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Thread: Clarence "tater" tate

  1. #1
    Registered User cooper4205's Avatar
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    I found out today that Clarence 'Tater' Tate, fiddle and bass player for Bill Monroe and others, passed away after a battle with cancer. I got to know him through the ETSU bluegrass program where he taught and really thought the world of him. He was such a nice guy and real down to earth. He will be missed. Here is the obituary that will run in the Kingsport Times-News.


    JONESBOROUGH — Clarence “Tater” Tate, 76, Jonesborough, passed away Wednesday (Oct. 17, 2007) at his residence.
    Mr. Tate was born and raised in Yuma, Va. and attended Cleveland High School. He was the son of the late Anderson Jackson and Augustine Elizabeth Winegar Tate. In addition to his parents, Mr. Tate was also preceded in death by three sisters, Mary Belle Mullins, Thelma Augustine Howell; an infant; five brothers, Auburn J. Tate, Reuben S. Tate, William E. Tate, Henry L. Tate and James Massie Tate.
    He was of the Baptist faith.
    Mr. Tate played Bluegrass music on the fiddle and bass with Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Wilma Lee Cooper and Red Smiley. After retiring from the Grand Ole Opry, he and his wife moved from Nashville to Jonesborough. He taught in the Bluegrass Department at ETSU.
    He was a U.S. Marine and served in Panama.
    Survivors include his wife, Lois Starnes Tate, Jonesborough; one daughter and son-in-law, Millie and Ronnie Green, Jonesborough; two sons and daughter-in-law, Eddie and Joana Harold, Olympia, Wash., and Frank “Humpy” Harold, Nashville; one brother and sister-in-law, Lloyd H. and Jamie Tate, Weber City, Va.; five grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.
    The family will receive friends from 12 noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at Dillow-Taylor Funeral Home, Jonesborough, prior to the service and other times at the home of the daughter, 4193 Cherokee Road, Jonesborough.
    Services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Saturday in the funeral home chapel with the Rev. Jamie Ferguson officiating.
    Interment will follow in Roselawn Memory Gardens.
    Pallbearers will be friends and family.
    Condolences may be sent to the Tate family online at www.dillow-taylor.com.
    Dillow-Taylor Funeral Home & Cremation Services, Jonesborough is in charge of arrangements.
    Wes
    "i gotta fever...and the only prescription is more cowbell!!"

    '87 Flatiron A5-JR/'25 Gibson A-JR

  2. #2
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    Geeze Oh Pete! I got to talk with Tater Tate a few years ago at the Fall festival in Norris, TN. He was a very classy gentleman and I always enjoyed seeing him play, and enjoyed his unique vocals as well. I have been listening to a lot of Bill Monroe lately, and told my wife about how personable he was when I had the chance to meet him. He had such a great history wih Mr. Monroe and was an extremely versatile musician. This is another major loss for the bluegrass community. It's sad news.

  3. #3
    Registered User evanreilly's Avatar
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    Here is a great clip of Tater, fiddling and singing bass: A Beautiful Life.

  4. #4
    Registered User swampstomper's Avatar
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    And let's not forget Tater's fine work as guitarist and lead singer with the Shenandoah Cutups in the 1970's. A really good, tight group which included Billy Edwards (b), John Palmer (bs) from the original TN Cutups, and of course Herschel Sizemore. They had some really nice LPs for Revonah. They also had an LP backing up Curly Seckler when he first came out of retirement.

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