HUFFINGTONPOST.COM — John Kerry Decides The Best Way To Apologize To France Is To Have James Taylor Perform

By Paige Lavender

Secretary of State John Kerry was in France Friday to try and mend relations after top U.S. officials were criticized this week for not sending a more high-profile representative to a Sunday unity rally in Paris.

But Kerry didn’t make the trip alone — singer/songwriter James Taylor also attended an event at the Paris city hall, serenading the French people with his hit “You’ve Got A Friend.”

Before his trip, Kerry said he wanted to give a “big hug” to the French people. He gave a speech in French there on Friday and laid wreaths of white lilies and red roses at the sites of the two terrorist attacks — at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical weekly magazine, and another at a kosher supermarket.

While Sunday’s unity rally was attended by the U.S. ambassador to France, the White House admitted Monday it was wrong to not have “sent someone with a higher profile.” More than 40 world leaders were present at the event.

source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/16/john-kerry-james-taylor-france_n_6486050.html

LIBERATION.FR — Charlie’s got a friend

ANNETTE LÉVY-WILLARD

John Kerry est venu prendre dans ses bras la France en deuil, «to give a hug» en version originale, a amené son ami James Taylor, pour nous chanter «You’ve got a friend».
«When you’re down and troubled and you need a helping hand … You just call at my name and you’ll know, wherever I am, I’ll come running to see you again…. All you’ve got to do is call and I’ll be there, yes I’ll be there, you’ve got a friend.»

James Taylor en personne, avec sa voix douce nasillarde qui a fait chavirer des millions de fans s’installe avec sa guitare. L’Hôtel de Ville de Paris n’avait pas prévu de transformer la conférence de presse de John Kerry ce vendredi 16 janvier, en festival rock, donc la sono n’est pas très Woodstock. Mais en pro, Anne Hidalgo se précipite pour lui tenir un micro supplémentaire pendant toute la chanson fétiche «You’ve got a friend.»

Ce n’est plus du rattrapage pour boucher le trou très remarqué à la place qu’aurait dû occuper Obama à la tête de l’événement historique du 11 janvier (bug absolu des conseillers de la Maison blanche). C’est toute l’efficacité hollywoodienne pour faire passer le message : «La France’s got a friend, Charlie’s got a friend» Ou l’Amérique ne vous laissera jamais tomber. Le décor est parfait, dans les murs de cet Hôtel de Ville, symbole de la Libération de Paris dont on vient de fêter l’anniversaire, il y a 70 ans. Rappelons que deux mois plus tôt, les Alliés avaient débarqué en Normandie…

«LE POUVOIR DE LA LIBERTÉ D’EXPRESSION VAINCRA»
Kerry en une journée, ce vendredi, déposera des gerbes devant les lieux des massacres, Charlie Hebdo et l’Hyper Cacher, il rencontrera Hollande et Fabius, et c’est à l’Hôtel de Ville qu’il choisit de parler. En anglais (pour les télés américaines) et en français (pour nous) , mettant au chômage les interprètes. Il parlera de lui, de sa mère sur son vélo pendant la guerre qui lui a appris notre langue, et il parlera des victimes, les unes après les autres, loin du langage diplo, des «éléments de langage» produits par les fonctionnaires.

Kerry avait été le premier à envoyer un message très émouvant, en français déja, le jour même de la tuerie. Le 7 janvier, dans une vidéo, le Secrétaire d’Etat américain disait : «Les journalistes assassinés aujourd’hui sont des martyrs de la liberté.» Et il ajoutait avec conviction (on espère qu’il a raison) : «Aujourd’hui, demain, en France, à travers le monde, le pouvoir de la liberté d’expression vaincra.»

Il est donc revenu à Paris pour continuer ce message très fort qui aurait dû culminer avec son président Obama marchant dans les rues de la capitale. Le célèbre James Taylor, «un ami du Massachusetts» a tenu à accompagner Kerry, ancien sénateur de cet état. A défaut de la Marseillaise qui nous fait dorénavant pleurer d’émotion depuis dix jours, le «You’ve got a friend», chanté d’une voix cassée sous les ors de l’Hôtel de ville de Paris, «que ce soit l’hiver, le printemps ou l’automne appelle-moi et tu sais, où que je sois, je viendrai en courant, oui en courant, et je serai là…» Il est donc là. We’ve got a friend.

