Larry Tagg

Last updated

Larry Tagg is an American rock musician, songwriter and producer; a retired high school English and drama teacher; and also an American Civil War historian. [1] He was co-leader of the band Bourgeois Tagg in the 1980s with Brent Bourgeois and has released two solo albums. After Bourgeois Tagg broke up, Tagg worked as a staff songwriter for Warner/Chappell Music. Tagg has also published a number of works on Civil War history. Tagg is the older brother of musician Eric Tagg. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Born in Lincoln, Illinois, Tagg grew up in Illinois and Dallas, Texas. As a high school senior in 1969 he attended a concert by Jimi Hendrix, walked backstage, and talked with drummer Mitch Mitchell. [3] He graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in Philosophy and was awarded a teaching assistantship at the University of Texas but left after one semester. [3]

Bourgeois Tagg

Tagg moved with Brent Bourgeois to California's Bay Area, and in the late 1970s they played in a Sacramento band called Uncle Rainbow, which included members from Texas and other parts of the South. In 1984, they moved to Sacramento and formed Bourgeois Tagg with guitarist Lyle Workman, drummer Michael Urbano, and keyboardist Scott Moon. Bourgeois played keyboards, Tagg played bass, and they both shared lead vocal duties.

They released a self-titled debut album in 1986, which produced a hit single "Mutual Surrender (What a Wonderful World)." The following year, they released their second album, Yoyo, which was produced by Todd Rundgren, and had another hit, "I Don't Mind at All," which reached the Top 40 on the Billboard chart.

During this period Bourgeois struggled with addiction to drugs and alcohol. When fellow musician and drinking buddy Charlie Peacock began going to church, Bourgeois followed and became a Christian. Latent conflicts became exacerbated by Bourgeois' trend toward Christian lyrics and the band split [4] in 1989 while working on a third album. [3] The band members appear on Rundgren's 1989 album Nearly Human , and they toured as part of Rundgren's backing band.

Tagg also played as part of Hall & Oates touring band. [5]

Staff songwriter

During the 1990s Tagg worked as a staff songwriter for Warner/Chappell Music. Some songs he wrote were recorded by Kim Carnes, Eddie Money, Lee Ritenour, Jenni Muldaur and others. [5]

Solo recordings

Tagg released two solo albums: 1995's With a Skeleton Crew and 1997's Rover. [6] All five members of Bourgeois Tagg appeared on With a Skeleton Crew, with all but Scott Moon playing on the track "1/2 Yes, 1/2 No." Tagg has said that the song was written for the third Bourgeois Tagg album that never materialized, so with Lyle Workman's help, he recorded the song himself. [7]

High school teacher

By the mid-1990s Tagg had a family, and no longer wanted to remain on the road. [8] He became an English and drama teacher, and lead teacher of the arts academy, at Hiram W. Johnson High School in Sacramento. [9] He began writing in his spare time and has written numerous books on Abraham Lincoln. [10] He taught English, literature, and creative writing at C.K. McClatchy High School in Sacramento, CA until retiring in 2017 to conduct more research on Lincoln. [11] [12] [ failed verification ]

Historian

Tagg has written a number of books on Civil War history:

Described by a reviewer as "a thumbnail sketch biography of each of the infantry commanders who took part in the battle, from the brigade level up. ...should find a home on the bookshelves of those readers whose special interest is Gettysburg." [13]

The Green Grass Snakes

Tagg is a member of The Green Grass Snakes, a Sacramento-based band that covers songs by The Beatles and other groups from the 1950s to 1980s.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Meade</span> United States Army general and civil engineer (1815–1872)

George Gordon Meade was a United States Army Major General who commanded the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War from 1863 to 1865. He fought in many of the key battles of the Eastern theater and defeated the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia led by General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John F. Reynolds</span> Career officer of the United States Army

John Fulton Reynolds was a career United States Army officer and a general in the American Civil War. One of the Union Army's most respected senior commanders, he played a key role in committing the Army of the Potomac to the Battle of Gettysburg and was killed at the start of the battle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lysander Cutler</span> Union Army General of the American Civil War

Lysander Cutler was an American businessman, educator, politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He served as a Union Army officer through almost the entire American Civil War, notably commanding the famed Iron Brigade of the Army of the Potomac. He rose to the rank of brigadier ganeral and received an honorary brevet to major general. Earlier in his career, he was a member of the Maine Senate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David B. Birney</span> Union Army general of the US Civil War

David Bell Birney was a businessman, lawyer, and a Union general in the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel W. Crawford</span> Union Army General

Samuel Wylie Crawford was a United States Army surgeon and a Union general in the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John C. Caldwell</span> American Civil War general and diplomat (1833–1912)

John Curtis Caldwell was a teacher, a Union general in the American Civil War, and an American diplomat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred Iverson Jr.</span> Confederate Army officer in the American Civil War

Alfred Iverson Jr. was a lawyer, an officer in the Mexican–American War, a U.S. Army cavalry officer, and a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He served in the 1862–63 campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia as a regimental and later brigade commander. His career was fatally damaged by a disastrous infantry assault at the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. General Robert E. Lee removed Iverson from his army and sent him to cavalry duty in Georgia. During the Atlanta Campaign, he achieved a notable success in a cavalry action near Macon, Georgia, capturing Union Army Maj. Gen. George Stoneman and hundreds of his men.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albion P. Howe</span> American general

Albion Parris Howe was an American officer who served as a Union general in the American Civil War. Howe's contentious relationships with superior officers in the Army of the Potomac eventually led to his being deprived of division command.

