Show Host Profile
The Tater of Monsoon Down the Radio and Sunday Mornin' Comin Down
An Aesthetic History of Tim “The Tater” Staley
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Act One
After an exceptionally long germination period, The Tater emerged from the lurid, red clay soil of Montgomery, Alabama, with a silver microphone six inches from his mouth. He was stored in the cool, dry crook of a tenor saxophone. At the dawning of his puberty, in New Orleans where Canal Street dumps into alluvial fan and stumbles on into the Gulf of Mexico—what notes bobbed in his headphones that day? Branford Marsalis, Royal Garden Blues, flipping sides automatically on a knock-off Walkman. What’s next, two cassettes from his brother Scott: "The Car’s Greatest Hits" and John Cougar’s "Uh-Huh." Don’t forget the vinyl his college-bound brother Dan left at home for him to spin: "Night and Day" by Joe Jackson and "Let’s Dance" by David Bowie. Act Two The young Tater was raised on microwave burritos, cheap beer and brick weed. He was disrespectful to most adults, attending church three times a week but also engrossed in Bukowski’s Tales of Ordinary Madness and wearing out a tape with "Coltrane’s Giant Steps" on one side and "My Favorite Things" on the other. Tater turned 16 in 1991 as the jam-band phenomenon burst like a nitrous balloon across the country and left his face heavily ladled. Tater’s first Dead show was at The Omni, in Atlanta, in 1992; upon arriving to his seat a stranger with daisies in her hair turned to him and asked, are you dosed? |
Act Three
In 2001 Tater gave his life to line breaks and moved from the Deep South to earn an MFA in Poetry from NMSU. Giving your life to poetry means giving up on money and this helped him listen better to the world. As a graduate student, he hosted Tater’s Pickin’ Americana on KRUX from 2001 to 2004. He surrendered all his Grateful Dead bootleg tapes to The Salvation Army on East Idaho Ave, and all his old CDs to KTAL-LP where he’s been on air since their humble beginnings in 2014.
Tater's program's Monsoon Down the Radio airs exclusively on KTAL-LP on Fridays from 5 to 7 p.m. and is rebroadcast on Sundays from 8 to 10 p.m. He is also the co-host of Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down (with Dr. Johnny Huerta) which you can hear Sundays from noon to 1 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.
In 2001 Tater gave his life to line breaks and moved from the Deep South to earn an MFA in Poetry from NMSU. Giving your life to poetry means giving up on money and this helped him listen better to the world. As a graduate student, he hosted Tater’s Pickin’ Americana on KRUX from 2001 to 2004. He surrendered all his Grateful Dead bootleg tapes to The Salvation Army on East Idaho Ave, and all his old CDs to KTAL-LP where he’s been on air since their humble beginnings in 2014.
Tater's program's Monsoon Down the Radio airs exclusively on KTAL-LP on Fridays from 5 to 7 p.m. and is rebroadcast on Sundays from 8 to 10 p.m. He is also the co-host of Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down (with Dr. Johnny Huerta) which you can hear Sundays from noon to 1 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.