Larry Joe Taylor, musician and music fan

| April 11, 2014 | Reply
First printed in Buddy Magazine, By Mary Jane Farmer, Scene In Town

“You can’t say no to Larry Joe!” — Deryl Dodd

 

Larry Joe Taylor (right), and Dave Perez

Larry Joe Taylor (right), and Dave Perez

Twenty-six years ago, Larry Joe Taylor decided to host a CASI-sanctioned chili cook-off, and while he was at it, might as well go ahead and add some music to the day’s activities.  There were about 100 people there, he said. Now, he is hosting it all, again, with the next Larry Joe Taylor Texas Music Festival running from April 21-26. That’s a 6-day event, compared with the first 1-day, and organizers expect more than 50,000 people there over those six days. And the chili cook-off is still an integral part of it all.

“It started,” Larry Joe said, “after I’d been playing the World Championship chili cook-off for a few years and met the chiliheads and wanted to be more involved. We had that first one in Mingus. The chili cook-off was bigger than the music festival. “And then it just happened to come around again, the next year, and there were twice as many people that year, maybe 200 people.”

He was using borrowed or rented land then, and moved it to Possum Kingdom for the 3rd year, then to Glen Rose a few years later. Next, Meridian, where “we stayed for five years. Then Melody Mountain (Stephenville). We held it here for two years before we bought the place.” Taylor added that they didn’t even call it an annual event until the 7th year. “Now, this is our 12th year here,” he added.

His son, Zack, who for years was also the drummer in his band, was the driving force that changed it from a mom-and-pop small-but-fun festival to a well-oiled organization. “That was in the late 1990s when he got involved and it really started growing,” Taylor said proudly. “It turned into a festival instead of a bunch of songwriters getting together.” Zack is the organization’s general manager, handling the day-to-day logistics necessary to carry it all off without a glitch. Larry Joe said his involvement includes getting the musicians, mostly songwriters also, and the advertising. Together, they not only produce the annual Texas Music Festival, but also an event in Red River, N.M.’s city park, a yearly cruise in January each year, and the Rhymes & Vines fest, also at Melody Mountain Ranch, in the fall.

“Zack graduated from college with a marketing degree. Before he got involved, we maybe had one sponsor,” Larry Joe said. “Now, a big portion of our income comes from sponsorship, and he’s developed a sponsorship program. With more money, we can get more music. It’s a full-time job for Zack.”

ABOUT LARRY JOE TAYLOR

Interspersed between all the festivals, Larry Joe and his band have developed quite a following, much of it on the Gulf Coast. “I guess I’ve created a little niche for Texas music there, we call it ‘coastal and western’,” he said with the hint of a smile. “It wasn’t contrived. I just wrote a few songs about the coast and people really started liking them, so I wrote some more. I think my fans expect these, and if I put out a record without a coastal flare to it…,” well, he let that thought drift.

Taylor began playing guitar and piano before his teens. “I always liked it, but when I really started getting into music was when I heard Kris (Kristofferson) and Guy Clark and Stephen Fromholz, and Jerry Jeff…” That list could have continued, but the point was clear. And that was during the first revision of Texas music, in the 1970s. “That’s when I learned what it was I wanted to do.”

Zack began drumming at the same early age, said the proud father. When he got older and out of high school, that talent let them spend more time together. “I still do spend time with him, every day. We talk every day about strategy. Sherry (Larry Joe’s wife) was really ready to be at home, and not on the road. Me? I don’t think I could be on the road or at home all the time.”

Songwriting is a vital part of Taylor’s music experience, something he hangs on to like a life preserver thrown to him in the gulf coast waters.

“I make an appointment with myself, or I take a week and maybe go to the coast and stay with friends who have boats. I make my notes all through the year and write, and when I co-write, it’s by schedule for a couple of days.” He’s co-written with Gary P. Nunn, Guy Clark, Chuck Pyle, Dave Perez, Davin James, Keith Sykes, and those are only the most recent of the songwriting champs he’s worked with.

One thing that Zack is adamant about, Larry Joe said, is having something new at every festival. As an example, he created unique seating high above the main stage for special ticket holders one year. That proved popular. Last year, they began hosting Bloody Mary mornings in the new T-Birds bar on the ranch. This year, they will be opening the gates on Monday. “We don’t expect there will be a lot of people here, but it’ll be fun.”

