'Sneaky' Pete Kleinow | Guitarist and animator, 72

"Sneaky" Pete Kleinow, 72, a steel-guitar prodigy who rose to fame as one of the original members of the Flying Burrito Brothers, died Saturday.

Mr. Kleinow, who also worked in film as an award-winning animator and special-effects artist, died at a convalescent home in Petaluma, Calif. He had been living with Alzheimer's disease since last year, his daughter said.

Mr. Kleinow helped define the country-rock genre in the late 1960s and 1970s by taking the instrument he had picked up as a teenager in South Bend, Ind., to California. His prowess with the pedal steel guitar influenced a generation of rock-and-rollers, including the Eagles, the Steve Miller Band and Poco.

Besides cofounding the Flying Burrito Brothers with the Byrds' Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons in 1968, he enjoyed a steady gig as a session musician, recording with such performers as John Lennon, Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell, and bands as varied as the Bee Gees and Sly and the Family Stone.

Before, during and after his steady run as a Burrito Brother, Mr. Kleinow won acclaim as an animator, special-effects artist, and director of commercials. His credits included the original Gumby series and the movies Under Siege, Fearless and The Empire Strikes Back.

He won an Emmy Award in 1983 for his work on the miniseries The Winds of War. - AP

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