than any other touring act. "By touring into new countries and onto new continents, they've opened the door on an international level to areas that had previously not been exposed to the music and might never have, had they not shown up." Mr. McLain, he said, had a demeanor that "was always one of friendliness, openness, willingness to share. It just made him a very extraordinary ambassador for the music." A classical music background Raymond McLain had a background in classical music theory and an understanding of traditional music that helped make the band unique. He held a degree in music theory from Denison University, did graduate work in music composition at Harvard University and studied folklore at the University of North Carolina. He composed many pieces and arranged classical and popular compositions for the band, including the third movement of Bach's Second Brandenburg Concerto. "He was able, with his musical background ... to do some unusual arrangements of various kinds of songs that weren't necessarily bluegrass," said Loyal Jones, retired director of the Berea College Appalachian Center. Mr. McLain made those arrangements available and palatable to bluegrass fans, he said. "The Brandenburg Concerto he set to bluegrass is really amazing," Jones said. "He was a more formally trained person. He played the piano, the accordion, the recorder ... all that before he picked up a guitar." Said musician and friend Homer Ledford: The McLain Family Band "were the first ones to ever play with a full orchestra -- a bluegrass band with a full orchestra. They had a special composition written for that." The McLain Family Band performed with more than 100 orchestras nationwide over the years. In addition to traditional bluegrass and the unique arrangements, the band "did a lot of folk ballads and what could be called old-time music ... sort of pre-bluegrass," Jones said. "Some of the material that they sung I didn't necessarily like, but that's just a matter of opinion," Ledford said. "Some of the material we didn't consider bluegrass." But, said Ledford: "They're just fantastic musicians. They could play anything they'd want to." The band released 14 recordings through their record company, Country Life Records. For several years, beginning in the mid-1970s, the McLains hosted the annual McLain Family Band Festival, showcasing family bands from throughout the United States and abroad, at their Big Hill Farm near Berea. Mr. McLain also was a former teacher, librarian and executive director of the Hindman Settlement School. "I used to think you should change your life in some measurable way every 10 years," he said in a 1996 interview. "It is a pity to waste your time." Education ran in the family Raymond Kane McLain was born April 18, 1928, in Alliance, Ohio. His father, the late Raymond Francis McLain, was a former president of Transylvania College and the American University in Cairo, Egypt, and vice president of academic affairs at the University of Alabama. His mother, Beatrice Kane McLain, was a folklorist and dance leader. Raymond McLain took a job as recreation director at Hindman Settlement School in 1954. He became executive director two years later, and held that post for 14 years. He took settlement school student Appalachian dancers on performing tours throughout the country, including the World's Fair in New York City. Later, he was music director of the Berea College Country Dancers, and he and his students there also toured widely, even performing at the White House for President John F. Kennedy. From 1971 to 1982, Mr. McLain taught courses in Appalachian and bluegrass music -- courses that were unusual at the time -- at Berea College. "He ... personally influenced many, many musicians and students of this music -- inspired people with his enthusiasm and creativity in this art form," said his son, Raymond W. McLain of Johnson City, Tenn. In later years, Mr. McLain earned a degree in library science from the University of Kentucky and worked at the Lexington Public Library. In addition to his son, he is survived by his three daughters, Alice McLain White of Berea, Ruth McLain Smith of Birmingham, Ala., and Nancy Ann McLain Wartman of Taylor Mill; his other son, Michael McLain of Nashville; his mother, who lives in Tuscaloosa, Ala.; a sister, Rosemary Ware of Jackson, Miss.; and 12 grandchildren. A memorial service will be at 4 p.m. Monday at Acton Folk Center in Berea. Memorial gifts are suggested to Carter Music Center Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 111, Hiltons, Va. 24258. W.R. Milward Mortuary -- Broadway is handling arrangements. Raymond Mclain 1928-2003

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