As the drummer for Crosby,Stills,and Nash, Dallas Taylor certainly got off to a great start. He was part of the Los Angeles music scene at a time when magic was everywhere. Considered to be the American Beatles, CSN recorded their first masterpiece basically using Dallas Taylor on drums and Stephen Stills doing everything else!! Soon came Neil Young and they recorded several more records. Years later, Stephen Stills formed his band Manassas and of course Dallas was his choice for drummer.
I first met Dallas Taylor in 1981 while in Phoenix, Az. I was recording an album with Waylon Jennings at the Camelback studios there. We were in studio "A" and Dallas was in "B" doing his new record. Dallas and Trudy were living in Phoenix and would ask me over for dinner and, of course, the rest of the time we were busy doing tracks. Joe Schermie (bass player for Three Dog Night) was a mutual friend and during breaks the three of us played lots of tunes together amid studio chaos and interruptions.
In 1983, I was on tour with the Crickets (Buddy Holly) and we had several shows lined up in Los Angeles. Dallas and Trudy had left Phoenix and were back in L.A., so I invited them out to the gigs. He played me some new songs and we made plans to work together.In 1984, I moved to Los Angeles and Dallas rented me a small studio apartment downstairs in his house in Silverlake. We immediatly put a small studio together in my room based around the Teac Portastudio 4 track cassette recorder and started writing songs. Those tapes were definetly compromised as far as sound quality , but at that time, we just wanted to work so we made do. We did some sessions around Los Angeles in various studios hoping to get some attention from recently formed Modern Records or from anybody that would listen!!
In 1998, Dallas and I went all out and set up a digital studio. We are using the Mackie Digital Console with 3 Alesis ADATs and a Macintosh G3 using Visions software. I run directly into the console and play Neely Guitars thru the Line6 POD and the Digitech 2120. I love the digital gear. Anybody that has had to suffer through the transition to digital from analog would probably agree that the two formats both have their quirks. The computers and digital processors are so damn smart that at times they actually seem to be asking for a break!! it's like they're in the union or something!!
At present we are finishing our next CD and are hoping to pursue the MP-3 format available through our website coming soon.