Z.Z. Hill born 30 September 1935

Arzell J. "Z. Z." Hill (September 30, 1935 – April 27, 1984) was an American blues singer best known for his recordings in the 1970s and early 1980s, including his 1982 album for Malaco Records, Down Home, which stayed on the Billboard soul album chart for nearly two years. The track "Down Home Blues" has been called the best-known blues song of the 1980s. According to the Texas State Historical Association, Hill "devised a combination of blues and contemporary soul styling and helped to restore the blues to modern black consciousness." 

Hill was born in Naples, Texas. He began his singing career in the late 1950s as part of a gospel group the Spiritual Five, touring Texas. He was influenced by Sam Cooke, B. B. King, and Bobby "Blue" Bland and began performing his own songs and others in clubs in and around Dallas, including stints fronting bands led by Bo Thomas and Frank Shelton. He took his stage name in emulation of B. B. King. 

Encouraged by Otis Redding, who had seen him perform, he joined his older brother Matt Hill, a budding record producer, in Los Angeles in 1963, and released his first single, "You Were Wrong", on the family's M.H. label. It spent one week at number 100 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964, and Hill was quickly signed by Kent Records. Most of the songs he recorded for Kent were written or co-written by Hill and arranged by the prominent saxophonist Maxwell Davis. None charted; in retrospect, however, many, such as "I Need Someone (To Love Me)", are now viewed with high regard by fans of soul music. 

                                   

After leaving Kent in 1968, he recorded briefly for Phil Walden's Capricorn label, based in Macon, Georgia, but after a disagreement with Walden his recording contract was bought by Jerry "Swamp Dogg" Williams' Mankind label, where Hill fulfilled his end of the deal. He returned to California to record for his brother's label, Hill, and the song "Don't Make Me Pay for His Mistakes", produced by Matt Hill and Miles Grayson, became his biggest pop hit, reaching number 62 on the Hot 100. The Kent label reissued his 1964 recording of "I Need Someone", which also charted. Williams also recorded Hill in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, in 1971, resulting in several R&B hits, including "Chokin' Kind" and "It Ain't No Use", as well as the LP The Brand New Z. Z. Hill. 

With his brother's help, Hill then signed with United Artists, where he was aided by arrangements and compositions by established R&B talents including Lamont Dozier and Allen Toussaint, and released several singles that made the R&B chart in the mid 1970s. After his brother Matt's sudden death from a heart attack, Z. Z. Hill left United Artists and signed with Columbia Records, recording two albums with leading arranger-producer Bert de Coteaux in New York. Several singles taken from the albums charted, including "Love Is So Good When You're Stealing It", which spent 18 weeks on the Billboard R&B chart in the summer of 1977. 

In 1979, he left Columbia and returned south, signing for Malaco Records, a move which, according to Allmusic writer Bill Dahl, "managed to resuscitate both his own semi-flagging career and the entire [blues] genre at large". His first hit for the label was his recording of "Cheating in the Next Room," written by George Jackson, which was released in early 1982 and reached the R&B top 20, spending a total of 20 weeks on the chart. He had a number of best-selling albums for Malaco, the biggest being Down Home, which stayed on the Billboard soul album chart for nearly two years. The song "Down Home Blues", also written by Jackson, was later recorded by labelmate Denise LaSalle. Hill's next album, The Rhythm & the Blues, released in 1982, was also received with critical acclaim, and its success contributed to the subsequent boom in blues music, much of it recorded by the Malaco label, in Jackson, Mississippi. 

While touring in February 1984, Hill was involved in a car crash. He gave his final performance two months later, on April 23, at the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas, Texas. On April 27, 1984,  he died of a heart attack arising from a blood clot in his leg that formed after the accident. Malaco Records producer Gerald "Wolf" Stephenson told reporters that a friend found Hill lying in the driveway of his home in Dallas; he was pronounced dead at Charlton Methodist Hospital after attempts to resuscitate him failed. He was buried in Gethsemane Cemetery in Naples, Texas. 

(Edited from Wikipedia) 

 

Freddie Bell born 29 September 1931

Ferdinando Dominick Bello, known as Freddie Bell, (September 29, 1931 – February 10, 2008) was an American musician, whose group, Freddie Bell and the Bellboys, were influential in the development of rock and roll in the 1950s. He was a prominent performer with the group on the Las Vegas Strip in the 1950s and 1960s, and continued to perform in Las Vegas into his later years after the demise of the group. 