<i>Nearly Human</i> 1989 studio album by Todd Rundgren

Nearly Human is a 1989 album by the rock musician Todd Rundgren, released by Warner Bros. Records. It was his first release in four years, although he had been active as a producer in the intervening years. Many of the album's songs deal with loss, self-doubt, jealousy and spiritual recovery. It was also the first collaboration between Rundgren and Michele Gray, a singer and ex-model who helped to organize the sessions. Gray sang backing vocals, both on the record and on subsequent tours, and the pair later married.

Michael Urbano is an American musician, programmer, and record producer.

Brent Thomas Bourgeois is an American rock musician, songwriter, and producer. He was co-leader of the band Bourgeois Tagg with Larry Tagg, and has released several solo albums. His later work has been classified in the genres pop and contemporary Christian music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James J. Archer</span> Confederate States Army brigadier general (1817–1864)

James Jay Archer was a lawyer and an officer in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War. He later served as a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army (CSA) during the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William T. Wofford</span> Confederate States general (1824–1884)

William Tatum Wofford was an American military officer who saw action in the Mexican–American War and later served as a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

The Battle of Gettysburg, also known as the Gettysburg Cyclorama, is a cyclorama painting by the French artist Paul Philippoteaux depicting Pickett's Charge, the climactic Confederate attack on the Union forces during the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. After being commissioned by Chicago investors, Philippoteaux studied the battlefield and interviewed participants, completing the cyclorama in 1883. A Boston version of the cyclorama was later made, as well as two other major copies. After being displayed in several other locations in whole and in part, the Boston version was taken to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and was displayed there beginning in the 1910s. In 1942, it was purchased by the National Park Service. The cyclorama has been restored multiple times and is on display at Gettysburg National Military Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Stuart (brigadier general)</span> Union Army officer and politician

David Stuart was a politician and lawyer who served as an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Born in Brooklyn, Stuart moved with his father to Michigan, where the younger Stuart was a lawyer. After serving for a term in the United States House of Representatives from 1853 to 1855, he moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he practiced law. His reputation was destroyed by a scandal relating to a divorce case. In 1861, Stuart raised two regiments for service in the American Civil War. On October 31 of that year, Stuart became the colonel of the 55th Illinois Infantry Regiment. He led a brigade at the Battle of Shiloh, where he was wounded in the shoulder on April 6, 1862. After commanding a regiment during the Siege of Corinth later that year, Stuart was appointed brigadier general on November 29, 1862. He led first a brigade, and then a division at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou in December, and also led a division at the Battle of Arkansas Post in January 1863. On March 11, 1863, Stuart's promotion to brigadier general was rejected by the United States Senate for unknown reasons. He resigned from the army in April and returned to the practice of law, dying in 1868.

Lyle Dean Workman is an American guitarist, composer, session and touring musician, and music producer. His music has been widely distributed since his debut on the eponymous Bourgeois Tagg album in 1986, and is known for his work as composer and bandleader for the Superbad soundtrack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodore P. Savas</span>

Theodore P. Savas worked an attorney for many years, was a former adjunct college instructor, and is an entrepreneur, award-winning author, and award-winning publisher. He is the co-founder and majority partner of Savas Beatie, an independent book trade publishing company that specializes in military and general history, and especially the American Civil War. He writes and speaks about Civil War topics, as well as the American Revolutionary War, and WWII German U-boats.

The American Civil War bibliography comprises books that deal in large part with the American Civil War. There are over 60,000 books on the war, with more appearing each month. There is no complete bibliography to the war; the largest guide to books is more than 50 years old and lists over 6,000 titles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noah Andre Trudeau</span> American historian (born 1949)

Noah Andre Trudeau is an American historian who has written books and produced programs for National Public Radio.

Eric J. Wittenberg is an American Civil War historian, author, lecturer, tour guide and battlefield preservationist. He is a practicing attorney in downtown Columbus, Ohio. His published works have focused especially on the Civil War cavalryman and the cavalry battles of the Civil War, with emphasis on the Army of the Potomac's Cavalry Corps. His first book, Gettysburg's Forgotten Cavalry Actions, was chosen as the best new work addressing the Battle of Gettysburg in 1998, winning the Robert E. Lee Civil War Roundtable of Central New Jersey's Bachelder-Coddington Award. The second edition of this book, published in 2011, won the U. S. Army Historical Foundation's Distinguished Writing Award for that year's best reprint. In 2015, his book The Devil's to Pay: John Buford at Gettysburg won the Gettysburg Civil War Roundtable's 2015 Book Award. He was a member of the Governor of Ohio’s Advisory Commission on the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War and has been active with several Civil War battlefield preservation organizations. He and his wife Susan Skilken Wittenberg reside on the east side of Columbus, Ohio.

References

  1. ↑ Tagg, Larry. "Larry Tagg". Linkedin.
  2. ↑ "About Eric Tagg". Amazon.com. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Backpage author bio in The Unpopular Mr. Lincoln (2009), unnumbered last page
  4. ↑ "Artist Biography by Stacia Proefrock". AllMusic . Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Larry Tagg -- in brief". Rocemabra.com. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Larry Tagg - Album Discography". AllMusic . Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  7. ↑ "1/2 Yes, 1/2 No". Rocemabra.com. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
  8. ↑ "Unpopular Mr. Lincoln - Larry Tagg (About The Author)". Amazon.com. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  9. ↑ "High School Reform in Sacramento". Newsreview.com. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Books By Larry Tagg". Amazon.com. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  11. ↑ "C.K. McClatchy High School Staff Directory". Ckm.scusd.edu. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Larry Tagg Retirement Video". YouTube . Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Book Review: The Generals at Gettysburg". Historynet.com. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.