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Thread: RIP Tut Taylor

  1. #1
    Martin Stillion mrmando's Avatar
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    Default RIP Tut Taylor

    Tut, who passed today at 91, was known for his Dobro playing, but was a real fine mandolin picker too ... he played mandolin for John Hartford's Aereo-Plain sessions, and of course was known for being the steward of the Griffith Loar A5 for many years. Story here:

    http://bluegrasstoday.com/tut-taylor-passes/
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    Moderator JEStanek's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    May he rest in peace. He was a legend.

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  3. #3
    wood butcher Spruce's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    Always enjoyed visiting with Tut...

    I'll nominate "Rough and Ready" from John Hartford's "Steam Powered Aereo-Takes" as the best sounding mandolin ever committed to tape--Tut on the Loar A5...
    Just a wonderful sound...

    RIP Tut...

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  5. #4
    NY Naturalist BradKlein's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    Taylor was also a professional sign painter, and probably customized this Gibson mandobass himself to use as a store sign. It was for sale for a long while, and I wonder where it ended up.
    A great bit of American musical history.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  6. #5

    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    I love Tut's dobro playing and his mandolin playing. "Friar Tut" and "Dobrolic Plectral Society" are two of my favorite dobro recordings --it is hard to believe he was doing all that with a flat pick. And on mandolin he and Norman Blake did a really nice twin mandolin version of "Golden Slippers" on one of those early 70s LPs (Maybe it is "The Old Post Office"), and "Rough and Ready" has already been mentioned. In later years he issued some nice collections of home recordings and outtakes from the early 70's Nashville scene, all very impressive. Tut made wonderful music over a long time. My condolences to his family.

  7. #6
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    I recall (now that Spruce reminded me) that Tut Taylor had the only Loar A5 in existence.
    Last edited by JeffD; Apr-09-2015 at 11:44pm.
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  8. #7
    wood butcher Spruce's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    Quote Originally Posted by JeffD View Post
    I recall (now that Spruce reminded me) that Tut Taylor had the only Loar A5 in existence.
    That he regretted selling until today...

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  10. #8
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    RIP, Tut-bro

    He was part of this seminal recording date, which turned loads of folks onto the melding of hippies and bluegrass (+ Jethro!). Tut's number Oconee was one of the early entrants into the twin mandolin pantheon. I will pick it today.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

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  11. #9
    NY Naturalist BradKlein's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    Quote Originally Posted by Spruce View Post
    I'll nominate "Rough and Ready" from John Hartford's "Steam Powered Aereo-Takes" as the best sounding mandolin ever committed to tape--Tut on the Loar A5… Just a wonderful sound...
    That's 'Ruff and Ready', right? Don't want to get too highfalutin!
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  12. #10
    wood butcher Spruce's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    Quote Originally Posted by BradKlein View Post
    That's 'Ruff and Ready', right? Don't want to get too highfalutin!
    Yep...and not "Ruff 'n Ready'"...

    I'll see if post it so everyone can have a listen. I haven't heard it in years, but just loved the tone of the mandolin and the way it was recorded back in the day...
    Back soon...

  13. #11
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    I forgot about the sign painter history!
    One more thing to miss.
    I wish I had ever met him
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

  14. #12
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    I have a 1960's World Pacific LP, 12-String Dobro, featuring Tut and some LA pickers; Glen Campbell (!) played 12-string guitar on the album. Taylor was one of the few Dobro players to flat-pick the instrument; he was involved with the Crafters of Tennessee manufacturers of resonator guitars and banjos, and partnered with George Gruhn and Randy Wood in GTR Inc., an early firm that dealt with vintage instruments, repairs and customizing etc.

    Lovers of instrumental weirdness might want to check out "The Widow's Demise," a custom-engraved-and-decorated resophonic octave mandolin that Taylor et. al. made for his collection.

