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Money was scarce, but there was always enough for the occasional jazz, blues or R&B record. His father worked for the railroad, while his mother stayed home to take care of the children. He was born in Chicago in 1948, but after his uncle was murdered, his parents moved to Denver in search of a safer area to raise their kids. Taylor’s musical education continued at home. Doc Watson spent a lot of time trying out guitars there, as well. I remember, once, the Reverend Gary Davis was in town for a week and spent hours in the store playing and answering questions. “We ran a small concert hall next door and booked all kinds of players. “Back in the 1960s, players heading from one coast to the other would make it a point to stop by the shop,” Tuft remembers. He didn’t have the money to pay for lessons, but he was obviously so eager to learn that the store’s teachers would give him impromptu playing tips during their breaks.Īccording to Harry Tuft, founder of the Denver Folklore Center, Taylor was always hanging around the store thanks to the steady stream of musicians coming through the door, he had a chance to meet some legendary players.
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I don’t know why I liked the banjos so much I just did.”Īlmost immediately, Taylor put away his uke and devoted himself to learning the five-string banjo. There were all kinds of instruments hanging on the wall–guitars, mandolins, things I didn’t have names for–but, for some reason, the banjos just sort of called to me. “I went to the Folklore Center and just never came out,” he recalls. As soon as he walked through the door, Taylor was entranced by the array of new and vintage instruments. Fortunately, the local music shop just happened to be the Denver Folklore Center, one of the first stores in America to specialize in fretted instruments. Back in the early 1960s, Taylor’s mother gave him a ukulele, and when young Otis broke a string, he took it into the local music store to get it fixed. Like so many respected musicians–Jimi Hendrix and Charlie Christian among them–Otis Taylor began with the ukulele.