sweet
sweet
..the back
Where does Earl Taylor's mandolin live now?
Russ Jordan
..probably in heaven..he passed away a few years ago...
Hey Scottie--I didn't say where does Earl live!!
I should have worded it differently Where is Earl Taylor's old Fern these days?
Russ Jordan
Hey Scottie--I didn't say where does Earl live!!
I should have worded it differently Where is Earl Taylor's old Fern these days?
Russ Jordan
Dude was featured recently on the diy network playing earls fern and talking about it, i was wandering if he now owns it.......may God bless all...
..Ricky Wasson..guitar player with JD Crowe is the lucky owner of the Taylor Fern..I took these pics and played it at SPBGMA this past Feb...By the way Russ...there was nothing wrong with the way you worded the question the first time...I just read it to quickly I guess...sorry
Dwight the mando player with JD was playing a a great sounding '34 at the Spring Bluegrass fair.
..yep...he sure does...nice axe too..
WOW!! Surprised that there are not more hits on this topic. Probably the first "The Gibson" to be played on the stage of Carnegie Hall when Earl Taylor opened for Flatt and Scruggs. They say that Flatt and Scruggs were the first Bluegrass band to play Carnegie Hall, but actually it was Earl Taylor and The Stoney Mountain Boys. I saw that mandolin at the J.D. Crowe Festival in Wilmore, Ky. last year. I was with the band Crossroads and we played that festival that year. The mando was battle scarred but it only added character to it. It was really kind of inspiring just to be within an arms length of it. A piece like that you can only speak of in reverence. A really great piece of Bluegrass history. Ricky Wasson is a lucky guy.
What The ....
I heard a story of two guys who visited Earl near the end, when he was in bad shape. The mandolin was under a bed in a trailer, broken strings, hadn't been played in a while. One guy said if his friend offered 2 grand, Earl would have sold it. The friend had a heart and couldn't do that. Speaks of integrity.
It was also said that Earl would pawn the mandolin just about every week and his friends would go and get it out for him so that he didn't lose it.
What The ....
..thats true...but I believe his son and daughter fought over it for years..I think the son finally won out and I believe the selling price was somewhere around $60,000..Originally Posted by (ourgang @ May 25 2004, 06:08)
The story we got from Dwight McCall was that the children did not want to sell it but their mother needed the money and sold it without their knowledge. He said he thought that there would be a big fight over it's selling.
What The ....
Taylor played Carnegie Hall in '59; the concert was recorded
and released on LP.
Oddly the band was introduced
by A Lomax
as "the Stony Mountain Boys from Baltimore", not
"E T and ...". I found his music somewhat derivative.
About the same time the group cut an LP for United
Artists, which introduced me and many other people
to BG, despite the horrible sound quality.
Taylor may have opened for Flatt and Scruggs some other time,
didn't know about that. He was part of the Foggy Mt. Boys
for a short period in the late '60s,
as a harmonica player. Wonder if the family fought over
his harps as well?
I have to add some "trivia" I heard many(!?) years ago ; the "band" with Earl MAY have been a "pick-up" out of Baltimore. I heard it was Walter Hensley & "buddies" who were red-hot in Baltimore at that time. Incidently Baltimore was a "hotbed' for both bluegrass AND traditional Country - 'course it wasn't labeled "traditional" at that time!! - (Buzz Busby, Del & Jerry McCurry., Billy Baker., who was to later do some work with Monroe.., even Don Reno and Bill Harrell!!) - I know 'cause I happened to be a very small part of that "scene" - Interesting thread - carry on.
I didn't know that Earl's performance had been recorded and released. I know that Flatt and Scruggs' was, I've got it, it's a great piece of vinyl. I know that the Stoney Mountain Boys consisted of Earl on mando, Walter Hensley on banjo and Vernon "Boatwhistle" McIntyre on bass. Anyone know who played guitar and fiddle??
What The ....
I just re-watched the "Handmade Music" episode where Lynn Dudenbostel did the show and tell with Earl's fern. It had an amazing sound, very dry and woody. He had out the Hacklinger guage making thickness measurements. I wonder if Lynn would be willing to share the info on graduations?
The guitarist/singer was Sam Hutchins. I believe the
fiddler's name was Curtis Cody.
There's a picture of the band in Rosenberg's History.
I am not sure, but I believe the concert, like the
"field" recording, was released by United Artists.
I recall Memphis Slim was on the show.
Jimmie Driftwood did a couple of numbers, too.
I only recall one number of Taylor's, Mule Skinner Blues,
where he holds the first high note of one verse for 15 seconds.
Flatt and Scruggs played Carnegie Hall in '62 or thereabout.
Are we referring to the same show? They did things like
"Let the Church Roll On" and the "Martha White Theme Song",
well aware of the camp value of that kind of material.
Speaking of Walter Hensley I once went to Baltimore
to hear his band in a far from elegant place in a scary
neighborhood. Still remember those despondent black
people sitting on the sidewalk at midnight as I returned
to the hotel.
Of the music I remember that Hensley was into some contemporary pop stuff that he treated with insight and taste. He recorded some of that for Rebel the same year.
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