Annette

source: http://annette.blogs.liberation.fr/2015/01/16/charlies-got-friend/

TIMESLEADER.COM — Taylor delights crowd with long list of hits

By Brad Patton

Legendary singer-songwriter James Taylor brought an all-star band and two sets full of classics to the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza on Monday.

The five-time Grammy winner and inductee of both the Songwriters and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame, now 66, looked fit as a fiddle as he strolled onto the stage in a plaid shirt, sweater and jeans and picked up his acoustic guitar. Taylor was in fine voice throughout the evening as he sang his hits and a couple of new tunes while fondly reminiscing about his more than 45-year career.

Monday’s opening number, “Something in the Way She Moves,” came from his self-titled debut album of 1968.

“That’s not the first song I wrote, but it’s the earliest one I’m willing to play in public,” Taylor said as he recalled playing it at his audition in “a small room in London for Paul McCartney and George Harrison” before becoming the first non-British act signed to The Beatles’ Apple Records. The title phrase of that first song later served as the starting point for Harrison’s “Something.”

Taylor followed up with new song “Today, Today, Today” and “Lo and Behold,” a deep album cut from his 1970 breakthough “Sweet Baby James.”

Taylor worked his way through classics like his own “Copperline” and “Country Road” and Buddy Holly’s “Everyday” in the first set, and slowly introduced his band throughout the show – band leader and bassist Jimmy Johnson, guitarist Michael Landau, drummer Steve Gadd, percussionist Luis Conte, saxophonist “Blue” Lou Marini (best known for his work in the Blues Brothers), trumpeter/keyboardist Walt Fowler, pianist Jim Cox, fiddler and background vocalist Andrea Zonn, and background vocalists Arnold McCuller and Kate Markowitz.

A tale of dealing with homesickness while in London recording his debut album led to “Carolina in My Mind,” and the phrase “Now the First of December was covered with snow” elicited cheers on his famous cowboy lullaby “Sweet Baby James,” written for his namesake nephew in 1969.

Taylor joked about the upcoming intermission – “I don’t know why we do it. I just stand behind that curtain there and look at my watch for 20 minutes.”—before the first-set capper “Shower the People.” He then spent the intermission sitting at the front of the stage signing autographs and taking pictures with his fans.

As the dimming of the houselights didn’t draw Taylor back to work, the band began without him before he finally stood up and grabbed his guitar for new song “Stretch of the Highway.” Another new one, “You and I Again” followed, and then it was on to “Raised Up Family” from 2002’s “October Road,” his most recent album of newly written material.

Taylor tried for laughs during blues parody “Steamroller” as he contorted his face, sang from the side of his mouth mumbling the words and played an electric guitar for the only time all evening. After a decent harmonica solo by Taylor, Landau unleashed a wicked guitar solo and saved the song from going completely off the rails.

Following “Only One” from his 1986 album “That’s Why I’m Here,” it was one classic after another as Taylor and his band headed down the homestretch. First up was “Fire and Rain,” Taylor’s first Top 40 hit from 1970, then his take on the Gerry Goffin and Carole King standard “Up on the Roof,” then his own “Mexico” as the horn section donned colorful sombreros and Conte showed why he is one of the music world’s premier percussion players.

The main set ended with a jubilant “Your Smiling Face” as background vocalist McCuller danced with and hugged members of the first row.

The three-song encore included Taylor’s Top 5 remake of “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)” and his only Billboard Hot 100 number one, “You’ve Got a Friend.” He then finished up with the traditional Scottish tune “Wild Mountain Thyme.”

“Thank you for spending the evening with us,” Taylor said as the large crowd thanked him for the wonderful evening of soothing music with one standing ovation after another.

source: http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/50793935/

BALTIMORESUN.COM — James Taylor shares stories behind the hits at Royal Farms Arena

By Wesley Case

Ten minutes after 8 p.m. on Tuesday, James Taylor — the 66-year-old singer-songwriter from Chapel Hill, N.C. — took the Royal Farms Arena stage, picked up an acoustic guitar and, without acknowledging the crowd, began plucking the opening notes to his 1968 song, “Something in the Way She Moves.”

