ROLLINGSTONE.COM — See Vince Gill, James Taylor’s Heavenly Take on ‘Bartender’s Blues’

By Joseph Hudak

On Tuesday night in Los Angeles, an all-star cast of musicians came together to benefit the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Vince Gill, James Taylor, Chris Stapleton, Joe Walsh and Kacey Musgraves anchored the ninth annual L.A. installment of All for the Hall, and the highlights were many, including a heavenly version of Taylor’s “Bartender Blues.”

Originally recorded for Taylor’s 1977 JT album, the ballad was later cut by George Jones and served as the title track to his 1978 Bartender’s Blues LP. Onstage at the Novo by Microsoft theatre, Gill kicked off the song, with Taylor joining him on the chorus and later taking “the smoke fills the air” verse. But it’s the harmonies that distinguish the collaboration, as Taylor’s lived-in voice complements Gill’s high notes.

Through it all, Walsh, Stapleton and Musgraves look on in rapt attention, aware that they too are privy to something special.

Musgraves even teared up at one point, after Gill asked Taylor to sing “You’ve Got a Friend,” in honor of golf legend Arnold Palmer, who died over the weekend. Said Musgraves, “I’m actually crying. That’s so sweet.”

source: http://www.rollingstone.com/country/news/see-vince-gill-james-taylors-heavenly-bartenders-blues-w442630

LATIMES.COM — Review: Stars swap songs in L.A. at Country Hall of Fame benefit

By Randy Lewis

Education is a key mission at Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

That made the 11th edition of the organization’s annual All for the Hall benefit concert and fundraiser an ideal companion piece. Emcee and 20-time Grammy Award winner Vince Gill and guest participants James Taylor, Joe Walsh, Kacey Musgraves and Chris Stapleton offered a potent and illuminating master class on the transformative combination of words set to music for their audience at the Novo theater in L.A.

In a dressing room backstage before the concert, Walsh, Gill and Taylor spoke of the vital avenue of self-expression music can offer.

“If you ask each one of us how important music was when we were kids, it was everything,” said Gill, who also serves as president of the hall’s board of trustees.

“Probably even more so because we were creative-minded people, we were going to take to this way more than math and science. It’s been proven that to stimulate your brain and make it work appropriately, you need to engage the creative side of your brain. Economics, unfortunately, dictates that out of schools pretty quickly — it’s the first thing to go.”

Added Eagles lead guitarist and songwriter Walsh, “Kids who are musical, if they can find an instrument that they can express themselves with, that’s all they do. Young guitar players practice for hours, and they used to play video games. And it’s analog, it’s not digital. There’s no music in the schools, so they text. They Facebook. But you give a musical kid an ax [instrument] and you fix that.”

The assemblage of singers and songwriters then took turns performing, doing so in the style of Nashville “guitar pull” nights. It’s a tradition closely associated with Johnny Cash and June Carter, who for years famously hosted such round-robin sessions at their home.

Gill opened with a song he’d written recently, saying the  guitar-pull tradition usually involved musicians sharing what they were working on rather than their greatest hits. His was a salute to one of his musical heroes, Merle Haggard, a touching tribute in which he sang of feeling “all alone in a world without Merle Haggard/It’s a world I thought I’d never see….If I could have one last song/It’s Merle I would choose.”

Each artist shared stories about what inspired them to write certain songs, or bits of their struggle before finding success. Taylor topped them all, introducing “Something in the Way She Moves,” the song he used for his audition when he became the first outside artist signed to the Beatles’ Apple Records in 1968.

“I sang it for Paul McCartney and George Harrison,” the 68-year-old musician said to incredulous looks from those around him onstage. “I was rather nervous. I don’t know how I got through — I really don’t.”

Musgraves brought some welcome levity and dazzling wordplay with her opening number, “Family Is Family,” from the 28-year-old Texas firebrand’s sophomore album, “Pageant Material.”

Seated center stage, next to 38-year-old Stapleton and three veterans more than twice her age, she easily held her own with sharply defined songs that have injected much needed fresh expression and spirit into mainstream country music since her 2013 debut, “Same Trailer Different Park.”

