| Tut Taylor | |
| Background: | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| Birth Name: | Robert Arthur Taylor Sr. |
| Birth Date: | 1923 11, mf=y |
| Death Place: | North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, United States |
| Birth Place: | Milledgeville, Georgia, United States |
| Instrument: | Dobro, mandolin, banjo |
| Genre: | bluegrass, Americana, folk |
| Occupation: | Musician |
| Associated Acts: | Dixie Gentlemen, John Hartford's Aero-Plain, Norman Blake |
Robert Arthur "Tut" Taylor Sr. (November 20, 1923 – April 9, 2015) was an American bluegrass musician.
Taylor played banjo and mandolin as a child, and began playing dobro at age 14, learning to use the instrument with a distinctive flat-picking style. Taylor was a member of The Folkswingers in the 1960s, who released three albums; he recorded his debut solo effort in 1964. Later in the 1960s, he played with the Dixie Gentlemen and in John Hartford's Aereo-Plain band.
Taylor became a local Nashville, Tennessee fixture. In 1970, he co-founded the instrument shop GTR there, soon after releasing another solo album. He also co-founded the Old Time Pickin' Parlor, a Nashville venue noted for performances of old-time music, as well as Tut Taylor's General Store.[1]
In a March, 1992 interview, Neil Young reported having bought Hank Williams' Martin D-28 Guitar from Tut Taylor.[2]
At the Grammy Awards of 1995, he was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album for his work on The Great Dobro Sessions with Jerry Douglas.[3]
Taylor recorded hundreds of reels of tape documenting and preserving bluegrass music, from "kitchen recordings" to live concerts, as well as serving as a recording engineer for studio albums. He donated about 500 reels to the Steam Powered Preservation Society, which has digitized many of them and made them available for streaming or downloading.[4]
Taylor died on April 9, 2015.[5]