    Taylor has dozens of YouTube vids, well worth a search and some selective listening. And he was part of one of the best stage sets I've ever seen, Fox Hollow Folk Festival 1972 I think, when John Hartford and the Aero-Plain band (Hartford, Taylor, Norman Blake and Vassar Clements) invited David Bromberg and Vermont fiddler Alan Stowell up to "sit in." One of their songs was issued (without permission, probably) on a Fox Hollow LP a couple years later. A super moment!
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  16. #13
    Registered User Tom Smart's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    Quote Originally Posted by Spruce View Post
    Always enjoyed visiting with Tut...

    I'll nominate "Rough and Ready" from John Hartford's "Steam Powered Aereo-Takes" as the best sounding mandolin ever committed to tape--Tut on the Loar A5...
    Just a wonderful sound...

    RIP Tut...
    Here you go.

    That's the very album I put on last night to remember Tut. His dobro playing is also great on it. Sometimes it seems like the that whole band is about to fly apart from the sheer force of its energy, but there's Tut's dobro in the middle somehow holding it all together. What a great band.

    Here's Tut on his Loar A5. And to think that this is one of the outtakes!

    "Few noises are so disagreeable as the sound of the picking of a mandolin."

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  18. #14
    formerly Philphool Phil Goodson's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    I had the good fortune to jam with Tut a few times up in Union Grove, NC and he was always a gentleman, helpful, and a great picker. I'll miss seeing him at Merlefest every year.
    Phil

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  19. #15
    NY Naturalist BradKlein's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    I think that this photo ought to be part of this thread. TT playing the unique 'Mrs. Griffith' Loar.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  20. #16
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    Anyone know the whereabouts of that mandolin now?

  21. #17
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    Extra points for you Brad, Great shot!
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

  22. #18
    wood butcher Spruce's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    Quote Originally Posted by AlanN View Post
    Anyone know the whereabouts of that mandolin now?
    Last I heard it was residing in Oregon...

    Quote Originally Posted by allenhopkins View Post
    I have a 1960's World Pacific LP, 12-String Dobro, featuring Tut and some LA pickers; Glen Campbell (!) played 12-string guitar on the album.
    Whoa! Never heard of that one...
    I'm a huge early Glen Campbell fan, having seen him as a kid just ripping up a Martin 12-string, and buying Glen's 12-string record and wearing it out...

    Have to check that one out...

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  24. #19
    NY Naturalist BradKlein's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    Quote Originally Posted by Timbofood View Post
    Extra points for you Brad, Great shot!
    Well I don't want to take any unfair credit. The photo is by Bill Brown, as far as I know. And his 'North Georgia' website that I linked to above has some great material.
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  25. #20
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    But, you posted it! You still get points.
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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  27. #21
    Registered User John Soper's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    It has been always great to hang out with Tut for a bit at his tent/stage at MerleFest over the past 2 decades. What a gentle man. He will be missed.

  28. #22
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    Quote Originally Posted by Spruce View Post
    ...Whoa! Never heard of that one...
    I'm a huge early Glen Campbell fan, having seen him as a kid just ripping up a Martin 12-string, and buying Glen's 12-string record and wearing it out... Have to check that one out...
    Here's a link. There's a little write-up on another site about the album and the personnel of the "Folkswingers," but it doesn't mention Campbell, although the liner notes list him. Chris Hillman is apparently on it, playing mandolin. Campbell, of course, had a separate 12-string album on World Pacific, also accompanied by the "Folkswingers."

    My guess is that the "Folkswingers" were just LA session musicians, and Campbell was one for a while. Apparently he played rhythm guitar on the '50's hit Tequila by the Champs.
    Allen Hopkins
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  30. #23

    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    Nice moment at Merlefest this past weekend when Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas played "Steam Powered Aereo-Plane" as a tribute to Tut Taylor...

  31. #24
    Registered User ferrousgeek's Avatar
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    Default Re: RIP Tut Taylor

    Jan Johansson posted this video tribute on YouTube shortly after Tut's passing.

    https://youtu.be/olAgY6nSTDk

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