Merle Taylor

Merle "Red" Taylor was born on May 19, 1927 and died on May 3, 1987. He grew up in the south in a town called Saltillo in Mississippi.^[1] Taylor began playing his fiddle at an early age and was asked to play at several local events growing up.^[2] At the age of fifteen, he got his own first show in Tulepo, Mississippi.^[3] Later on, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee to start his career in music. He then took a break from music and joined the military, but eventually moved back to Nashville and got to perform at the Grand Ole Opry.^[4] Merle was also one of Bill Monroe's fiddlers and helped contribute to the start of bluegrass music. Monroe took interest in Merle "Red" Taylor when he composed an ear-catching melody.^[5] The tune began in the key of A, but then quickly jumped into a subdominant key of D.^[6] Bill liked the way it sounded, and by his next recording session on October 15, 1950, he set words to Taylor's tune. He made it his own and as a tribute to "Uncle Pen."^[7] It became one of his most requested songs, and Taylor remained uncredited.^[8] Red impressed hundreds of fiddlers with the bowing technique he used.^[9] As Gordon Terry, the man who placed him as a fiddle player in Monro's band, explained, "He did a slow bow with a lot of finger work and a funner reverse...I don't think there would be the tunes there are now, had he not played fiddle because he did something nobody did."^[10] Merle "Red" Taylor played with Paul Howard, Cowboy Copas, and Hank Williams in addition to Monroe's Blue Grass Boys.^[11]

References

1. ^ Smith, Carl. Country Song Roundup No. 29; February 1954; American Folk Publications, Inc.; Derby, CT
2. ^ Smith, Carl. Country Song Roundup No. 29; February 1954; American Folk Publications, Inc.; Derby, CT
3. ^ Smith, Carl. Country Song Roundup No. 29; February 1954; American Folk Publications, Inc.; Derby, CT
4. ^ Smith, Carl. Country Song Roundup No. 29; February 1954; American Folk Publications, Inc.; Derby, CT
5. ^ Smith, Richard D. Can't You Hear Me Callin': The Life of Bill Monroe. Little, Brown and Company. New York. 2000. Print
6. ^ Smith, Richard D. Can't You Hear Me Callin': The Life of Bill Monroe. Little, Brown and Company. New York. 2000. Print
7. ^ Smith, Richard D. Can't You Hear Me Callin': The Life of Bill Monroe. Little, Brown and Company. New York. 2000. Print
8. ^ Smith, Richard D. Can't You Hear Me Callin': The Life of Bill Monroe. Little, Brown and Company. New York. 2000. Print
9. ^ Rosenberg, Neil V. The Music of Bill Monroe. University of Illinois Press. Chicago. 2007. Print.
10. ^ Rosenberg, Neil V. The Music of Bill Monroe. University of Illinois Press. Chicago. 2007. Print.
11. ^ Rosenberg, Neil V. The Music of Bill Monroe. University of Illinois Press. Chicago. 2007. Print.

• Smith, Carl. Country Song Roundup No. 29; February 1954; American Folk Publications, Inc.; Derby, CT
• Smith, Richard D. Can't You Hear Me Callin': The Life of Bill Monroe. Little, Brown and Company. New York. 2000. Print.
• Rosenberg, Neil V. The Music of Bill Monroe. University of Illinois Press. Chicago. 2007. Print.