Stapleton added the deep blues-R&B streak that has helped him find a broad audience since the release last year of his debut solo album, “Traveller.” He sang “Whiskey and You,” and one of the songs he wrote in and about Los Angeles, with co-writer Dan Wilson, “When the Stars Come Out,” showcasing his soulful side.

“I closed my eyes for a minute and thought it was Al Green,” Walsh said after Stapleton’s first offering.

Walsh relied not on high-energy Eagles hits such as “Life in the Fast Lane” or even his pre-Eagles signature number “Rocky Mountain Way.” Instead, he offered more introspective material in keeping with the generally melancholy mood that prevailed Tuesday.

At the end, however, he exchanged the acoustic guitar he’d been playing for an electric Fender Stratocaster to reel off some bluesy licks behind Taylor during his reading of the jokey “Steamroller Blues,” which Taylor described as “a song that takes longer to play than it did to write.”

Before the evening’s stars came onstage, the crowd took in a performance by about 40 sixth graders from Dorris Place Elementary School near Cypress Park, beneficiaries of the hall’s Words & Music educational outreach program, for which Tuesday’s event and another benefit earlier this year in Nashville have generated $900,000, according to a museum spokeswoman.

They spent time recently working with Nashville songwriting pros Liz Rose and Phil Barton to explore their own creative potential, culminating in their collective performance of a song, “Far and Wide,” that they composed under the pair’s tutelage.

Happily strumming along on ukuleles provided them for the event, the students sang that “Life is a wild, wild ride” and “Hey, it’s good to be alive.”

source: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-country-hall-benefit-stapleton-taylor-20160926-snap-story.html

THEMUSICUNIVERSE.COM — ‘James Taylor At Christmas’ gets vinyl release

In celebration of its 10th anniversary, James Taylor’s holiday classic, James Taylor At Christmas, will receive its vinyl debut just in time for the holiday season, ensuring you’ll have the perfect record to spin on the turntable to soundtrack your festivities. The record, which will be available on black 150-gram vinyl, will be released September 23rd via Universal Music Enterprises (UMe).

James Taylor At Christmas is a collection of 14 timeless holiday classics recorded by five-time Grammy-Award winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee James Taylor throughout the years. Taylor puts his spin on seasonal favorites, offering up his jazzy renditions of “Winter Wonderland,” featuring famed trumpeter Chris Botti, and “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town,” his unique take on “Jingle Bells,” a heartwarming rendition of “The Christmas Song” (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire), and a moving version of George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” which Taylor recorded with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Other tracks include his playful duet with Natalie Cole (“Baby, It’s Cold Outside”), a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “River,” his take on the spiritual “Go Tell It On the Mountain,” “Mon Beau Sapin,” a French rendition of “O Christmas Tree,” and to cap off the year, the New Year’s classic “Auld Lang Syne.”

source: http://themusicuniverse.com/james-taylor-christmas-gets-vinyl-release/

BROADWAYWORLD.COM — James Taylor’s Holiday Classic, James Taylor At Christmas, To Be Released On Vinyl For First-Time Ever In Celebration Of Album’s 10-Year Anniversary

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ In celebration of its 10 th anniversary, James Taylor’s holiday classic, James Taylor At Christmas, will receive its vinyl debut just in time for the holiday season, ensuring you’ll have the perfect record to spin on the turntable to soundtrack your festivities. The record, which will be available on black 150-gram vinyl, will be released September 23 via Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) and can be pre-ordered here: http://smarturl.it/JamesTaylorXMasLP

James Taylor At Christmas is a collection of 14 timeless holiday classics recorded by five-time Grammy -Award winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee James Taylor throughout the years. Taylor puts his spin on seasonal favorites, offering up his jazzy renditions of “Winter Wonderland,” featuring famed trumpeter Chris Botti, and “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town,” his unique take on “Jingle Bells,” a heartwarming rendition of “The Christmas Song” (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire), and a moving version of George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” which Taylor recorded with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Other tracks include his playful duet with Natalie Cole (“Baby, It’s Cold Outside”), a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “River,” his take on the spiritual “Go Tell It On the Mountain,” “Mon Beau Sapin,” a French rendition of “O Christmas Tree,” and to cap off the year, the New Year’s classic “Auld Lang Syne.”