Starting on such a recognizable note left the crowd of mostly Baby Boomers and Gen X-ers in Taylor’s possession for the rest of his predictably enjoyable 150-minute set. The obvious should still be stated here: Since his 1968 self-titled debut album, Taylor has written and sung many hits that go down as smoothly as his trademark vocal delivery. Some are introspective and timelessly resonant and others are observant and humorous, but nearly all are easy to digest in Taylor’s hands.

Dressed in a blue plaid shirt tucked into jeans, Taylor was a jovial professional all night. In between songs, he made jokes at his expense (early on, he thanked the crowd for coming out on a Wednesday, and after they corrected his mistake, Taylor replied, “Tuesday? Changes everything,” to laughs). When he described his songs’ themes as “tree-hugger,” the audience was surprised and delighted by the singer’s self-deprecating candor.

When playing resumed, it was precise and clean, thanks to a 10-piece backing band that Taylor endlessly praised throughout the night. The players’ deftness matched his, and the results sounded like veteran studio musicians jamming together effortlessly. Whether it was a new song like the country-standard twanged “Today, Today, Today” or a cover of Buddy Holly’s “Everyday” or the old bar-band parody “Steamroller Blues,” Taylor and his backing musicians delivered what those in the crowd seemed to hope and expect.

The dynamic of Taylor’s loose stage banter and the music’s surgically precise execution gave the night a “Storytellers” feel. Taylor knows his catalog resonates deeply with his fans, so concerts like this allow him to tell the stories behind the songs. He lamented the 1978 Broadway failure he wrote “Millworker” for (“The show was called ‘Working,’ even though it didn’t,” he quipped), told the origin story of the crowd favorite “Sweet Baby James” (it was a “cowboy lullaby” dedicated to his nephew) and admitted he stole “everything I could wrap my head around” from The Beatles, who gave Taylor his first record deal.

He was willing to show different shades of music. The relatively more aggressive “Handy Man” evoked giggles from women, while the soft-rock party song “Mexico” brought people to their feet. But it was the slow burners, like “Copperline” and the homesick “Carolina in My Mind,” that left the strongest impressions. Taylor, throughout it all, was charming.

Some in the crowd could have learned from Taylor. The majority was politely enthusiastic, but the quiet, coffeeshop-performance-in-an-arena vibe allowed some crowd members to yell at the singer between songs. Throughout the night, these impatient jokesters could not resist shouting, “I love you, James” (cute at first, but not really) and song titles that were obviously coming (this, in particular, became dreadfully obnoxious). It felt like an intrusion on intimacy.

Would Taylor play “Country Road”? Of course. But certain crowd members, likely amused and excited by the potential to be acknowledged by Taylor, still felt it necessary to yell the title out multiple times like “Freebird.” Taylor was a good sport; after another “Country Road” request early in the night, he picked up the setlist, pointed to the song and said, “Why yes, you named it.” It did not seem like a coincidence that Taylor took less time between songs in the second set. The message, I hope, was “please stop doing this.” If it wasn’t, it was warranted anyway.

These quibbles did not seem to affect the crowd’s mood at all. During the encore performance of “How Sweet It Is (to be Loved by You),” folks were standing and swaying to the feel-good anthem. Near the front of the stage, a cane could be seen pumping up and down in the air, which seemed to capture the night in a single image. On Tuesday night, Taylor consistently justified the reaction.

source: http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/music/midnight-sun-blog/bal-james-taylor-concert-review-at-baltimores-royal-farms-arena-20141203-story.html

FORBES.COM — Art Garfunkel On Hats, Pizza And Harmonies With James Taylor

By Jim Clash

In the first five parts of this interview series with the great singer/songwriter Art Garfunkel, we covered a lot of ground, much of it serious. Here, in this last installment, Artie lets his hair down (so to speak) and we discuss fun stuff like what’s the best hat for a man (hint: it’s not a beret), where’s the best pizza in New York (hint: near his college alma mater) and who is the best singer he’s harmonized with (four good contenders are James Taylor, Phil and Don Everly and, of course, Paul Simon).

Jim Clash: I saw a great piece on CBS CBS -3.01% This Morning where you made a joke about men’s hats.

