Clarence "Tater" Tate
Musician · 1931–2007 · Gate City, Virginia
Best known for
Fiddle
Clarence "Tater" Tate was a first-call sideman fiddler and bassist whose recorded output across more than half a century made him, by many counts, the most-recorded bluegrass fiddler in the music's history. He held permanent or long-running chairs with most of the genre's first-generation bandleaders.
- Born February 4, 1931 in Gate City, Virginia; picked up the nickname "Tater" during a 1948–1950 Knoxville stint, courtesy of radio personality and grocer Cas Walker.
- Joined Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys briefly in 1956–1957 on fiddle.
- Joined the Timberliners, the Martha White spinoff fronted by Hylo Brown under the Flatt & Scruggs umbrella, in the late 1950s.
- Recorded and toured extensively over the following decades with Wilma Lee Cooper, Don Reno, and Red Smiley.
- Released solo and small-group fiddle albums on Revonah and other labels, including Tater Tate, Fiddler & His Lady.
- Returned to the Blue Grass Boys in his later years on bass, becoming a steady member of Monroe's road band.
- Died October 17, 2007 at his home in Jonesborough, Tennessee.
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Red Smiley and the Bluegrass CutupsPlayed on recordings with Red Smiley and the Bluegrass Cutups
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Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass BoysPlayed on recordings with Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys
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Lester Flatt and the Nashville GrassPlayed on recordings with Lester Flatt and the Nashville Grass
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Red AllenPlayed on recordings with Red Allen
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Hylo BrownPlayed on recordings with Hylo Brown
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Curly Seckler and the Nashville GrassPlayed on recordings with Curly Seckler and the Nashville Grass
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Jim EanesPlayed on recordings with Jim Eanes
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Patty LovelessPlayed on recordings with Patty Loveless
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Bill Clifton and Red RectorPlayed on recording with Bill Clifton and Red Rector
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Jim and Jesse and the Virginia BoysPlayed on recording with Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys
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Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain BoysPlayed on recording with Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys
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Marty StuartPlayed on recording with Marty Stuart