As a recording and touring artist, James Taylor has touched people with his warm baritone voice and distinctive style of guitar-playing for more than 40 years, while setting a precedent to which countless young musicians have aspired. Over the course of his celebrated songwriting and performing career, Taylor has sold more than 100 million albums, earning gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards for classics ranging from Sweet Baby James in 1970 to October Road in 2002. In 2015, Taylor released Before This World, his first new studio album in 13 years, which earned him his first ever #1 album on the Billboard Charts and a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album. He has won multiple Grammy Awards and has been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the prestigious Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2012, Taylor was awarded the distinguished Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government and the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony. In November of 2015, Taylor was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation’s highest civilian honor.

source: http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwgeeks/article/James-Taylors-Holiday-Classic-James-Taylor-At-Christmas-To-Be-Released-On-Vinyl-For-First-Time-Ever-In-Celebration-Of-Albums-10-Year-Anniversary-20160914#

BOSTONHERALD.COM — James Taylor, Jackson Browne collab a home run

By Jed Gottlieb

Collaborations have added an awesome energy to this concert season: John Mayer playing with members of the Grateful Dead, Sting and Peter Gabriel touring together, Paul McCartney inviting Rob Gronkowski to dance onstage to “Helter Skelter.” Wait, scratch that Gronk/Macca team-up.

Last night, James Taylor returned to Fenway Park, this time with Jackson Browne in tow. Both performed sets full of deep cuts and songs everybody knows by heart with crack bands. But the night’s most musical, joyous moments came when the two shared the stage.

Browne invited Taylor to join him on “For a Rocker” and Eagles hit “Take It Easy,” which Browne wrote with Glenn Frey. Taylor may be the bigger star, but he spent the two tunes grinning ear to ear — eternal nice guy, he even tried to help the guitar tech swap Browne’s instruments.

Later Taylor returned the favor when he interrupted his string of favorites to bring Browne to lead everyone through “Doctor My Eyes.” All night long JT held the park in his hand only to defer to his buddy during the encore. And he was right to — the hot band cracked and popped as the two friends dueted through the minor masterpiece.

JT constantly champions his musicians — he made sure to hug or shake hands with each band member after he introduced them. But the icon probably could have wowed the crowd alone with his guitar.

Last week, Taylor told the Herald that Fenway has a unique energy, that the place gets “people on their feet quicker.” While the baby-boomer-dominated sold-out house spent a lot of time in their seats, the Massachusetts native spurred them into whoops, cheers and a half-dozen standing ovations.

As well-worn as his catalog is, Taylor’s classics rang bright and true. The simple picking of “Walking Man” turned a stadium into a temple. The opening harmonies of “Carolina in My Mind” echoed around the grandstands. The sloppy, sweaty, funky blues of “Steamroller” proved the man doesn’t only do AM gold nuggets.

During a maddening and divisive political season, Taylor detoured from his best-known stuff to celebrate the nation and promote unity. He followed a tender rendering of “America the Beautiful” with his own “Shed A Little Light,” a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. and his teachings.

Browne’s opening set also slid in a plea for peace, new song “The Long Way Around,” which he dedicated to local John Rosenthal and his organization Stop Handgun Violence. But he spent most of his time singing his hits with a voice straight out of 1977 — “The Pretender,” “Running on Empty” and more.

Taylor told the Herald he’d be interested in making summer Fenway shows a tradition. Boston clearly likes the idea. How about bring Carole King along in 2017?

source: http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/music/2016/08/james_taylor_jackson_browne_collab_a_home_run

THEBERKSHIREEDGE.COM — James Taylor, for love of the Berkshires

By David Noel Edwards

Lenox — James Taylor has been carrying on a torrid love affair that’s been a public secret ever since his first Tanglewood performance more than four decades ago. His lover? The Berkshires and all the friends and neighbors who, along with Taylor, call the place home. They’re the ones who turned out on Monday, July 4 to hear Taylor’s annual summer concert at Tanglewood. Technically speaking, it was a lovefest.