Art Garfunkel: I wonder how many guys will understand what I was saying. You never find the right hat for life. You use the ski cap for a couple of years then, ‘ah, that’s not right.’ You can’t wear the Fedora, that’s gone, a little passé. You can’t wear a beret, though that’s very appealing if you’re an artist. There’s the baseball cap. We love the baseball cap. It’s high in front – that works. Jimmy Webb gave me a Tilley hat some years ago, cream-colored, large brim, keeps the sun off the nose so you don’t have skin problems. I wear that sometimes. The baseball cap is probably my favorite. I’m a [Philadelphia] Phillies fan so I have my red hat. If I ever found the perfect hat, I would get 30 and that would be it for life.

JC: I know you have high regard for James Taylor. Do your harmonies with him approach those with Paul Simon?

AG: The younger you are, the more experiences get under your skin. Paul and I were sixth-graders together. [DJ] Alan Freed brought this new subversive music to new-wave radio when we were 12. We tuned in in junior high school, Paul and I, and the fact that we held rehearsals in my basement at such a young age means that the musical bond is deep. When you’re very young, your passions are fanatical. You don’t know what normal is, so you go crazy with what you love. We held intense rehearsals to get our sound so tight. You speak of a Ferrari – we had our details finely tuned, if you know what I mean. And we became world-famous with that blend. Working with James Taylor was pretty good. James paid me a great compliment saying, ‘I’ve never worked with anyone who got it so well as you did.’ But even that wasn’t quite the bond I had with Paul.

JC: You also have performed with the Everly Brothers, other great harmonizers.

AG: I did. Stage work is looser than studio work. If you’re a craftsman like I am, you create these records behind closed doors with silence and a chance to repeat. You can fix and erase. So the accuracy of a tight blend goes to a higher place in a recording studio. I never recorded with Don and Phil. By the way, my top five American songwriters are Stephen Sondheim, Paul Simon, Jimmy Webb – and my vote for next President of the United States, James Taylor. The crowd applauds like they know what I’m talking about when I say that in my show [laughs]. The fifth is in my setup, and I go into Randy Newman’s tune [Real Emotional Girl].

JC: You’re a Columbia University man, as am I. The famous local pizzeria, V&T, is still a big hangout for students. There’s a rumor Mrs. Robinson was written there. First, any truth to that, and second, do you ever go back? I see your signed photo on the wall.

AG: No, Mrs. Robinson wasn’t written there – sounds like they are trying to claim me [laughs]! But I love the pizza, it’s really quite good. I introduced Jack Nicholson to V&T and it became his favorite New York spot for a while. And I do still go back. Every few months, I over-eat and get cholesterol to plug up the heart with all that cheese. But I’ve thinned out my visits over the years as I’ve become more health-conscious. I used to eat a half or whole pie, now I go for two slices. But I like the atmosphere of all those smarties around me.

source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2014/12/02/art-garfunkel-on-hats-pizza-and-harmonies-with-james-taylor/

BALTIMOREPOSTEXAMINER.COM — James Taylor still can move an audience with Beatles’ stories

By Timothy W. Maier

JT came to Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore Tuesday and pleased a sea of gray heads by playing the soundtrack of their lives with a music catalog that expands six decades with five Grammy Awards and an induction in the Rock and Roll of Fame in 2000.

No it wasn’t that JT. It was the original JT – the one that everyone over 50 knows – and the one whose album in 1977 is called JT. He’s the one who can’t dance but sure can finger-pick his guitar and sing as if he was still in his twenties and recording before the Beatles at Apple Studios.

And it was a Beatles night at Royal Farms Arena.

James Taylor kicked off his nearly two-hour set with a Beatles’ story and the song that launched in his recording career in 1968 – Something in the Way She Moves. He first sang that song before Sir Paul McCartney and George Harrison when the Beatles’ took a break recording the White Album. Harrison supposedly was so inspired after hearing the song – that it led to the quiet one writing the classic Something.

They liked the tune and he was signed to Apple Records – the first non-British act to do so. Two years later he released Fire and Rain and that put Taylor on the charts and from there the hits kept coming.

Taylor smiled as he recalled the day with Apple. He said it was so cool to watch the Beatles record the White Album.

But unfortunately he said, “I don’t remember anything about it.”

