JESSE TAYLOR (RIP) with DALE WATSON & HIS LONESTARS

Clip #1
On March 7, 2006 we lost one of the most amazing dude's to ever walk this place, Jesse "Jake Guitar Hercules" Taylor. I am sharing these videos to let those of you who didn't know see a little taste, and for the rest of us, in memory of a great man & an amazing musician.

AUSTIN, Texas — Jesse "Guitar" Taylor feels closest to his art in the hours after midnight. It's the solitude that inspires him. The musician works best when his house is asleep, everything dark except for a desk lamp in a windowed alcove, the silence of the night broken only by the heavy groan of a freight train rumbling past, a block away, on the Missouri Pacific line.

On the best nights, Jesse Taylor — long renowned as one of the most intense, push-it-to-the-limits guitarists in town — will jam inside his house 'til dawn. With colored pencils.

"Drawing has become almost like an obsession for me," says Taylor, dozens of super-sharp pencils laid out in wooden boxes on the flat drawing table before him. "Sometimes, I don't start 'til 10 o'clock at night. And I'll say, 'I'm going to do this for one hour.' Then two hours later, I'll say that again. And the next thing I know, the sun is coming up."

Taylor's drawings have the primitive feel of folk art. They're notable for their whimsical juxtaposition of colors — cream and pastel set against peach, or electric oranges and reds against a bold ocean blue. He riffs on images of lotus blossoms and sunflowers. The sun. The moon. Quarter notes and guitar picks. Taylor is, after all, a man of music. Nothing will ever change that.

Does the name stir a memory? Jesse "Guitar" Taylor has been a rambunctious presence in Texas music for close to 40 years now. A native of Lubbock, he's probably most famous as the original guitarist in the Joe Ely Band — the man who made it his job to splash rock 'n' roll paints over the band's cool country canvas. A longtime Austinite, Jesse has played Antone's and the Armadillo, chummed with the Vaughan brothers and Tommy Shannon, toured with Billy Joe Shaver, Butch Hancock, Kinky Friedman, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Townes Van Zandt, jammed with Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters.

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[rocknloretta]

Thanks so much for sharing this great video. I miss Jesse so much when I go hear Joe play. There will never be Jesse Guitar Taylor. RIP

[LilEvie156]

I used to be friends with Jesse and his girl in the 80's in Texas -- How and when did he pass away? He was a really nice guy.

[4STRING1A]

why do you allow such filth from kenfeibon?

[skynyr]

neater'n hell

[sugaree53]

I miss all the times I saw him here in Lubbock. Peace Out Brother...

[txgeekgoddess]

Dave, thank you so much for posting these moments in time.