The genesis of the legendary short-lived country-rock group Nashville West came in the mid-'60s when multi-instrumentalist Gene Parsons (no relation to Gram) and fiddler Gib Guilbeau, who had played together in a band called the Castaways years earlier, were brought in to do a Gosdin Brothers session. The Byrds' Chris Hillman, who was producing, also brought in guitarist Clarence White, formerly of the Kentucky Colonels, to play on the session. White, Parsons, and Guilbeau would go on to form a core unit that played behind country acts as the house band for Bakersfield International Productions. The three also wrote and performed together in various incarnations before forming Nashville West. Around this time, Parsons and White came up with the mechanism that would give White his trademark sound. The Stringbender allowed him to play licks on his Fender Telecaster that sounded like a steel guitar.