One thing Larry Joe and just about everyone — festival fan or organizer — hopes is that it won’t be cold again this year. Last year’s late weather episode of cold and rain mixture didn’t help things at all. About five years ago, Taylor said, “we had a thunderstorm which doesn’t mix well with the electricity required to put on a festival. But, we moved the show from the Bud Light (main) stage over to the Allsup (daytime) stage, which is covered. We used a smaller PA system, and everybody was huddled under the (permanent) canopy, but it worked and was fun.”

The Taylors have been a friend to their songwriting buddies, too. Stephen Fromholz, who passed away earlier this year, “lived on our ranch a year while recovering from his heart attack, but he never quite made it back.” To commemorate that special songwriter, there will be a Stephen Fromholz tribute at this year’s festival, with several other songwriters and friends giving tribute to their buddy.

Larry Joe is still a fan, and said he is adamant about making the 400 acres on Melody Ranch fan-friendly. “My main purpose (during festivals) is to hang out with the artists and show them a good time; and, we go out together to the campground every day and hang out with people. Normally, we go out and pitch horseshoes and washers with groups already doing that. I think people really appreciate that. At a lot of festivals, you can’t even get close to the artists. It’s a lot of fun for us and for the attendees. We just pull up to somebody’s campground, and they sometimes can’t believe it.”

It’s always fun for Larry Joe when he can be a part of the nighttime campfire circles. They aren’t structured. He says anyone can be a part of any of them, just start walking and listening for music. These happen after the stage shuts down and some go on until sunup. Some will have only a couple of musicians picking together, and others may have 500 people huddled together, listening. Larry Joe makes a lot of them, he said.

Festival regular performer Deryl Dodd said that Larry Joe has a gift of bringing people together, especially songwriter. “He loves songwriters, he loves music. And he’s a very humble, doesn’t talk about all the things he’s done.” Dodd said he is extremely helpful and when he sees people with songwriting ability, talent, he will put them on his shoulders and take them all out. He wants them to be heard. He’s a wonderful human being.”

All the LJT events are staffed with paid personnel. “We learned years ago that it just works better this way, rather than with volunteers. We have more than 200 people working all the time. We have a security company from Dallas and off-duty officers from the local Sheriff’s Office and police departments. Security is one thing we feel you just can’t have too much of. We take security really seriously,” Taylor explained.

Taylor talked about those 50,000 people coming through the gates each April. “It’s not all at the same time. And many are repeats. There’s never that many at any one time.”

The chili cook-off is Saturday morning. Jimmy and Beth Moon have not missed a chili cook off yet, Jimmy said. “We have never won it, but we always cook. And we always go to this festival, and it’s as much about our friends meeting us there. Some even come from California for it every year, and it’s like reunion time.” They have their same camping spot each year, something Zack and Larry Joe offer, and that is to let returnees have their same spot before they begin assigning out camping spots to newcomers.

“I am a musician and a fan,” Larry Joe said. “I want them to always come, always want to come. We try to cater to them when they come in. Also, being a music fan, I know we have to be able to know what fans and campers need. If there is something lacking, we try to fix it before the next year. Without catering to the fans, you would just have a bunch of musicians, and sponsors. We try to improve every year.”

“I don’t know anyone who cares more about Texas music, musicians, and fans than Larry Joe Taylor,” said musician Dave Perez, of the Tejas Brothers, who is a regular at the Texas Music Festival.

Larry Joe, like Tommy Alverson and his yearly Family Gathering, invites winners of various band contests to have a slot in his festival line-up. He even has a songwriters contest on the ranch, in the new T-Birds Bar. “This used to be open to anybody who wanted to walk up and play a couple of songs. We wanted to make it exclusive, and now we have people send in songs. We narrow it down to 20 songwriters, and pick one from those 20 to play the festival,” Larry Joe explained. “We do this because the radio stations support us, and it’s a way to support them back. Also, we receive 1,000 press kits a year from people who want to play our festivals, and this gives them another avenue for the possibility of playing it. This gives them another way to beat the odds. Buffalo Ruckus, from the Hurst/Denton area, won the recent White Elephant Saloon contest, and will be playing the LJT fest for their first time in April.

“The festival is and has been a labor of love,” Dodd concluded. “It’s about people having fun, getting along, and enjoying music, a real Utopia at Melody Mountain Ranch.”

 

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In the music production business, including event production, booking, photography, reporting, and other such essentials, since 1980.

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