Bell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Italian American parents, who were shopkeepers. He grew up in New Jersey. He became a trombonist, bassist, drummer, and singer, playing in various bands including that of Ernie Ventura. In 1952 he formed his own group, the Bellboys, with Jack Kane (saxophone), Frankie Brent (bass / guitar), Russ Conti (piano), Chick Keeney (drums), and Jerry Mayo (trumpet). They were one of the first white groups to play the R&B hits of the day, and honed their act in the Midwest before landing a booking at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. 

In 1955, the group made their first recordings for the Teen Records label, including a cover version of Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog" (first recorded by Big Mama Thornton). When performing the song in Las Vegas, they were seen by Elvis Presley, who was impressed and decided to record the song himself. He was so taken by the Bellboys' arrangement that, in the words of his guitarist Scotty Moore, "We stole it straight from them". By summer 1956, Presley's recording of the song was a million-seller. Bell was philosophical, telling an interviewer: "I didn't feel bad about that at all. In fact, I encouraged him to record it." 

                                    

The success of records by Bill Haley and his Comets and others inspired Hollywood producer Sam Katzman to plan a quickie movie that would exploit the new trend. He recruited Haley and his Comets, the Platters and Freddie Bell and the Bellboys, whom he too had seen in Las Vegas. Rock Around the Clock was shot in a fortnight in early 1956 and included Bell and the group lip-synching their way through Giddy-Up-A-Ding-Dong, a novelty song co-written by Bell that was featured in the stage act ("ding dong", unsurprisingly, was Bell's nickname), and a hastily written number, Teach You to Rock. 

Rock Around the Clock caused a sensation in cinemas in the US and Europe. In Britain its release in July 1956 was greeted by dancing in the aisles - in contravention of fire regulations. Giddy-Up-A-Ding-Dong was issued in Britain to coincide with the movie and reached No 4 in the charts. Although it was followed by such tracks as The Hucklebuck and Rockin' is My Business, it was Bell's only hit. There was another movie that year too, Rumble On the Docks. 

Rock Around the Clock's success meanwhile sent promoters scrambling to book its stars. In February 1957, Haley arrived in Britain, followed in May by Bell and his group. They headlined a tour that also featured Tommy Steele, Britain's first home-grown rock'n'roll star. The tour included one week residencies in Liverpool, London, Glasgow and Cardiff. By the end of the run, Steele rather than Bell was closing the show, but the two singers became close friends. 

Bell and the group went on to play the Paris Olympia and soon after toured the far east and Australia. But by then, the Presley phenomenon, Chuck Berry and other more charismatic singers had left the less photogenic Bell and the Bellboys behind. They headed back to Las Vegas, and their residency. They kept on recording and guested on the Ed Sullivan TV show in 1958. Their last film was Get Yourself a College Girl (1964). Freddie Bell and the group became closely associated with Las Vegas in the 1950s and 1960s, performing regularly at The Sands, the Desert Inn, the Sahara Hotel, the Flamingo Hotel and other venues. The group were later joined by Roberta Linn, who was married to Bell from 1961 to 1973. 

Freddie & Roberta Linn

The Bellboys split up in the mid-1960s, but in later years, Bell and his various bands were in demand to appear at rock'n'roll revival shows and festivals, especially in Europe. Even in retirement, Bell remained a leading figure in the Vegas show business community and at its charity events. Bell’s last recording was Those Were The Nights (2006), a tribute song written by Richard Friedland and Ray Stribe which showcased Las Vegas legends Babe Pier, Carme and Peter Anthony along with Freddie. 

Freddie Bell died of complications from cancer aged 76, on 10 February 2008. He is buried in Palm Memorial Park, Las Vegas. Hel was married four times and had six children (Angela, Fred, Lisa, Debbie, Andrew, and Marianna) and a stepson.

(Edited from Wikipedia & Dave Laing obit @ The Guardian)

Victor Jara born 28 September 1932

Víctor Jara (September 28, 1932—September 16, 1973) was a Chilean folk singer, one of the pioneers of the nueva canción genre of politically charged popular songs. His political activism led to his torture and execution by the regime of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. 