As soon as Taylor walked onto the Shed stage, he removed his “lid” (his word for hat), and took a long, deep bow. And then another. The crowd cheered and rose to their feet. He doesn’t bow like that for any other audience, and they know it.

There’s certainly nothing new about popular music fans adoring the objects of their bliss. But not all pop stars return their fans’ affection the way James Taylor does, and few express it so openly.

Before starting the concert with his latest arrangement of “Something in the Way She Moves,” Taylor goofed around unhurriedly to establish a light-hearted rapport with his audience, and he maintained an atmosphere of casual familiarity throughout the evening. It’s his way of setting the stage for the best possible James Taylor concert. His jokes about the newest songs in his set were hilarious: “I know you’re all saying: ‘No goddamn new music!’ but,” he explained, “it’s kind of like removing a band-aid: We’ve got to do, but it’ll be over before you know it.” Roars of laughter.

The new songs were fantastic, especially “Frozen Man.”

Taylor then held up a poster-sized set list and pointed to all the old hit songs he’d be playing during the evening. “I’ve anticipated your every need!” he proclaimed. Everyone laughed, but they knew he wasn’t kidding; Taylor arranges his sets not for the commonplace purpose of expressing himself but for the humble purpose of pleasing his fans.

The Band of Legends

Pop stars of James Taylor’s stature can attract and engage the finest musicians in the world. That’s what Taylor did decades ago, and many of his original band members still record and tour with him. This is why the Boston Symphony Orchestra bills Taylor’s concerts as “all-star” affairs.

This was the band’s lineup on Monday night:

Steve Gadd — drums

Jimmy Johnson — bass

Michael Landau — guitars

Larry Goldings — keyboards

Luis Conte — Latin percussion

Lou Marini — horns, flute

Walt Fowler — horns

Arnold McCuller — background vocals

Andrea Zonn — fiddle and background vocals

Kate Markowitz — background vocals

All of these musicians have online articles of their own. Check out their links.

Taylor’s wife Kim and son Henry helped out with background vocals on a number of songs, most notably “Shower the People,” and a few other numbers (like “Mexico”) that want extra voices in the choruses.

Keeping it fresh

James Taylor and band are experts at making old songs sound fresh. They’ve done it masterfully with the cover tunes Taylor is famous for i.e., “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You),” and they take the same approach with Taylor’s own songs. “Sweet Baby James” is a good example. Audiences around the world keep requesting it, so Taylor keeps the arrangement as fresh as he needs it to be to maintain his own sanity. This makes the song’s opening measures something of a mystery. But soon comes the payoff, that aha moment of recognition when Taylor sings, “There is a young cowboy . . .”

At this point, some folks cheer, others purse their lips and scrunch up their faces. An old man holds his breath and discreetly wipes moisture from his eyes.

“Steamroller Blues” sounds new every time Taylor performs it, because blues music is essentially improvisational: No two performances are ever identical. That’s what gives this song’s instrumental solos such searing intensity.

“Steamroller” made a strong impression when it first appeared on Taylor’s 1970 breakthrough album, “Sweet Baby James.” It’s been one of his concert standards ever since and is now a colossal, high-energy showstopper in Taylor’s live shows.

One could reasonably expect a performance of “Fire and Rain” to sound a bit stale in 2016. After all, the song is 46 years old, and Taylor gave the thousandth performance of it more than 15 years ago.

Taylor keeps his performances of “Fire and Rain” fresh by exercising a rare gift.

All musicians benefit from audience feedback, but James Taylor has his own way of working with an audience to inspire himself and shape his vocal performances in service to his fans.

In an NPR interview, Taylor described his approach to performing “Fire and Rain.” It starts with a connection to his audience:

“It helps,” Taylor said, “to have an audience there receiving it, because then you want it to happen for them, too.” He continued, “Making music for an audience is a communal process. And so, you know, they’re resonating with it, I catch that, too. That’s contagious.”

