CLARENCE “TATER” TATE

• From Gate City, Virginia.
• A pioneering bluegrass fiddler.
• Began his career in country music in the late 40’s, and was introduced to bluegrass when he worked with Bill Monroe for eight months in 1956.
• Mid-60’s, worked with The Shenandoah Cutups—a group that backed the late Red Smiley on several albums.
• 1977-79, worked with Lester Flatt and the Nashville Grass.
• 1979-84, worked with Wilma Lee Cooper’s Clinch Mountain Clan.
• 1984, re-joined Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys playing bass.
• 1992, inducted into the Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame.
• Died in 2007.