Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: August 3, 1922 - Steve L. Taylor

Cowboy Steve Taylor, photo Guy Mendes from www.aceweekly.com



From The Notable Kentucky African Americans Database -
Steve Taylor was a radio station owner, WSEV in Lexington, KY. In 1969, the signal reached a block, maybe two blocks, from his Jefferson Street studio near Fourth Street. The studio also served as his one-room apartment. WSEV was a country radio station with ad lib commercials, all broadcast by Taylor from a self-built transmitter. For more than 10 years, three or four nights per week, around 6:00 p.m, The Cowboy Steve Show was broadcast to neighbors. Taylor's previous radio station, at his home on Brown Street, had a much weaker signal and was difficult to pick up outside his home. With that station he and friends had played live music, five nights per week. Taylor was a self-taught player of the guitar, fiddle, and mandolin. At the age of 14, he had started his first country music band, the group played in the Lexington vicinity and had a few engagements in Cincinnati. Taylor was also a song writer, three of his songs were recorded, two by Esco and Jackie, and one by the Rogers Sisters. Steve L. Taylor died in 1993 and is buried in Lexington Cemetery. For more see G. Mendes, "The Cowboy Steve Show," in the last issue of the Blue-Tail Fly, 1971, no. 11, pp. 12-14 [available full-text online at Kentucky Digital Library]. The article was reprinted in the Chevy Chaser Magazine, October 2006, pp. 40-43 & 45.