Taylor Road Show-World Music Nashville

My favorite guitar company rolled into town again last night for a Road Show, and I had a front row seat with my friend Mark, for what was a super fun evening of hearing some great music and playing some great guitars. As usual, the great staff at World Music Nashville hosted a fun event and had the store stocked with drinks and food for the guests, which was a “treat” as well.

Barney Hill, the Taylor sales rep for TN and a few other states, did the presentation, along with guitar great Marc Seal doing all the product demos. I met Barney last year at the Road Show that he did along with Andy Lund, which I wrote about here, and I met Marc a few years ago at the Fret Shop in Huntsville, AL at another Road Show, when I bought my Builder’s Reserve SolidBody, which I wrote about here. They also had Sam Eakins with them, who is a factory trained Taylor tech, and I had him check out one of my guitars and do a bit of work on it during the show. Sam was great to talk to and incredibly knowledgeable.

I arrived early to hang out with them and help unload and set up, but also to get a sneak peek at anything that they had with them that I could not live another day without. That wound up not being the case, but I still had a great time with the guys, and enjoyed some Starbucks with Marc while we chatted about the possibility of working together at some point in the future. Marc, Barney and Sam (and everyone else affiliated with Taylor) are some of the nicest guys I have ever met in the musical instrument business and it was such a fun night being around them.

The show itself was great as always, as they conducted it in the usual way with the first half of the show talking about acoustics and the second half being about electrics. Along the way they talked about body shapes, woods, innovation and manufacturing techniques, and some special limited edition guitars that they brought with them. Between the two halves of the show was the “petting zoo” which allows us to go up and play any guitar present and my friend and I took full advantage of that. I personally played a 35th Anniversary T3, a new BTO 8 string Baritone, an all mahogany BTO Grand Concert, a BTO Grand Symphony, several SolidBody electrics, one with a tremolo that I was very interested in playing to see if that is going to be my next guitar, and a few 12 strings as well. Lots of cool guitars to choose from.

Once the show was over, I stuck around and played guitars for another 35-40 minutes and then had the pleasure of going out for a late dinner with Barnie, Marc and Sam to Blackstone, where we had a blast talking about guitars, our favorite music stores, bands, travelling, and life in general. They really are sincere people that enjoy spending time with customers and you are never looked upon or treated as someone that is “just a sale.” It was a late night, but a great night, and I am very thankful for their generosity to me and allowing me to hang with them.

There is another Road Show in Clarksville in a few months with the same crew, and I plan on being there to enjoy another great night of music and guitars. Although I won’t be able to recommend a restaurant for dinner . . .