Tater Tate

If bluegrass musicians were allowed to be knighted for brilliant service to their musical kingdom, then this outstanding player's name would certainly be Sir Clarence Tate, not Tater Tate. But while mere misters are turned into sirs with a slight whack of a royal sword upon their noggin, the defining moment for a little Tater was hearing the very first broadcast of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs on the Bristol station WCYB. The song was "Train 45," and it was actually the first time these legendary bluegrass pickers had teamed up. Tate recalled later that hearing the first notes on the fiddle sent cold chills up his spine. The broadcast might have also had some kind of effect on his mother, because he also recalled that she left their home shortly thereafter. Although it is uncertain that the broadcast, Tate picking up the fiddle, and the mother are related events, foes of bluegrass music can certainly indulge in wishful thinking if they want. It wasn't that Tate had never heard bluegrass, as he was already playing mandolin and guitar at this point. It was the sound of the fiddle and the way it was being played that made him switch to this instrument, although he kept his hand on his original instruments, added a few more as the years went on, and wound up being one of a select group of bluegrass pickers who, if they wanted to, could over-dub the sound of an entire band just by themselves. This turns out to be one of the few possible recording projects Tater Tate has not attempted...so far. He spent his journeyman years in bands such as those led by super-picker Jimmy Martin and Carl Story, whose touring Rambling Mountaineers were a launching point for many sidemen's bluegrass careers. But it was eventually a longstanding relationship with bluegrass master Bill Monroe...