Born Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez Jara in Lonquén, Chile, he was raised in poverty by a farmer father and a folk singer mother. He left school at age 15 to prepare for the priesthood but gave up his clerical studies to join the army, from which he was honourably discharged after a year of service. Jara then studied theatre at the University of Chile where he met his future wife, Joan Alison Turner in 1960. She was a soloist with the Chilean National Ballet who was teaching dance. The couple married and, with Víctor a committed communist closely tied to socialist president Salvador Allende’s Unidad Popular government, raised two young daughters in the shadow of political upheaval. Upon his graduation he began working as a stage director, a pursuit he continued even after his singing career took off. 

Jara’s interest in folk music was sparked when in 1957 he met Violeta Parra, one of the founders of the nueva canción movement. He began playing folk songs with a decided leftist bent, and he released his self-titled debut album also called Canto a lo humano (“Hymn to the Human”) in 1966. He followed with a number of well-received recordings, including Pongo en tus manos abiertas… (1969; “I Put into Your Open Hands…”), El derecho de vivir en paz (1971; “The Right to Live in Peace”), and La población (1972; “The Population”). 

                                    

The nueva canción songs gained prominence as Chile became a centre of political turmoil during the late 1960s and early ’70s, which included the election of socialist Pres. Salvador Allende in 1970 and his overthrow by Pinochet in 1973. Jara’s song “Venceremos” (“We Will Overcome”) was the theme song of Allende’s political party (the leftist Popular Unity) during his successful presidential campaign and became a leftist anthem throughout Chile. 

Jara’s fame soon transcended Chile, and his work was promoted by renowned American folk singers such as Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and Phil Ochs (the last of whom met Jara in Chile and later organized a benefit concert in tribute to him and other victims of the coup after Jara’s death). Jara’s status as an icon of leftist Chilean politics and his connection with Allende put him squarely in Pinochet’s sights as the general was planning his coup. 

Soon after the coup began on September 11, 1973, Jara was among the thousands of Popular Unity members and supporters arrested by Pinochet’s forces and held in a football (soccer) stadium. There he was beaten repeatedly. When his fingers were smashed by guards, and he was mockingly asked to play guitar and sing for his fellow prisoners, Jara responded by defiantly singing “Venceremos.” On the morning of the 16th, according to a fellow detainee, Jara asked for a pen and notebook and scribbled the lyrics to Estadio Chile, which were later smuggled out of the stadium: “How hard it is to sing when I must sing of horror/ Horror which I am living, horror which I am dying.” Two hours later, he was shot dead, then his body was riddled with machine-gun bullets and dumped in the street. He was 40. 

His wife Joan was alerted by passers-by, and had to recover her husband’s body from among a pile of corpses dumped at a Santiago morgue. She fled to exile in the UK with her two young daughters and tirelessly campaigned to raise awareness of the tragedy that had befallen Chile. In the wake of his death, Jara became a national icon in Chile, and he is still invoked in popular songs from that country and abroad. Joan eventually returned to Chile in the mid-1980s, and after Chile returned to democracy in 1990, created the Fundación Víctor Jara to fight for justice for her late husband. 

The stadium in which he was killed was renamed Víctor Jara Stadium in 2003. While Joan continued her prominent work in the arts in Chile, she was able to contact witnesses who had been present in the stadium and collect testimonies from when the singer was murdered. Eventually in 2012 eight retired Chilean army officers were charged with Jara’s murder. Six years later they were found guilty of kidnapping and killing Jara and another man. The defendants were sentenced to 18 years and one day in prison, and another suspect was sentenced to more than five years as an accessory to the crimes. 

One of those convicted of Jara’s murder was Pedro Pablo Barrientos Nuñez, who had become a U.S. citizen after fleeing Chile in 1989. Chile’s attempts to extradite him were initially unsuccessful, though a 2016 civil trial in the United States found Barrientos liable for Jara’s death. In July 2023 Barrientos’s U.S. citizenship was revoked after a federal court determined that he lied about his military service. Three months later he was arrested. Joan Jara, died in Santiago at the age of 96, two weeks before her husband’s killer was due to be extradited from the US to Chile.

(Edited from Britannica, The Guardian & Wikipedia)

 

Harvey Scales born 27 September 1942

Harvey Scales (September 27, 1940 – February 11, 2019) was an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, and producer. Once called Milwaukee's "Godfather of Soul" by a local reporter, and described as being a “Master of the Live-Stage Performance,” Scales credited James Brown and the sound of "funk" for influencing his music career. He has performed with some of the biggest stars in the industry such as Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Natalie Cole, the Temptations and Ike and Tina Turner, the Esquires, Jackie Wilson and James Brown. 

