Country musician Joe Taylor dies at 89

Country musician Joe Taylor dies at 89

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Peter Cooper





Country musician Joe Taylor, whose “He’s a Cowboy Auctioneer” was recorded by Country Music Hall
of Famer Tex Ritter and who worked shows with Ernest Tubb, the Everly Brothers, Bill Anderson,
Johnny Cash and many more, died Thursday, March 24 in his Avilla, Ind. home. He was 89 and had
battled heart problems.

Mr. Taylor, whose daughter Paula Jo Taylor is a Nashville-based musician, was among the
best-known country performers in the Hoosier State. He fronted Joe Taylor and the Red Birds for
more than a half-century, and his decision to remain in Indiana rather than attempt to forge a career
in Nashville inspired daughter Paula Jo and son Dan to write the biographical song “Big Fish in a Little Pond.”

Mr. Taylor relished his prominent position in Indiana country music, recently signing autographs in a
hospital for a bedridden woman who wanted to meet him: “They rolled him over to her room, and he
sang to her,” said sister-in-law and Red Birds member Patty Corbat.

Corbat also recalled a trip to the Grand Ole Opry in which Mr. Taylor found himself backstage, around
a bevy of Opry performers. He began to introduce himself to country star Steve Wariner, who quickly
stopped him with an, “I know who you are: You’re Joe Taylor.” Wariner went on to explain that when
he was a child, he went to one of Mr. Taylor’s shows at Buck Lake Ranch in Angola, Ind., and that Mr.
Taylor invited him onstage to play with the Red Birds.

A funeral service will be held Thursday, March 31 at 12:30 p.m. at Hockemeyer & Miller Funeral Home,
6131 St. Joe Road in Fort Wayne, Ind.


SOURCE : HERE