Steam Powered Preservation Society

The Steam Powered Preservation Society (SPPS) is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the preservation of our musical heritage. The mission of the SPPS is to preserve and share archival tapes of significant historical value, and to make them available for educational use. The tapes we are currently working with are known as "The Tut Taylor Tapes."



Tut Taylor



Tut Taylor, also known as "Tutbro" has been recording Americana string bands since the 1950s. His endeavor started as a way to learn the music but it became much more. Over the years, he used many tape recorders, but his collection of tapes became a path through history. Taylor's massive collection of over 500 tape recordings needed to be saved, as it represented a half a century of acoustic music.



This collection consists of over 500 reel to reel and cassette tapes of Tut Taylor and various legendary figures in the American music scene. Your donations go 100% to taking this project to the next level, not to mention keeping the server alive!



If you are a taper/archivist type and have experience tracking shows, we could use your hands-on help with the project get in touch. Let us know about your experience & point us to something you've worked on.



Once the music is extracted and archived, the tapes will be donated to the International Bluegrass Music Museum (IBMM). The SPPS will provide the IBMM, Taylor, and anyone appearing on these tapes (or their families if the artist is no longer with us) with digitized copies as they become available. Our goal is to give this music to the trading community at no cost. We will not be selling CDs, and will not make any money from the project.



This task will be a lengthy one due to the age of some of the tapes, and the time required to perform the digitizing. Also, this is an expensive endeavor. Although we have achieved much of the initial cost, we still need donations and contributions for the project to reach its successful completion. We need your support and financial help. Please consider supporting the effort through a tax-deductible donation or by becoming a dues-paying member of the SPPS.



The SPPS also needs donations of: blank dvdrs, cdrs, postage, new 160 gig (or greater) hard drives, new pcs, and free co-location space. If you have something to offer, please let us know!