Scales was born in Osceola, Arkansas. His family moved briefly to South Bend, Indiana, then relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he grew up attending Roosevelt Middle School and North Division High School. Scales performed in  groups called the Playboys and also the Esquires circa 1959-60. He was well known in Milwaukee, before his big break as a national songwriter. He was also known as "Twistin' Harvey". He and his longtime friend Albert James Vance (1943–2003) formed the group, Harvey Scales & The 7 Sounds, which released several singles. They initially recorded for Cuca Records, and later for Magic Touch Records, a Wisconsin-based label owned by Lenny LaCour. The band's one hit was "Get Down", backed with "Love-Itis", which reached No. 32 on the R&B charts in 1967. 

                                    

The band signed with Chess Records in 1969, recording for the Cadet Concept Records division, with LaCour continuing as producer. In 1970, the group had a regional hit with the LaCour-produced "The Funky Yolk". Through his familiarity with producer Don Davis at Chess, Scales met singer Johnnie Taylor, who was at the time recording for Stax Records. Scales then moved from Cadet Concept to Stax, releasing several singles. Scales followed the career of Johnnie Taylor when Taylor moved to Columbia Records. As described by Ed Hogan: 

"When Stax became inactive, Taylor signed with Columbia, retaining Davis' services. Recording at Davis' favorite studio (United Sound Studios in Detroit), the producer used the Impressions' "Gypsy Woman" and an African dancer he had seen on a vacation to Spain as a template for a partially finished song ("Disco Baby") that Scales had brought to him. Davis took it to (Bootsy) Collins and (Bernie) Worrell, who honed and tightened up the groove, while veteran arranger David Van De Pitte did the horn arrangements." 

Scales received national recognition for co-writing with Don Davis and Albert Vance on the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping single for Johnnie Taylor, "Disco Lady". "Disco Lady" was the very first platinum single in the history of the Recording Industry Association of America, selling over two million copies. It was certified platinum on April 22, 1976. As a result, Scales became -- and will always be -- one of the co-writers of the first platinum single record in America. 

Scales is also notable as being the co-writer of "Love-Itis", a 1967 release by Harvey Scales & The 7 Sounds, which later was covered and was a hit for the Canadian band Mandala in 1968, and the J. Geils Band in 1975. The song was also covered by The Sonics, originally recorded in 1967. Scales also co-wrote, with Bunny Sigler, "Once Is Not Enough", recorded by The O'Jays and, as sole composer, "Be For Real With Me", which was recorded by The Dells. 

The success of "Disco Lady" enabled Scales to obtain a recording contract with Casablanca Records. At Casablanca, Scales recorded the first two albums of his career, Confidential Affair (1978) and Hot Foot: A Funque Dizco Opera (1979). On the U.K. soul scene he is best remembered for his, mid eighties, independent single 'Spend The Night Forever / Single Girls' on Earthtone Records. Scales did not release another album for eighteen years, when he released Somebody Else's Somebody on Four Sight Records in 1987. He performed at venues throughout the United States, including his hometown of Milwaukee at popular events such as Summerfest, the Wisconsin State Fair Park, and the African World Festival. 

Harvey Scales died in a Milwaukee hospital, on February 11, 2019, after first becoming ill in December with kidney failure and pneumonia. He was 78 years old. Exactly one year after his passing, iconic Milwaukee soul artist Harvey Scales was recognized for his musical achievements. The Milwaukee Mayor's office officially declared Feb. 13, 2020 as "Harvey Scales Day." Scales' son, Harvey Scales Jr., accepted the award on behalf of his late father at the Radio Milwaukee studios. 

(Edited from Wikipedia, Milwaukee Courier, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Soulwalking & Flea Market Funk)

 

Vaughn De Leath born 26 September 1894

Vaughn De Leath (September 26, 1894 – May 28, 1943) was an American female singer who gained popularity in the 1920s, earning the sobriquets "The Original Radio Girl" and the "First Lady of Radio." Although very popular in the 1920s, De Leath is obscure in modern times.She was an early exponent, and often credited as inventor, of a style of vocalizing known as crooning. One of her hit songs, "Are You Lonesome Tonight?," recorded in 1927, achieved fame when it became a hit for Elvis Presley in 1960. 

