Butch Taylor (born Clarence Francis Taylor on April 13, 1961) is a composer, writer, keyboardist and long time guest musician with

Dave Matthews Band Dave Matthews Band (also known by the initials DMB) is an American rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991. The band's founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer and bac ...

Early life

Butch Taylor was born in

Shawsville, Virginia Shawsville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,310 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Blacksburg– Christiansburg Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of ...

on April 13, 1961. Taylor attended

James Madison University James Madison University (JMU, Madison, or James Madison) is a public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the institution was renamed Madison Coll ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

where he played trumpet in the JMU Jazz Ensemble. It was there he met future Dave Matthews Band saxophonist,

LeRoi Moore LeRoi Holloway Moore (September 7, 1961 – August 19, 2008) was an American saxophonist. He was a founding member of the Dave Matthews Band. Moore often arranged music for songs written by Dave Matthews. Moore also co-wrote many of the band's ...

. He studied for a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in music. Taylor later played in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

-based jazz fusion band Secrets with dummer

Carter Beauford Carter Anthony Beauford (born November 2, 1958) is an American drummer, percussionist, and founding member of Dave Matthews Band. He is known for his ability to adapt to a variety of genres, and both his ambidextrous and his open-handed drumm ...

, saxophonist LeRoi Moore, trumpeter

John D'earth John D'earth (born March 30, 1950) is an American post-bop/hard bop jazz trumpeter born in Framingham, Massachusetts, Framingham, Massachusetts who has appeared on recordings by Dave Matthews and Bruce Hornsby as well as recording a number of C ...

, vocalist Dawn Thompson, bassist Keith Horne, keyboardist Dane Bryant, saxophonist Eddie Williams and virtuoso guitarist

Tim Reynolds Tim Reynolds (born 15 December 1957) is an American guitarist and multi-instrumentalist known as both a solo artist and as a lead guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band. AllMusic critic MacKenzie Wilson has called Reynolds "an under-rated master". ...

Dave Matthews Band

Although not a formal member of the band, he acted as a permanent member of the group from 1998 until 2008, making contributions on both studio and live albums. Taylor played on the bands studio albums

Before These Crowded Streets ''Before These Crowded Streets'' is the third studio album by Dave Matthews Band, released on April 28, 1998. It was the last official album by the group to be produced by longtime producer Steve Lillywhite until 2012's '' Away from the World'' a ...

(1998) and

Stand Up Stand Up may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Stand-up comedy, a comic style in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience Film * ''Stand Up'' (2007 film), a film featuring Modi Rosenfeld * ''Stand Up'' (2008 film), a Brit ...

(2005). His first time guesting with the band live was on June 5, 1998 at

Foxborough Stadium Foxboro Stadium, originally Schaefer Stadium and later Sullivan Stadium, was an outdoor stadium in the New England region of the United States, located in Foxborough, Massachusetts. It opened in 1971 and served as the home of the New England Pa ...

Foxborough, Massachusetts Foxborough is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, about southwest of Boston, northeast of Providence, Rhode Island and about northwest of Cape Cod. Foxborough is part of the Greater Boston area. The population was 18,618 at ...

and he would continue guesting sporadically for the next few tours. From May 18, 2001 to April 1, 2008 Taylor played every Dave Matthews Band show. He played a total of 488 concerts with the group until announcing his departure from touring on May 27, 2008. The bands official fan club, the

Warehouse Fan Association A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities, tow ...

, released this message: Taylor joined the band on September 24, 2017 for the Concert for Charlottesville, the bands home town, at

Scott Stadium Scott Stadium is a stadium located in Charlottesville, Virginia. It is the home of the Virginia Cavaliers football team. It sits on the University of Virginia's Grounds, east of Hereford College and first-year dorms on Alderman Road but west of B ...

