Shoji Tabuchi

Early life

Shoji Tabuchi was born April 16, 1944 in Daishoji, Ishikawa, Japan. When Tabuchi turned 7, his mother encouraged him to learn how to play the violin under the Suzuki Method. Tabuchi always loved American country music and vowed that one day he would make it to America.

On the path to success

In the mid-1960s, Tabuchi was a sophomore in college and had heard that Roy Acuff, of the Grand Ole Opry, was coming to Osaka, Japan. Tabuchi went to his concert and got to meet Acuff backstage. Acuff told Tabuchi that if he was ever in Nashville, to look him up. Acuff's music inspired Tabuchi to pursue country/bluegrass music.

When Tabuchi was in college, he formed a band called The Bluegrass Ramblers, which led them to win a national contest in Japan. He decided to travel to the United States with his violin and only $500. Tabuchi had lived in San Francisco, Kansas City, and Louisiana. Then he eventually moved to Nashville, to meet Acuff. Acuff was true to his word and arranged an appearance for the young Japanese fiddler on the Grand Ole Opry. Tabuchi later made numerous appearances on the Grand Ole Opry.

The Shoji Tabuchi Show

Tabuchi arrived in Branson, Missouri around 1980, after performing successfully for a few years. He took a gamble and built one of Branson's most elaborate theaters, which was finished in 1990, and began his show, now going on 28 years. Besides country music, the Shoji Tabuchi Show also has incorporated polka, gospel, Cajun, Hawaiian, rap, rock, and patriotic music.

Tabuchi developed a loyal fan base through his Branson show. He employs about 200 personnel at his elaborate 2,000-seat theater, where he performs two shows daily during most of the year, often selling out the shows.

The "Shoji Tabuchi Show" captured significant interest through its feature on RedLetterMedia's web series "Best of the Worst." Its Volume III VHS debut occurred during the first "Wheel of the Worst" episode, released on April 30, 2013, quickly sparking considerable fascination and conjecture among the RedLetterMedia audience. The tape was finally viewed on the fourth Wheel of the Worst episode which premiered on RedLetterMedia's website on February 28, 2014. It was voted "best of the worst."

Family

Mary Jo, a patron at a financial-district restaurant where Tabuchi played for tips, became his first wife in 1968, after which he became an American citizen. They moved to Kansas City, and Tabuchi began performing at the Starlite Club in nearby Riverside. In 1974 the couple had a son, Shoji John Tabuchi. Tabuchi began performing at venues in Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma, but his marriage broke up under the pressure of his constant touring.

After moving to Branson, Missouri in 1980, he met his second wife, Dorothy Lingo, after she attended several of his shows at the Starlite Theater; and he became the stepfather to her two children from a previous marriage. Currently Lingo helps with numerous aspects of The Shoji Tabuchi Show such as choreography, costumes, and the theater's interior design. Tabuchi was sometimes accompanied by his step-daughter, Christina. One step-son, Thomas Jason Lingo-Tabuchi, died at the age of 19. There is a scholarship in his name at a Branson school music department and a community center in Oak Grove, Louisiana, named in his honor.

Selected discography

Country Music My Way [ABC/Dot, 1975]
After Dark, Shoji Entertainments
Songs for Mark Koeper, Shoji Entertainments
Different Moods: Collection One, Shoji Entertainments
Fiddlin' Around, Shoji Entertainments
Live from Branson, Shoji Entertainments
Notes from Shoji, Shoji Entertainments
The Shoji Tabuchi Show! Vols. 1–4, Shoji Entertainments
Songs for the Lord, Shoji Entertainments