Longtime DMB keyboardist quits
After a decade of recording and performing with Dave Matthews Band, keyboardist Butch Taylor has quit the group on the eve of a 52-city tour. In a written statement on the DMB website announcing the personnel change, the band writes, “We’re saddened by this sudden news, but he has our full support. He’s given so much to us and our audience through the years, and he will be missed.”
When the Hook attempted to contact Taylor at his Richmond home, the person who answered the phone hung up when she learned she was speaking to a reporter.
While never officially a member of DMB, Taylor began playing with the group when the Charlottesville-based band recruited him to sit in on the sessions for their 1998 album, Before These Crowded Streets. Taylor was already well acquainted with the quintet, having played in Richmond-based jazz combo Secrets along with drummer Carter Beauford and saxophonist LeRoi Moore. Since then, Taylor has played on every DMB album and at every show with the band since their summer 2001 tour, including their two-night stand at JPJ in 2006.
Of course, Taylor isn’t the only former DMB keyboardist. Charlottesville’s Peter Griesar was a founding member of the band, but he parted ways with his bandmates in 1993, just before they signed their major label deal with RCA.
Will this leave the door open for Griesar’s return? The piano man did not immediately return the Hook’s call for comment.
–Photo by Andrew Ferguson
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Butch will be GREATLY missed. That’s it. That’s the truth.