73 Pages
Printed on High Quality, Heavy Enamel Paper
Includes both color and black & white plates.
Currently Available as of September 25, 2003

Copyright ®2003 Mark Taylor, Tut Taylor & Pat J. Ahrens

This book should be titled: "A History of Nashville String Music with Tut Taylor as Your Tour Guide". Take a journey with Tut as he shares with you his many close relationships he's developed in the many years of his being "in the center of it all" as Norman Blake so aptly quotes. You have to see the images of so many legendary acoustic artists in settings that truly captivates their place in time. This is a book that will carry you through the Nashville Acoustic Scene as if you were yourself there as it was taking fold...highly recommended. (Mickey)

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Excerpts Follow:

CHAPTER FIVE: THE GREAT DOBRO&Mac226; SESSIONS AND BEYOND

Early conversations between Tut and the renowned artist Jerry Douglas began with the idea of a project to record some of their personal favorites as well as musicians who held an influential place in the history of the Dobro&Mac226;. Everything came together in November of 1993 when Jerry and Tut co-produced the acclaimed album "The Great Dobro&Mac226; Sessions." Recorded in Nashville, it was the largest gathering of resophonic players ever assembled. The history of the instrument was being recorded in song. Each of the master participants contributed their own unique style to the project. It was a gathering of unprecedented years of experience and expertise. The final result was the highest award the music industry bestows---The Grammy. In ceremonies on March 1, 1994, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences awarded the Grammy to Jerry Douglas and Tut Taylor, producers, for "Best Bluegrass Album of 1994---The Great Dobro&Mac226; Sessions. It is with the awarding of the Grammy that musicians honor their peers. It signifies excellence in the recording arts and sciences and is decided by the Recording Academy's voting members. It is not about sales or positions on the charts. It is considered by many to be the recording industry's most prestigious award...(the story continues)

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Shown Above Left: Tut with Ricky Skaggs playing a mandolin duet.
Shown Above Right: '70s NAMM Show & Mark Taylor building mandolins.

THE ORIGINAL LLOYD LOAR A5 MANDOLIN
By Tut Taylor

Go with me on a journey back in time and listen to the story and history of one of the greatest mandolins ever made, the original A5 (one of a kind), built by Lloyd Loar who is most known for his F5 mandolins. Most people never knew this mandolin ever existed. The journey begins in my hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia back in the late 1950's. I often went to Ashville, NC to the Bascomb Lamar Lunsford “Along about sundown” folk music and dance festival held in the auditorium. Along with my picking friends I would always wait patiently, hoping to perform on stage. Sometimes we made it, other times we didn’t. In any event we all stayed thru the weekend and jammed. This was the beginning of a long-standing group of pickers who loved to get together and pick. I went to Atlanta in my nice 4-door Model A Ford and picked a lot with Ron and Don Norman and many others. A mainstay at our get-togethers would be Walter Butler who later would be a driving force in keeping the music alive and well. At one of the visits, Ron knew of my interests in old instruments, especially the mandolin. He proceeds to tell me about a Gibson F5 at a music store in Decatur, Ga. So I persuaded Ron to take me over there. It was a very nice old F5. Then Ron told me that it belonged to Dr. William B. Griffith, head of the Griffith School of Music in Atlanta, and had been left there on consignment by a member of the family. We decided to go over and see if I could purchase it directly. Ron knew the family and was acquainted with Dr. Griffith and the mandolin. Dr. Griffith had passed away. I was introduced to his sister, and after we chatted awhile the subject of the mandolin came up. I told her of my interest in the mandolin and that I would like to buy it. I offered more than the store would be giving her. We agreed on the price and she sold it to me. She would go over to the store the following week and pick it up. Needless to say I returned home on pins and needles waiting to return. The time finally arrived and Ron and I went over to the house. She had received the mandolin and we closed the deal. Now for the exciting part, while we were standing around talking she remembered another F5 upstairs and asked if I would be interested in it. “Of course, I said”. She then goes upstairs and comes back down with a strange mandolin, the likes of which we had never seen before. We looked inside the mandolin and saw both labels like the other F5 mandolins have. It too appeared to have F5 written on the label. Boy were we mistaken. Little did I know what we were later to find out. She explained that Dr. Griffith’s wife in teaching her mandolin students sometimes borrowed the F5 but the points on the mandolin hurt her leg, so she asked Dr. Griffith to order her one from Gibson without any points. He then ordered this mandolin for his wife....(the story continues)

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d.

  NEW! Nashville String Music History in Pictures and Words!

Foreward by Pat J. Ahrens

"Tut has picked and recorded with some of the most innovative and famous musicians of the era. The names read like a list of who's who of the country and bluegrass world. They include fiddlers Roy Acuff, Vassar Clements, Bennie Martin, and Mark O'Connor; banjoists John Hartford, Don Reno, Butch Robins, Grandpa Jones, and Rural Yarborough; Mandolinist, Bill Monroe, "The Father of Bluegrass Music", Red Rector, Herschel Sizemore, and Roland White; guitarist Norman Blake, Glenn Campbell, Charlie Collins, Don Humphrey, Clarence White, and Randy Wood; doborist Mike Aldridge, Jerry Douglas, Josh Graves, Rob Ickes, Oswald Kirby, Stacy Phillips, Sally Van Meter, Gene Wooten, and life long friends, Bobby Wolfe, and the Burches, Curtis Jr., and Ricky."