Born Leonore Vonderlieth in the town of Mount Pulaski, Illinois in 1894, her parents were George and Catherine Vonderlieth. At age 12, Leonore relocated to Los Angeles with her mother and sister, where she finished high school and studied music. While at Mills College, she began writing songs, but dropped out to pursue a singing career. She then adopted the stage name "Vaughn De Leath." Her vocals ranged from soprano to deep contralto. De Leath adapted to the emerging, less restrictive jazz vocal style of the late 1910s and early 1920s. 

In January 1920, inventor and radio pioneer Lee DeForest brought her to the cramped studio of his station, 2XG, located in New York City's World's Tower, where De Leath broadcast "Swanee River". Although not, as is sometimes stated, the first broadcast of live singing, she established herself as a skilled radio performer, and De Forest would later note: "She was an instant success. Her voice and her cordial, unassuming microphone presence were ideally suited to the novel task. Without instruction she seemed to sense exactly what was necessary in song and patter to successfully put herself across". According to some historical accounts of this incident, having been advised that high notes sung in her natural soprano might shatter the fragile vacuum tubes of her carbon microphone's amplifier, De Leath switched to a deep contralto and in the process invented "crooning", which became the dominant pop vocal styling for the next three decades. 

By 1921, in the formative years of commercial radio, De Leath began singing at WJZ, in Newark, New Jersey (a station later known as WABC in New York City). She also performed on the New York stage in the early to mid-1920s, but radio became her primary medium, and she made a name for herself as a radio entertainer.  Her recording career began in 1921. Over the next decade she recorded for a number of labels, including Edison, Columbia, Victor, Okeh, Gennett, and Brunswick. 

                                    

She occasionally recorded for the subsidiary labels of some of these companies under various pseudonyms. These included Gloria Geer, Mamie Lee, Sadie Green, Betty Brown, Nancy Foster, Marion Ross, Glory Clarke, Angelina Marco, and Gertrude Dwyer. De Leath had a highly versatile range of styles, and as material required could adapt as a serious balladeer, playful girl, vampish coquette, or vaudeville comedian. 

De Leath also recorded songs for silent films, and composed songs, such as "Oliver Twist", written by the singer herself, for the 1922 silent film Oliver Twist. De Leath's recording accompanists included some of the major jazz musicians of the 1920s, including cornetist Red Nichols, trombonist Miff Mole, guitarists Dick McDonough and Eddie Lang, and bandleader Paul Whiteman. She demonstrated a high level of instrumental ability on the ukulele, and occasionally accompanied herself on recordings, including the 1925 hit "Ukulele Lady" (which was used in the 1999 film, The Cider House Rules). In performance she played banjo, guitar, and piano. In 1925 she narrated and sang on a May Singhi Breen ukulele instruction record for the Victor label. 

In 1923, she became one of the first women to manage a radio station, WDT in New York City, over which she also performed and led a sixty-piece orchestra. In 1928 she appeared on an experimental television broadcast, and later became a special guest for the debut broadcast of The Voice of Firestone radio show. She also was one of the first American entertainers to broadcast to Europe via transatlantic radio transmission. De Leath made her last recording in 1931 for the Crown label. She made her final nationwide network performances in the early 1930s. In her waning years, she made radio appearances on local New York stations, including WBEN in Buffalo. 

De Leath was married twice. In 1924 she wed artist Leon Geer, from whom she was divorced in 1935. The following year, she married musician Irwin Rosenbloom, from whom she was divorced in 1941. In 1931, De Leath sued Kate Smith for using the "First Lady of the Radio" designation. Although Smith desisted for a time, she resumed the mantle after De Leath's death. 

Vaughn De Leath died in Buffalo, New York on May 28, 1943 at the age of only 48. A weight problem along with financial difficulties led to bouts of depression and illness in the early 1940’s. Her early demise has been blamed at least in part on her heavy consumption of alcohol in her battle against depression. Her ashes were buried in her childhood home of Mount Pulaski, Illinois.  (Edited from Wikipedia & Easton Courier News)

Eric Taylor born 25 September 1949

Eric Taylor (September 25, 1949 – March 9, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter from Texas, known for his storytelling style, combining spoken word with anecdotal songs to create a theater-style performance. In addition to Taylor's nine solo releases, his songs have been recorded by Nanci Griffith, Lyle Lovett, Peter Cooper, and others. 

