Announcements
Announcements

Website Issues

The website is experiencing some issues with the graphical theme of the site. For now, I have reverted to the old look to keep things running. You might notice changes coming and going over the next few days as I work on getting everything sorted out. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Kevin Teague

A Sad Loss For The Dulcimer Community

I received the following from Burt Kahn.

It is with great sorrow and heartfelt grief that I inform you all of the passing of my dear friend, Bill Taylor. Surrounded by his loving family, Bill passed quietly on Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021.

We all  learned so much about music and the dulcimer from Bill. Those of us who attended his classes walked away from each one of them, a better musician and dulcimer player. The hundreds, if not thousands of his student would attest to that.

Bill was a gentle soul. It was one of his many qualities. As a musician and dulcimer player, he was one of the best. As a human being he was the Best! I consider Bill to have been a great dulcimer player, and yet he never sought the limelight. He was just as content playing backup for another musician as being a solo performer.  I never heard one harsh or bad word about Bill. Everyone loved him. The guitar that accompanied so many performers was built by Bill – another of his talents.

As a luthier, he was unsurpassed. He introduced a quality of dulcimer and design that has not been surpassed. Not only did his instruments sound great; they were beautiful to look at and own.

If you were fortunate enough to have had Bill as a friend, he was a loyal, giving, caring man who treasured your friendship.

He loved his family, music, the dulcimer, and fly fishing. 

There will be a memorial for Bill in the future. There is nothing firm about where or when. As his widow gives me that information, I will pass it along. The following is Bill’s obituary.


William “Bill” Taylor passed away October 3, 2021 with his family at his side.

Bill was born November 5, 1954 in Maryville, Tennessee. He graduated from Maryville High School and The University of Tennessee. 

He picked up the guitar at the age of 20 and quickly became an accomplished musician. He played with Citico Creek bluegrass band at Silver Dollar City and then Dollywood, and also many music festivals and competitions. The band performed on the Grand Ole Opry in 1983. He met his wife, Barbara in 1980, and they just celebrated 41 years of marriage on September 20th.

He later became a skilled luthier and built over 1500 mountain dulcimers. He also taught music lessons and performed at festivals all over the eastern United States and helped found the Knoxville Dulcimer Club.

He embarked on a new career later in life as a school teacher at Jones Cove Elementary School. He also shared his combined love of mountain music and nature with generations of Sevier County children at the Eugene Huskey Environmental Center. 

Bill will be remembered for his kind and generous nature. He approached family and friends with an impractical level of patience. He was an extraordinarily loving husband and father, as well as a supportive teacher, coach and scout leader. He had a lifelong love of fishing which he shared with family and friends. The trout of East Tennessee are the only ones not mourning his passing.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Thomas and Barbara Taylor, sister and brother-in-law Pat and Harry Dean, and sister Susan Hitch. Left to cherish his memory are his wife, Barbara Taylor of Pigeon Forge, daughter and son-in-law Emma and Michael Mealer of Richland, WA, son and daughter-in-law Brett and Kendra Taylor of Guam, grandchildren Euan and Vivian Taylor and Benjamin Mealer, and a host of other family members and special friends. A special thank you to UT Hospice for the comfort and support they provided.

A celebration of Bill’s life will be held at a later date when it is safe to gather in his memory. Anyone wishing to honor his life, please consider a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org).

New Tablature Collection Added!

You will notice a new menu option on the website called Tablature 1-3-5. This is a collection of more than 100 pieces of tablature dedicated to the 1-3-5 dulcimer tuning.

This treasure trove of music comes from the website known as Mountain Dulcimer 1-3-5. One of the admins of the site, Elizabeth DiPietri, contacted me and informed me that their website would be shutting down in the near future. She asked if I would be willing to host the files on my site in order to keep them available to the public. I agreed and the files are now available here on Dulcimertab.com!

Please visit the Tablature 1-3-5 section and discover what this tuning has to offer.

ANNOUNCEMENT!

The website known as MountainDulcimer-1-3-5.com will be shutting down at the end of 2019. Elizabeth DiPietri, who is one of the site administrators, reached out to me and asked if I would be willing to add all of their tablature to this site. I have agreed to do so.

If you are not familiar with MountainDulcimer-1-3-5.com, it is a site dedicated to the 1-3-5 dulcimer tunings, such as DF#a and others. There are more than 100 pieces of tablature that are arranged with these tunings in mind.

Elizabeth has received permission from the vast majority of their contributors, but some have yet to respond. If you submitted tablature to her site, please respond to her request.

I will have the tablature on this site in the near future. I can’t guarantee it will be completed before their site goes down, but rest assured that the tablature will not be lost.

I am honored to receive this request and I will do my best to keep these arrangements available to any who may find them useful.

Kevin

New Posts Notification

Hi, everyone!

I enabled the ability to receive email notifications each time new content is added to the site. If you would like to know when the site is updated, scroll down to the bottom of the page and enter your email address. You will then receive an email asking you to confirm it. Once confirmed, each new post will be sent to your inbox.

Thank you, and keep on playin’!

Kevin

Mount Dora, FL Festival Update

From Sheryl Chapman:

At the 2019 Central Florida Dulcimer and Autoharp Festival, we, along with many of you, learned that Ruth Harnden and Carolee Stewart would not be continuing their 14-year tradition of producing this festival.  Many of us look forward to this wonderful event each year, so we asked Ruth and Carollee whether we might continue it.  With their consent and at their request, we have given the festival a new name–the Florida Acoustic Winter Gathering.  We have met with the representative of the First Baptist Church in Mount Dora and have reserved the church for Friday and Saturday, 7-8 February 2020!   SO, SAVE THOSE DATES on your calendar!  Ruth has donated the scholarship fund money and other festival materials to our endeavor.  We are hard at work on a website and Facebook pages (coming soon!), and we’ll keep you updated on our progress and introduce you to the festival team through those media soon!

Right now we need a new festival logo to be used on t-shirts, bags, and other festival material.  So the attached flyer is the announcement for our logo contest!   The prize is one free festival registration, so put your creative hats on and send us your entry by 1 June1!  You can e-mail your entry to:  sherylchapman123@gmail.comor snail mail it to 111 Shirley Avenue, Sanford, FL  32771.   Here’s the announcement.  Please feel free to distribute this to everyone in your dulcimer world!

Passing Of A Dulcimer Player

Maureen Sellers asked me to inform you of the following:

Janey Robertson, a member of the Louisville Dulcimer Society, passed away after a short illness on April 13th. Janey was well-known in the region for her banjo and dulcimer playing, singing, and was master of many other instruments.

Those attending the Ohio Valley Gathering and Kentucky Music Weekend among other festivals may have made music with Janey.

Rest In Pace, Janey.