TCB Band


The TCB Band was a group of professional musicians who formed the core rhythm section of Elvis Presley’s band from August 1969 until his death in 1977. The initialism TCB stands for Taking Care of Business, a personal motto Presley adopted in the early 1970s. Although personnel changed over the years, the original members were James Burton, Jerry Scheff, John Wilkinson, Larry Muhoberac and Ron Tutt. They first appeared live at Presley’s first Las Vegas performance at what was then known as the International Hotel on July 31, 1969.

History

When planning his return to live performing after his successful 1968 NBC television comeback, Presley had to replace original band members Scotty Moore, D.J. Fontana and Bill Black who had gone on to stardom with the Bill Black Combo before his death in 1965. Elvis’ first call was to guitarist James Burton, who was from Ricky Nelson's band whom he asked to help form the group after knowing about him for many years and seeing on television. After keyboardist Glen D. Hardin declined Burton's offer to join the group, Larry Muhoberac, who had played on several of Presley's movie soundtrack sessions, accepted his offer to perform. Burton later added Jerry Scheff on bass and John Wilkinson on rhythm guitar. Muhoberac suggested Ron Tutt for the drums to round out the section. By February 1970, Glen D. Hardin joined on keyboards, eventually replacing Muhoberac who returned to studio work in Los Angeles. At that time Bob Lanning, a Los Angeles session drummer joined on drums, replacing Tutt who returned later that year. TCB brought a new lease of life to Elvis's rock 'n' roll sound of the 50s. Larrie Londin, a Nashville session drummer who recorded and occasionally toured with Presley over a nine-year period, filled in for Tutt on occasion during 1976 and 1977 performances.
In 1975, Burton, Tutt and Muhoberac backed Johnny Cash on his album, John R. Cash.

Tours with other musicians: After the TCB Band disbanded

Before Presley's death in 1977, several former members from the TCB Band went on to form Emmylou Harris's Hot Band and The John Denver Band. These musicians include James Burton, Glen D. Hardin, Emory Gordy Jr. and Jerry Scheff. Burton left the Hot Band in 1976 and was replaced by English guitarist Albert Lee. Scheff was never a member of the Hot Band. Gordy left John Denver's band in 1980 and was replaced by Scheff. Burton, Hardin and Scheff remained in John Denver's band until early 1994, and was then replaced by Pete Huttlinger, Chris Nole and Alan Deremo.
After drumming a few years with the Jerry Garcia Band before Presley's death, Ron Tutt was invited by Neil Diamond to become Diamond's permanent concert and recording session drummer. Tutt's drumming has since become a feature to Diamond's concert shows, punctuating moments in the Diamond concert with his TCB Band style drum fills and cymbal crashes. Tutt is a workman celebrity drummer, and routinely receives concert crowd ovations when he appears and takes his seat at his drum kit. Noteworthy during concerts is Tutt's soaring drum work on the song, "Holly Holy". Tutt has been recording and touring with Diamond to the present day.
Tutt also appears on several of recordings by Nancy Sinatra.

Reunions (1979, 1981, 1987, 1997-present)

The TCB Band reunited with a new lineup to record their own album in 1979 of covers of Elvis Presley songs as a tribute. They also reunited in 1981 as the backing band for Tony Sheridan, augmented by Klaus Voorman and again mostly featuring Sheridan's recordings of Elvis Presley songs.
Several members of the TCB band also played with Roy Orbison in his 1987 live performance Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night.
Burton, Hardin, Scheff and Tutt reunited again in 1997 to perform , with John Wilkinson rejoining for the 25th anniversary concert in Memphis. Since then, Burton, Hardin, Tutt and Scheff have toured frequently together, typically backing Austrian singer Dennis Jale and his band, mostly playing music from Elvis Presley’s catalogue. They have also backed Greg Page of the Wiggles for two solo albums and some live concerts.
However, after the 30th anniversary concert in 2007, Scheff departed the band and was replaced on tour by Nathan East and Norbert Putnam. Wilkinson died on January 11, 2013, from cancer, at the age of 67. Putnam and East departed the band in 2013. The TCB Band currently continues to tour backing Dennis Jale and his band. In 2019, for the first time since 2014, the TCB Band will perform a new Elvis: The Concert-style show, alongside the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, combining elements from the 2016-2018 Presley/Philharmonic tours with the old 1997-2014 TCB Band tours.

Members

Current Members:
Former Members:

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id:lead value:teal legend:Lead_guitar
id:guitar value:green legend:Rhythm_guitar
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id:drums value:orange legend:Drums
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bar:James text:"James Burton"
bar:John text:"John Wilkinson"
bar:Jerry text:"Jerry Scheff"
bar:Larry text:"Larry Muhoberac"
bar:Glen text:"Glen D. Hardin"
bar:Ronnie text:"Ronnie Tutt"
bar:Bob text:"Bob Lanning"
bar:Eddie text:"Eddie Graham"
bar:Stump text:"Jerome Monroe"
bar:Emory text:"Emory Gordy, Jr."
bar:Duke text:"Duke Bardwell"
bar:Tony text:"Tony Brown"
bar:Larrie text:"Larrie Londin"
bar:David text:"David Briggs"
bar:Bobby text:"Bobby Ogdin"
bar:TonyS text:"Tony Smith"
bar:Norbert text:"Norbert Putnam"
bar:Nathan text:"Nathan East"
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bar:James from:01/01/1979 till:01/01/1980 color:lead
bar:James from:01/01/1981 till:01/01/1982 color:lead
bar:James from:01/01/1987 till:01/12/1987 color:lead
bar:James from:01/01/1997 till:end color:lead
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bar:John from:01/07/1969 till:16/08/1977 color:guitar
bar:John from:01/07/2002 till:16/08/2002 color:guitar
bar:Larry from:01/07/1969 till:01/01/1970 color:keys
bar:Jerry from:01/07/1969 till:01/03/1973 color:bass
bar:Jerry from:01/06/1975 till:16/08/1977 color:bass
bar:Jerry from:01/01/1979 till:01/01/1980 color:bass
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bar:Jerry from:01/01/1997 till:01/01/2010 color:bass
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bar:Emory from:01/01/1979 till:01/01/1980 color:guitar
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bar:Stump from:07/12/1975 till:07/12/1975 color:drums
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bar:Bobby from:01/03/1977 till:16/08/1977 color:keys
bar:Norbert from:01/01/2009 till:01/01/2014 color:bass
bar:Nathan from:01/01/2009 till:01/01/2014 color:bass