, a

benefit concert A benefit concert or charity concert is a type of musical benefit performance (e.g., concert, show, or gala) featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate hu ...

to raise funds for the victims killed and injured during the

Unite the Right rally The Unite the Right rally was a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, ...

held from August 11–12, 2017. The band labeled the event as "An Evening of Music and Unity." This marked the first time Taylor guested with the band since April 1, 2008. The set also featured

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

on vocals. This show brought his total number of song appearances with the band to 8269. In 2018 Taylor joined the band once again in the studio to record 3 songs for their latest album Come Tomorrow.

Current work

Between 2009 and 2015 Taylor played on studio albums for Richmond, Virginia

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Carbon Leaf Carbon Leaf is a quintet from Richmond, Virginia, known for their alt-country, Celtic, and folk-infused indie rock. Though some of the band members have changed through the years, Carbon Leaf has been consistently creating and performing music ...

. In 2012 Taylor started Robert Jospé Express with Charlottesville jazz drummer

Robert Jospé Robert Jospé (born April 17, 1950, in Manhattan, New York) is an American jazz drummer based in Charlottesville, Virginia. His parents were Belgian and had a love of music they passed on to him. Jospé is the band leader and drummer with the ban ...

. Taylor is the pianist for the Free Bridge Quintet, the faculty jazz quintet at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. He also serves as a professor of jazz piano at the university. Taylor currently lives in

Scottsville, VA Scottsville is a town in Albemarle, Buckingham and Fluvanna counties in the U.S. state of Virginia. The population was 566 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Charlottesville Metropolitan Statistical Area. History According tScottsville's ...

. He is divorced and has three adult sons. He is currently the Chief Engineer/Producer/Composer at Ravensworth Studios also in Scottsville.

Discography

With Dave Matthews Band

Studio

(1998) *

(2005) * Come Tomorrow (2018)

Live

*''

Listener Supported ''Listener Supported'' is an album by the Dave Matthews Band, released on November 23, 1999. It was recorded live at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey on September 11, 1999. In addition to being the third live release by ...

'' (1999) *''Live at Soldier Field'' (2000) *''

Live at Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado ''Live at Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado'' is the fourth live album released by the Dave Matthews Band. It was recorded in Boulder, Colorado at Folsom Field, the football stadium of the University of Colorado Boulder on July 11, 2001. It was rel ...

'' (2001) *'' The Gorge'' (2002) *''

The Central Park Concert The Central Park Concert is a 2003 live album by the American rock group, Dave Matthews Band, recorded in Central Park, New York City. The concert attracted more than 120,000 people, which makes it the biggest audience to attend a Dave Matthews Band ...

'' (2003) *''

Weekend on the Rocks ''Weekend on the Rocks'' is a live album by Dave Matthews Band. It contains highlights of the four shows in four days the band performed at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado on September 9–12, 2005. The set is packaged on two CDs ...

'' (2005) *''

The Best of What's Around Vol. 1 ''The Best of What's Around Vol. 1'', also known as ''TBOWA Vol. 1'', is a greatest hits compilation album by the Dave Matthews Band that was released on November 7, 2006. The two-disc set is the Dave Matthews Band's first ever greatest hits album ...

'' (2006) *''

Live at Piedmont Park ''Live at Piedmont Park'' is a live album and video release by the Dave Matthews Band from a 2007 benefit concert in Atlanta. The concert was held at Atlanta's Piedmont Park in front of an audience of over 80,000 people to raise over US $1 ...

'' (2007)

with Carbon Leaf

*''

Nothing Rhymes with Woman ''Nothing Rhymes with Woman'' is the seventh studio album by the Virginia band Carbon Leaf and their third on the Vanguard Records Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon i ...

'' (2009) *'' Love Loss Hope Repeat'' (2015)

With Nikhil Korula

*''Solo Sessions EP'' (2013)

With Robert Jospé Express

*''Classics (2014)

With Robert Jospé

*''Just Lookin (2019)

External links

Butch Taylors's live stats with Dave Matthews BandButch Taylor on Twitter

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Butch 1961 births Dave Matthews Band members James Madison University alumni Living people Musicians from Virginia People from Shawsville, Virginia 21st-century American keyboardists