Of course, not every performer who says such things is capable of implementing these insights as effectively as Taylor.

We’ll never completely understand how he does it, but James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” vocal on Monday night was heartbreaking.

Something in the way he sings . . .

On any of his recordings, one can recognize James Taylor’s kindly voice in just one syllable. The timbre of his voice is that distinctive. But it’s just one ingredient in a cocktail of musical elements that we hear in every vocal performance he gives. The other ingredients are mysterious but almost quantifiable.

As a singer, James Taylor is so good that even if he weren’t a world-class songwriter — if he’d never written “Fire and Rain” or “Close Your Eyes” — he’d still have gotten hits with the innumerable cover songs he’s released over the last 40 years or so.

Why do so many people love James Taylor’s singing? For the same reasons they like Frank Sinatra’s singing. The timbre of Taylor’s and Sinatra’s voices matters, but the reason their vocal performances are effective is found in the musical choices they make as they navigate their way through a song’s verses and choruses. In other words, it’s all about their phrasing.

* * * * *

On Monday, July 4, as always, James Taylor’s Tanglewood audience came away satisfied. His love affair with the Berkshires and with the fans, friends, and neighbors who live there is unlikely to end any time soon. Certainly not within his lifetime.

source: http://theberkshireedge.com/tanglewood-james-taylor-love-bekshires/

TUSCON.COM — James Taylor’s cool answer to Tucson’s hottest day

By: Cathalena E. Burch

It took James Taylor about 30 minutes Sunday night to realize he was a bit overdressed for Tucson’s hottest June 19th on record.

He was in the midst of introducing drummer Steve Gadd and was going to shake his hand when he shucked his suit coat. He then unbuttoned the top button of his long-sleeved dress shirt and rolled up the sleeves.

Several members of the audience loosely filling Tucson Arena shouted “Hydrate” as Taylor took a swallow from a water bottle on his mic stand.

“Yeah, it’s a dry heat,” Taylor quipped, adjusting his signature newsboy hat. “And so is my toaster. Was it 120 today? That’s toasty.”

But it was anything but toasty in the arena, thanks to the blast of cold coming from the air conditioner and the breeze of cool coming from Taylor and his 10-piece band.

Anyone who expected a quiet stroll down memory lane — one that called for planting yourself in your assigned seat and politely applauding after songs that went back 30, 40 years — were happily misled.

Taylor, 68, showed us that he is every bit the entertainer he was in his prime, only these days he does it with a sense of abandon. See, Taylor has nothing to prove; he’s earned his place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the sales and radio play charts, and atop the various most-played song lists with a catalog of near iconic hits from “You’ve Got a Friend” to “Fire and Rain.” He doesn’t need to dress them up with fancy stage lights and props, although he had some pretty nifty video complements Sunday night that flashed city scenes and some cool lighting effects.

His show Sunday night was all about breaking down walls that separate audience and artist. We felt like we were all gathered in a big campfire circle telling stories and singing songs. When a woman in the crowd yelled out “I love you James Taylor!” the singer jokingly responded, “You brazen hussy,” a comment that generated a rush of laughs and applause.

Taylor told stories about the inspiration behind several songs including being homesick in England when he wrote “Carolina In My Mind,” an ode to his boyhood home. When he sang it, he was joined by a quiet chorus that coursed through the arena — voices that grew more pronounced during “You’ve Got A Friend.”

With few exceptions, Taylor sounded as remarkably nuanced and strong voiced as he did at the beginning of his career in the mid-1960s on songs including the inspiring come-together plea of “Secret of Life” and the lovers lament of “I Was A Fool to Care.”

He got vocal assists on “Shower the People” from his 15-year-old son Henry and longtime backup singer Arnold McCuller, who sang the bluesy wail at the end with the passionate conviction of Sunday morning preacher.

There were so many songs from so many milestones in the lives of the audience, many of whom were well north of their 50s. He mixed and mingled old — the lullaby “Sweet Baby James,” the toe-tapping “Mexico,” a rocking cover of Eddie Floyd’s “Knock on Wood” and the nostalgic reminiscence of “Copperline” — with new from his latest album “Before This World.” Taylor promised — as he does every night when he pulls out the new material — to make it fast, like pulling off a bandage. Besides, he assured them, his new songs sound a lot like his old songs, written from that place where he seems to always retreat when he writes.