(Many of the above artists are covered in this book both in words and images.)

Notes
A brief overview of the Dobro® guitar...

The Dobro® Guitar by Tut Taylor
(an intro to the Dobro's construction and history)
"Ask anyone today what musical instrument is native to the United States and the answer will be the banjo. Unless you ask a Dobro&Mac226; player, then the answer will be the Banjo and the Dobro&Mac226;. The Dobro&Mac226; is a six-string guitar with an amplified sound chamber consisting of a convex and concave diaphragm, which supports an eight-legged arrangement known as a spider. On the spider rests the wooden bridges that hold the strings. The tone and volume is controlled by a screw through the center of the bridges that pulls the spider and diaphragm together. The diaphragm (sometimes called a resonator) and the spider are covered by a metal plate of various designs or patterns known as the cover plate..." (and much more...Tut's intro alone makes this book invaluable for every Dobro player)

Chapter I
The Early Years

"We grew up on the banks of the Oconee River in a place that was called Fraley's Ferry. My dad operated the ferry that took people back and forth across the river. We lived on a high bank and we could see a long way up the river. It would go out of sight, and then you could see it further up like a glimmer in the distance. Late one afternoon when the sun was low, we were out playing in the yard and saw this huge, strange thing up in the sky. We all thought that the world was coming to an end, and we were afraid because we had never seen anything like that. It was following the course of the river, and it kept getting closer and closer and bigger and bigger. We found out later, that it was a blimp, sometimes called a dirigible. That was the first one we had ever seen. We didn't know what it was, but it almost scared us to death. If you can imagine being way out in the country, all by yourself, no radio, no newspaper, no nothing, and this strange thing looming up on the horizon coming down the river- so no wonder we were scared!"

Chapter II
The Sixties

"In 1963 Tut developed the 12-string Dobro&Mac226;. He explains…"That came about during the Folk boom when some of the musicians started playing the 12-string guitar again. I decided that since it was so popular why not have a 12-string Dobro&Mac226;. So, I made one. I had to make a neck and redo everything to fit on a regular Dobro&Mac226; body. It was strung up just like a regular 12-string guitar. You've got octave strings on every string. Sounded real good..."

Chapter III
The Move to Nashville

With help from Tut, fiddle prodigy Mark O'Connor received national recognition on his first trip to Nashville. Tut remembers the young man's visit well. He tells us…"I met Mark out in the Seattle area while attending a festival. Later on, his mother brought him to Nashville while Randy Wood and I had the Old Time Picking Parlor. I invited Charlie Collins and Oswald down to hear this young man. I already knew what Mark could do, but they didn't, so I kinda played a game on them and it worked. They got him to Roy Acuff, their boss and my friend, and the rest is history." Roy was so impressed with O'Connor that he brought him to the stage of the Opry just a few nights later. Mark O'Connor was twelve years old.

Chapter IV
"My Son Mark

"In the field of custom instrument production, Mark Taylor's name is internationally renown. As early as 1974, Mark was commissioned by the state of Tennessee to handcraft a dulcimer to be presented to First Lady Pat Nixon on her 62nd birthday. President and Mrs. Nixon attended the grand opening of the new Opry House on March 16, 1974. The first President to ever visit the Grand Ole Opry, Nixon played Happy Birthday to his wife on the piano. The presentation of the dulcimer to Mrs. Nixon was made by Mrs. Tex Ritter. It was a very exciting night for the entire Taylor family..."

Chapter V
The Great Dobro® Sessions and Beyond

"Early conversations between Tut and the renowned artist Jerry Douglas began with the idea of a project to record some of their personal favorites as well as musicians who held an influential place in the history of the Dobro&Mac226;. Everything came together in November of 1993 when Jerry and Tut co-produced the acclaimed album "The Great Dobro&Mac226; Sessions." Recorded in Nashville, it was the largest gathering of resophonic players ever assembled. The history of the instrument was being recorded in song. Each of the master participants contributed their own unique style to the project..."

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Commentary Section
Some Comments from Contemporaries

George Gruhn
Curtis Burch
Norman Blake
Butch Robins
Jerry Douglas
Bobby Wolfe
Joel Landsberg with the Kruger Brothers

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Awards Section

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The Original Lloyd Loar A5 Mandolin

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Copyright ®2003 Mark Taylor, Tut Taylor & Pat J. Ahrens

All rights are reserved...All of the above excerpts may not be reproduced without full permission from the authors.

Please enquire if interested in reproducing these excerpts for review...and, thank you kindly for not reproducing without permission from the authors.
Keep on Pickin', Mickey Cochran