Taylor was born and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. He began playing guitar as a child and performed in a racially-integrated soul music band in high school. He started playing soul music in his early years, steeping himself in the rich cultural heritage of the black South. "I've written poetry all my life," Taylor recounts. "When I learned how to play guitar, it was a natural progression to write songs." After high school, a brief stint at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, just "didn't work out," said Taylor during an interview. "Music lured me away, I thought I'd make my way to California like everybody else back then but I ran out of money and ended up in Houston." It's a good thing he never made it to California, because the musical environment in Houston during the '70s was just what Taylor needed to inspire him. 

Taylor learned intricate blues guitar stylings from music legends Lightnin' Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb and Mississippi Fred McDowell while working at the Family Hand club. Later, he developed his own unique guitar picking style, that would be imitated by many of his contemporaries from the early Houston days, such as Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Robert Earl Keen, Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, and Nanci Griffith. "There were no lines drawn in the sand between musical genres in Houston back in those days," Taylor remembers. "You were just a musician. I believe so many great writers came out of that scene because you could learn from others. Isn't that the point of this whole thing?" 

                 Here’s “Shermann Karmann” from above album.

                                   

In 1977 Taylor was a winner of the "New Folk" competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival. Shameless Love, his first album, came out in 1981, and after a hiatus of almost 14 years, he returned with the self-titled Eric Taylor, released in 1995. His eponymous release was chosen as the 1996 Kerrville Folk Festival Album of the Year. Three years later he released Resurrect, and it was subsequently named one of the "100 essential records of all time" by Buddy magazine. Taylor has headlined the prestigious Newport Folk Festival, played National Public Radio's "Mountain Stage" and has appeared on both "Late Night With David Letterman" with Nanci Griffith and "Austin City Limits" with Lyle Lovett, Guy Clark, and Robert Earl Keen. 

2001 brought forth Scuffletown, and shortly following its release, Taylor was a featured artist on "Austin City Limit's" and NPR's "Morning Edition." The Kerrville Tapes (2003) was his first live album, recorded during three years of appearances at the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival. In 2004, heeding repeated requests by fans and media, Taylor re-mastered the vinyl Shameless Love and reissued it as a CD with 2 never-released-before bonus tracks. 

In the spring of 2005, Taylor returned to Rock Romano's Red Shack in Houston to record his 5th studio album, The Great Divide. Garnering rave reviews at home and abroad, The Great Divide quickly reached #3 on the Euro Americana Chart and in 2006 was named one of the Top Releases Most Played by Folk Radio. Hollywood Pocketknife, released in 2007, is a 10-song collection that shows Taylor in his prime as a writer and performer, with his exquisite narrative style, his keen, studied observation of the human spirit, and his intricate, roots-driven guitar work. In January 2008, Eric Taylor and Hollywood Pocketknife were nominated for FolkWax's Artist Of The Year and Album Of The Year. 

In early 2011 Taylor decided to bring together some of his oldest friends and favorite musicians for a live recording. These included Nanci Griffith, Lyle Lovett, Denice Franke, Susan Lindfors Taylor, Marco Python Fecchio and James Gilmer joined in to play percussion. Live At The Red Shack CD was named One Of The Top 10 Albums Of The Year (Texas Music magazine) and Best Of 2012 – Live Album (Third Coast Music magazine). 

Taylor toured extensively in the United States and Europe, playing notable venues and Festivals. He taught at the Kerrville Song School, and conducted songwriting workshops throughout the United States and in Europe. His last release was Studio 10 in 2013, recorded at the Red Shack Studio in Houston and features nine original songs and a cover of Tim Grimm's "Cover These Bones." In 2016, Taylor was nominated for an Emmy Award for Musical Composition for songs he wrote for the Storyworks television documentary, Road Kid to Writer: The Tracks of Jim Tully. 

Taylor died on March 9, 2020, at the age of 70 from liver disease. While Eric Taylor has sadly gone, his legacy will be maintained and nourished by the cohort of artists who were influenced by his songwriting and guitar playing. Taylor was married to singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith from 1976 to 1982.

(Edited from Blue Ruby Music, Wikipedia & Americana-UK)  

Late in life he performed the YouTube video below, in which he spends some time talking about Pine Ridge and Fort Robinson, and about the writing of the song and some of what came after. He tells a story about how he discovered that the song had made him some money. It is a poignant telling of old stories, bringing a lump to his throat, and in itself is a fair tribute to the man.