Well, it was the 1960s and Taylor had his bout with heroin before kicking the habit, although it didn’t quite explain him thanking the audience for coming out Wednesday – when it was actually Tuesday. He joked about that.

The song set the tone for James Taylor and his All-Star Band, which played nearly flawlessly through the night – kicking out numbers that thousands of fans waited to hear, such as Sweet Baby James, Carolina in My Mind, Copperline, Handyman, Fire and Rain and his signature song – You’ve Got a Friend. Taylor’s voice remains strong while so many of his contemporaries from the 1960s are struggling to hit the notes. His guitar work stumbled a bit – missing a few notes – but then so did Harrison on Roll over Beethoven and the Beatle didn’t have age as an excuse.

Taylor frequently joked with the audience as they screamed out requests like play the rocker Steamroller Blues, but he only teased them by holding up his huge song chart, saying that song is scheduled for the second set. But he did honor a request to play Country Road as played it true to the album.
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James Taylor in Baltimore (Photos by Erik Hoffman)

Taylor stuck to his usual formula with his array of hits but he introduced two new unremarkable songs that have yet to make it on an album. If there is one fault with Taylor, he hasn’t produced new material in some time – and the two new songs he unveiled Tuesday did not rely heavily on his acoustic guitar and probably won’t even graze the charts.

But the Royal Farms Arena is the perfect venue for a nostalgic act like Taylor because it is a more intimate concert without all the traffic and hassle to catch a glimpse of the superstar. Even James commented about the history of the Arena where – he noted – “Everyone played here.”

And they did from the Beatles, The Stones to Jim Hendrix and even Elvis. Now, those are tough acts to follow but Taylor did them proud.

During the break between two sets, conversations really gave away the age of the concert goers when they talked about seeing the Beatles at the Arena – then the Civic Center and watching the Baltimore Bullets win the NBA Championship. After the break, Taylor came out and started signing shirts for front-row fans before breaking into the next number.

For most of the songs, the audience sat comfortably in their chairs and listened to the stories and music. The exception was when Taylor encouraged people to stand near the end of the second set and get a little loose and dance a bit.

After his second set, Taylor came back to play his signature song – You’ve Got a Friend that most couldn’t help but sing along.

But one song was not on his playlist for the evening and it should have been. He failed to perform his Civil Rights’ song – Shed a Little Light, which would have been a perfect song to play in light of the Ferguson protests.

But James stayed away from controversy – something the Beatles never stayed away from. He might have learned that if he could have remembered something about the White Album recording session.

source: http://baltimorepostexaminer.com/james-taylor-still-can-move-audience-beatles-stories/2014/12/04#sthash.Mm1PDcox.dpuf

THESUNCHRONICLE.COM — Review: James Taylor puts on a sweet show at Mohegan

By Stephen Peterson

UNCASVILLE, Conn. – James Taylor continues to be the singer-songwriter voice for a generation that is steadily aging.

Taylor, 66, and his experienced, all-star band put on a nearly three-hour show Thursday night at Mohegan Sun Arena.

The Boston native and five-time Grammy winner took a touring hiatus last year to begin making a new album, his first of new material since 2002, and played some new songs from it.

Performing nearly 30 numbers over two sets and an encore, there were plenty of hidden gems tossed into the song list along with Taylor’s popular soft rock/folk numbers.

Despite the venue’s size, the personable musician connected with the audience in a way to make it a most intimate concert, telling stories about many songs and cracking jokes.

Starting off with “Something in the Way She Moves” that is on his 1968 debut album he recorded in The Beatles Apple Records studio, Taylor told of his days with the legendary band, an experience he said he still feels fortunate to have had.

The new “Today, Today, Today” featured a fiddle player who was one of three backup singers.

The vintage “Lo and Behold,” “Mona” (which is about a pig and which Taylor said he hadn’t played in a long time), and the melodic “Copperline” merged into an energetic version of Buddy Holly’s “Everyday.”

Before the beautiful “Carolina In My Mind,” he told of writing the song when he was homesick in London.

A groovy “One More Go Round” showed the band at its funkiest, a dramatic contrast to his country lullaby hit “Sweet Baby James,” which he wrote for his nephew.

The sweet “Shower the People” from 1976 finished off the first set.

