 James “Bo” Taylor is a member of the Cherokee Long Hair clan and was raised in the Wolfetown community on the Qualla Boundary.
As a boy, Bo Taylor danced in downtown Cherokee with Leroy Tramper. His grandfather, Larch Taylor, sang to him in the Cherokee language and also danced with him. Describing himself as “huge into the ancient ways,” Bo Taylor feels he has earned his Cherokee name of Come Back Wolf. He has “come back” to the traditional Cherokee ways from a time when he was a high school football star, but ashamed to be Indian. He has studied, practiced, and promoted his Cherokee heritage. Greatly influenced by his time spent with elders Walker Calhoun and Robert Bushyhead, Bo Taylor has learned the Cherokee dances and can read and write the Cherokee language. He has also learned songs and dances from wax cylinders that Will West Long recorded in the 1930s, and has taught these dances to children. Bo Taylor found his strength as a grass dancer at age nineteen, and since then has won many trophies, championships, and cash prizes. “Dancing paid my way through college,” he says. Bo continues to dance at powwows in the Southeast, in Oklahoma, and in Canada. His presentations to schools and other groups have covered the Southeast, and he also participates in the Educational Outreach Program of the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. He earned a degree in anthropology with a minor in Cherokee Studies from Western Carolina University and now serves as archivist at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. Bo Taylor’s programs include Cherokee dancing, powwow dancing, dance songs, and discussion of Cherokee history, culture, and stereotypes. He adapts his presentations to audiences of all ages and sizes, and always encourages them to participate in dancing and discussion. Bo Taylor is available for programs on dance, music, storytelling, and Cherokee culture for groups of all ages and sizes. |