The crowd cheered him on through the rocking “Today Today Today,” the ballad “You And I Again” and the folksy “Montana.” One man in the back even shouted out a request from that album — the baseball-inspired “Angels of Fenway,” which Taylor penned in honor of his favorite team the Boston Red Sox. The song recalls the “Curse of the Bambino,” the long World Series drought that fans believe was directly linked to Boston selling Babe Ruth to New York Yankees.

Of course, Taylor added in his ever optimistic way, droughts eventually end; the Red Sox won the Series in 2004.

source: http://tucson.com/entertainment/music/james-taylor-s-cool-answer-to-tucson-s-hottest-day/article_54c01af2-36b5-11e6-9f67-bf1e8755bd41.html

TIMESCOLONIST.COM — James Taylor creates setlist for his Canadian fans

By Mike Devlin

ire and rain were metaphors for the darkness that permeated the early part of James Taylor’s life, but the singer-songwriter known as J.T. eventually made his way through the storm, brightening the darkest nights of his many fans in the process.

Taylor had some grey days himself, many decades ago, the result of an extended period of depression and heroin addiction. Songs he wrote as coping mechanisms endeared him to millions, however, making the North Carolina-raised musician one of the biggest stars of the 1970s, if not the decade’s top singer-songwriter.

Taylor, 68, is back on one of his famous creative rolls, selling out large venues with a hit record, 2015’s Before This World, currently in stores. Taylor’s first batch of new material in 13 years, and the first of his 50-year career to debut at No. 1 on the sales charts, has led to a world tour that includes 15 dates in Canada, the final two of which are Friday in Victoria and Saturday in Vancouver.

The songs Taylor and his band are playing on the tour are bursting with pathos, a marked characteristic of an acclaimed catalogue that included eight Top 40 hits by the end of 1976. As a writer, Taylor shares with his audience the joy, pain, success and failure of his life. Winter, spring, summer or fall, he’s there, like a friend.

In concert, the Massachusetts-based performer is all smiles. An all-American musician with a golden throat and lovable disposition, Taylor still nails every nuance, and is enjoying life as a legend with few peers.

Genuine is a word that is often used to describe the five-time Grammy Award winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member. Generous is another adjective used to describe him and, true to form, he spends the intermission of his current concerts perched at the front of the stage, signing autographs for fans.

His concerts are veritable love-ins, on account of the bandleader’s desire to keep his audience entertained.

“I remember going to see [jazz singer] Sarah Vaughan once,” Taylor said during an interview with the Times Colonist, “but none of the songs she played resembled in the slightest what I was expecting to hear. It was interesting to a certain extent, but I really did want to hear Sarah Vaughan perform those [original] arrangements.

“We’re aware of that. We are playing the songs as they ideally have become, but they’re still definitely recognizable as the songs as people know them.”

He’s on the road with a show that was once billed as James Taylor and His Band of Legends. These days, his concerts are attributed to James Taylor and His All-Star Band, which is equally accurate. Taylor’s 10-piece group sports no shortage of in-demand players, from keyboardist Larry Goldings and percussionist Luis Conte to saxophonist Lou Marini and drummer Steve Gadd. Given his well-known kindness, which pairs nicely with his talent, it’s no wonder Taylor is able to recruit the best of the best.

Taylor is equally impressed by their abilities.

“That I get them to play my music, that’s sort of the real honour,” he said. “That’s the real golden ring.”

He has enjoyed his trip through Canada over the past month, as he feels a close connection to the country. Between his two dates in Newfoundland, Taylor went “iceberg hunting.” And after learning of the situation in fire-ravaged Fort McMurray, Taylor said he would donate all proceeds from his shows in Edmonton and Calgary to the Red Cross and its wildfire relief efforts.

What’s more, Taylor said his setlist on this run of dates is tailored for his Canadian fans.

