Tape Spotlight: Out at the Exit Inn
For this entry in our series, we’re shining our spotlight back on the Tut Taylor Archives. We have two complimentary pieces in this collection, both captured circa-1973 at the Exit Inn in Nashville, Tennessee. The first tape, #280, contains the tail end of a performance by Taylor, John Hartford, Charlie Collins, Sam Bush, Butch Robins, and Doug Green (later to become “Ranger Doug” Green in the band, Riders in the Sky). It features three tight instrumental numbers, “Abe Brown’s Tune,” “Running Wild,” and “Sugar in the Gourd.”
Taylor’s dobro draws you in immediately, strong and stirring throughout. “Wild” winds with a delicious, leisurely jaunt, the fiddle and banjo weaving in with Taylor’s sweet-as-honey slides, while “Sugar” features some fantastic dobro and fiddle interplay. The recording is rich and crystal clear.
It’s the perfect taster for tape #285, featuring Taylor and friends – Collins, Robins and Bush, joined here by Nancy and Norman Blake. Green gets a mention, but he doesn’t appear on the portion of the show preserved here, as it’s only the first part of the set. Taylor mentions that they are recording tunes for a possible LP, but unfortunately, that record never came to light. “What we’re gonna do is real informal, we’re just gonna do some pickin’” Taylor says at the beginning of the set, as he welcomes the audience to the Exit Inn (“The coming and going place,” he jokes).
Taylor introduces the band, as well as the new dulcimers he had just begun crafting, giving a humorous sales pitch to the audience: “I guarantee you, in about five minutes, you can play “Jingle Bells.” “Lonesome Dobro” is super slinky, with a lovely fiddle and Bush’s mando rolls, followed by a shimmery “Snowflake Reel.” Capped off by Norman singing “Sweet Heaven,” it’s a pretty dreamy little helping of tunes.
But it gets even better with a solo-set by John Hartford. Chock full of classics like “Don’t Leave Your Records In the Sun,” “Skippin’ in the Mississippi Dew,” and “Howard Hughes Blues,” this a must-listen for Hartford fans, and could serve as a great introduction as well. His chameleon-like talent on banjo, guitar and fiddle; his uncanny use of voice as both instrument and sound effect; his ability to make you laugh with a song like “Records,” and then make you reflect with a song like “In Tall Buildings” – it’s all captured in this treasure of a set.
Hartford has the audience wrapped around his finger, and it’s no clearer than during “Turn Your Radio On,” as Hartford draws them in to sing along with the chorus. His charmingly laid-back wit should produce more than a few grins here. Just listen to the hilarious banter during “Good Old Electric Washing Machine Circa 1943,” where his take on the kitschy Yule Log program is both funny, and more than a little subversive.
Hartford was a man who loved to celebrate the genuine artifacts of the past – and wildly reinvent them to keep them as living experiences. Never losing the real stuff in an overly-rosy nostalgic glow, he was ultimately more concerned with an honestly joyful way of living, and this is perhaps best expressed in “Today,” a frank reminder to live in the moment. It’s captured beautifully in the recording of this set. John, we sure do miss you.
Tut Tape #280
Audio
Tracklisting
2. Running Wild
Tut Tape #285
Audio
Tracklisting
Taylor & Friends
5. Sweet Heaven
John Hartford (solo)
7. Don’t Leave Your Records in the Sun
9. Today
14. Good Old Electric Washing Machine Circa 1943
15. Skippin’ in the Mississippi Dew
17. Little Cabin Home on the Hill Waugh Waugh
18. Category Stomp
*end is cut off
Special thanks to our researcher and historian Mitch Wittenberg.
