Eddie Taylor

Eddie Taylor (January 29, 1923 – December 25, 1985)^[1] was an American electric blues guitarist and singer.^[2]

Biography

Born Edward Taylor in Benoit, Mississippi, as a boy Taylor taught himself to play the guitar. He spent his early years playing at venues around Leland, Mississippi, where he taught his friend Jimmy Reed to play the guitar.^[3] With a guitar style deeply rooted in the Mississippi Delta tradition, in 1949 Taylor moved to Chicago, Illinois.

While Taylor never achieved the stardom of some of his compatriots in the Chicago blues scene, he nevertheless was an integral part of that era. He is especially noted as a main accompanist for Jimmy Reed, as well as working with John Lee Hooker, Big Walter Horton, Sam Lay,^[4] and others. Earwig Music Company recorded him with Kansas City Red and Big John Wrencher on the album, Original Chicago Blues.^[5] He later teamed up Earring George Mayweather and jointly recorded a number of tracks including "You'll Always Have A Home" and "Don't Knock At My Door".^[6] Several of these were released as singles, and "Big Town Playboy" and "Bad Boy" on Vee Jay Records became local hits in the 1950s, although generally they were not commercial successes.^[7] Later in his "semi-retirement" Eddie returned to be the regular lead guitarist with the "Peter Dames and the Chicago River Blues Band" and later to be known as "Peter Dames and the Rhythm Flames"

Taylor's son Eddie Taylor Jr. is a blues guitarist in Chicago, his stepson Larry Taylor is a blues drummer and vocalist, and his daughter Demetria is a blues vocalist in Chicago. Taylor's wife Vera was the niece of bluesmen Eddie "Guitar" Burns and Jimmy Burns.

Taylor died on Christmas Day in 1985 in Chicago,^[1] at the age of 62, and was interred in an unmarked grave in the Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. He was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1987.

Discography

Albums recorded as leader

Studio

Live

Collaboration albums

Albums recorded as sideman

• 1975: Street Talkin' (Muse 5087, French) - compilation of Vee Jay material with seven Elmore James tracks and seven of Taylor's
• 1981: Big Town Playboy (Charly 1015, English) - contains all Vee Jay recordings under his name, except "Good Hearted"

References

External links

• Eddie Taylor's biography at Allmusic website