His version of the Carole King hit You’ve Got a Friend closes the majority of his concerts in other markets. Taylor and his band have been closing sets in Canada with Wild Mountain Thyme, in part because “it seems to be a song Canadians know,” Taylor said. “Another thing I love about playing in Canada.”

Taylor said he also took to playing 1991’s The Frozen Man while he was in the Maritimes, because “Maritimers know about the Franklin expedition” and would likely have some knowledge of the failed Arctic voyage.

“We do have a set that is for Canada, and we’re aware of the fact that we haven’t been there for six years, and haven’t been to [some cities, including Victoria] since 2008. We’ve got four new songs in the set, but we’re also including stuff that we assume our Canadian audience wants to hear.”

Taylor said he likes to keep things malleable at his concerts. There is plenty of material to choose from, and many directions in which his band can travel musically.

“It’s a constant evolution of the song, and a constant perfection of it, in a way. It is not jazz — we’re not out there to play a different version of the song every night. It’s almost as if we’re there to perfect the version we’ve been working on, and that happens. You can hear the arrangements suddenly change.”

New songs are going over well in concert, he said, but there is no denying the pull of nostalgia that hits when his most famous material — Fire and Rain, Carolina in My Mind, Sweet Baby James, Country Road and How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) — comes up in concert.

“We’re definitely happy to play those songs,” Taylor said. “So much of it comes from what the audience response is. It’s not a one-way street. It really is a communal experience, what happens in a concert.

“I wouldn’t sit down here in my hotel room, take out the guitar, and play myself You’ve Got a Friend. But playing it in front of an audience is a totally different experience. We’re very, very keyed in to what they respond to. That’s why we’re there.”

source: http://www.timescolonist.com/james-taylor-creates-setlist-for-his-canadian-fans-1.2274111

EDMONTONJOURNAL.COM — James Taylor charms Edmonton audience with quips, tunes at Fort McMurray benefit concert

By FISH GRIWKOWSKY

Ridiculously charming in front of his oscillating 10-piece band, James Taylor mystically turned the NHL rink into an intimate soft-seater, his perfect sound defying the AM radio roots of these songs we all first loved at least a lifetime back.

“I love you, too. Kind of you to say that,” Taylor said with a smile Tuesday night. “A little awkward, I guess.”

The singer’s first act at Rexall Place was to remove his paperboy hat with a warm smile and sit right down with his acoustic and get into 1975’s Wandering and ’77’s Secret O’ Life.

“Thanks for bringing us back to Edmonton,” 68-year-old Taylor purred, noting all profits for this and his Calgary Saddledome show go to the Red Cross for Fort McMurray wildfire relief. “We thank you for that, too.” On a related note, he laughed of the large band, “When they heard they weren’t getting paid tonight they decided to get drunk — a little loose.”

The impressive outfit helped him rework a jazzy version of Buddy Holly’s Everyday. “Chaque jour,” he joked, “a little equal time for French.” Then, back to ’74, Walking Man. A night of classics, three songs in …

The new Today, Today Today — “aujourd’hui” he chuckled thrice — and the vertical plinths flanking the stage lit up into autumn-shaded Cajun skyscrapers.

Energetically punching out 1970’s Walking on a Country Road, Taylor first explained: “It’s basically about nature as church — hippy bulls–t kind of thing.” After, Blues Brothers saxophonist Lou Marini got a lot of yelps from the in-house 6,000.

God Have Mercy on The Frozen Man was a sentimental, fan-fiction shoutout to the Franklin Expedition, doing the North Carolina landscape-painting Copperline, then, before playing the epic Carolina in My Mind, explained how he listlessly hopped over to London in ’68, making a demo, which “got me an audition with Paul McCartney and George Harrison. I was clinically nervous, like a chihuahua on methamphetamines. They signed me up, so I was discovered by the Beatles.

“Just wish I could remember some of it.”

Besides sounding great, he was so funny. Responding to a yelled request before Carole King’s Up on the Roof, he held up his chalk set list: “I wrote it down so I wouldn’t forget. I’ll let you know.”

Responding to someone yelling for King, Taylor said, “I’ll let her know you enquired after her.”

Fire and Rain was yearning, haunted, tearjerking, Steve Gadd’s drumming masterful. Ovation time. Remember when this was pop music, roots or not?

Shed a Little Light took us to the halftime break.

“I don’t know why we do that,” deadpanned Taylor. “I just stand behind the curtain and look at my watch for 20 minutes.”

Talking about the second set, he said, “Mostly it’s just jam-packed with hit after hit,” noting his list was written on “some sort of roofing material. It’s strong yet flexible. Like I like my women!

“The old jokes are best!”

After signing bras and hockey cards from the stage all intermission, Taylor false-started with Snow Time, a meanderer over-set in Toronto (complete with Canadian flag, ugh), but we soon shot straight up with 1971’s stratospheric You’ve Got a Friend. This, he dedicated “to the people trying to go home up at Fort Mac.”

Chuck Berry’s The Promised Land got the full-on blues all greasy and writhing on the kitchen table, studio-Kevin-Bacon Jim Cox rolling it out on the piano. The massive, 40-year-old Shower the People followed, played straight, projected blood cells churning as Arnold McCuller’s killer voice pierced our drums.

The Boston-born singer played Angels of Fenway, about the Red Sox finally winning the World Series after Babe Ruth’s 86-year curse after he was traded to the Yankees. Sweet Baby James calmly echoed all the way from from 1970, the handsome singer raising his eyebrow for the lullabye, then pulled out his Fender, doing bizarre, froggy, speaking-in-tongues blues caricatures for Steamroller, kicking over his stool.

Next, including sombreros, Mexico proved Taylor’s hand in the rise of Jimmy Buffet. A Vegas’ed-up Your Smiling Face followed, spinning us deeper onto the cruise ship, Handycam holiday videos overhead on the big screen.

Encore: a soulful rock and roll museum including Eddie Floyd’s horn-muscled Knock on Wood and, from Marvin Gaye’s orbit, How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You).

Great show overall with a bit too much processed nacho cheese in the second half, Taylor is nonetheless easily summed up in one word: amazing.

source: http://edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/music/james-taylor-charms-edmonton-audience-with-quips-tunes-at-fort-mcmurray-benefit-concert

FARGOMONTHLY.COM — What A 20-Something Learned At The James Taylor Concert

The delight in seeing James Taylor at the Fargodome last night was twofold. One, his smooth voice and catchy songs were backed by a talented all-star band that provided an entertaining show. However, the main delight was from seeing my mom relive her life as he played from his 50 years of musical repertoire.

One of the perks of the job is being able to see many of the bands that come to Fargo. Last night, I was able to treat my loving mother to the Taylor concert. My main memory of Taylor is from the CD player as my mom and I cooked supper when I was a kid. Last night, those memories came crashing back. From the opening song “Wandering,” Taylor kept a steady blend of music and jokes coming.

What struck me as most interesting part of the show was watching the faces of the audience, which was filled with mostly people in their 50s, 60s and 70s, as they were transported back to where they were at in life from when they first heard his songs. My mom sang along and knew every word to most of his songs and you could see the smile grow larger as he performed his megahits like “Fire And Rain.”

The show wasn’t just good for nostalgia reasons. It was a treat for anybody who’s a fan of good musicians. His all-star band alone could have held the interest of everybody at the Fargodome. Consisting of notable musicians like“Blue” Lou Marini of the Blues Brothers and drummer Steve Gadd, they showed off their chops on many of the songs with impressive solos. Taylor ran through hits like Buddy Holly’s “Everyday,” “Going to Carolina,” and “Fire and Rain” in the first set alone.

As the second set came up, Taylor kept performing and telling stories. Perhaps the most musically impressive song, “Steamroller” showed off the band’s chops with its blues rifts and solos. As Taylor went into his encores of “Knock on Wood” and “How Sweet it is,” I looked at the smile on my mom’s face and realized that while we might not be cooking supper together anymore, we still have James Taylor’s music.

source: https://www.fargomonthly.com/entertainment/james-taylor/