Returning after an interval, Taylor sang “You and I Again,” with the legendary “Blue” Lou Marini on flute. He also played sax and pennywhistle.

“Steamroller Blues” saw Taylor ditch his acoustic to play electric guitar and harmonica.

Taylor encouraged the crowd to get up and dance to “Mexico” and “Your Smiling Face” from 1977, which is strong on sax.

The encore kicked off with “Shed A Little Light” about Martin Luther King, in obvious reference to the ongoing racial issues in the country.

All the singers lined up along the front of the stage for Taylor’s Top 5 cover of Marvin Gaye’s “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” from 1975.

Taylor wrapped up with the old folk tune “Wild Mountain Thyme.”

The band featured well-known musicians guitarist Michael Landau, drummer Steve Gadd, band leader/bassist Jimmy Johnson, and Cuban percussionist Luis Conte, and was rounded out with another drummer and two keyboardists – one who also played the trumpet.

source: http://www.thesunchronicle.com/go/review-james-taylor-puts-on-a-sweet-show-at-mohegan/article_00dee552-bfcb-56d9-a817-0eac1e5479dd.html

POST-GAZETTE.COM — James Taylor breezes into Consol Energy Center, warm and reliable

By Scott Mervis

Just call him Mr. Reliable.

More than any other member of his folk-rock generation, James Taylor leaves his fans with absolutely nothing to complain about.

He’s as humble and self-deprecatingly funny as they come. His voice is still honey smooth. He plays the songs people want to hear in the way they always sounded, and he tosses in just enough deep tracks to make it interesting. The musicianship is note perfect and it’s all as laid-back and folksy as a house concert. You can almost feel your blood pressure dropping as you listen to him.

Having played the last-ever show at the Civic Arena, he made his Consol Energy Center debut Saturday with his All-Star Band, the most notable members being ace drummer Steve Gadd and horn player Sweet Lou Marini, of Blues Brothers fame.

He started from the beginning, walking on stage with a prayer-like bow to the crowd for a beautiful version of “Something in the Way She Moves,” the song he played for Paul McCartney and George Harrison for his Apple audition for his 1968 debut.

“It’s not the first song I ever wrote, but probably the earliest one I’m willing to play in public,” he said.

Mr. Taylor hasn’t released an album of new songs since 2002, but he had a new one to drop on us with “Today, Today, Today,” a country boogie number with fiddler Andrea Zonn that wasn’t too catchy on first listen.

“Lo and Behold” and “Copperline” were the kind of deeper album cuts that are welcome live and the classic “Country Road” and “One More Go Round” let the 10-piece band rock out with bluesy and Stax-style finishes, respectively, thanks in part to guitarist Michael Landau. “Millworker” was given a Celtic treatment with fiddle and penny whistle.

Going back to Apple and 1968, he said, “I walked through a door and the rest of my life was on the other side of it. Homesick for the States while living in London then, he wrote “Carolina in my Mind,” which was a beauty of course in the hands of this supple band and warm-voiced singer. Capping the first set, he introduced his young son Henry on backing vocals for “Shower the People,” a showcase for resident soul belter Arnold McCuller.

The second set, which he teased as being “perfectly adequate,” eased in like a California breeze with another new song, “Stretch of the Highway,” that was more of a keeper, with a Steely Dan-type groove. “You and I Again,” also new, was a gentle expression of mature love with clips of him with his wife.

“Handy Man” — “a tasteful little number” indeed — was paired with a slow-moving “Steamroller,” compete with JT doing funny old bluesman faces, that picked up steam into a screaming blues jam.

It led to a crowd-pleasing run of hits: “Fire and Rain” so pretty and sad that tissues may have been in order: “Up on the Roof” a sweet little escape; an invitation to “get up and shake something” for “Mexico” (with mariachi horns and a touch of Santana) and the joyous “Your Smiling Face.”

For the encore, the band took “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)” to church and settled in for a fireside-sounding “You’ve Got a Friend” and “Wild Mountain Thyme.”

If you had to describe the show in one word, it would be “warm.” Warm sound, warm messages and nothing but warmth from a legend who plays from the heart and, for two-plus hours, helps you leave this troubled world behind.

Set list:

Something in the Way She Moves

Today, Today, Today

Lo and Behold

Copperline

Everyday (Buddy Holly cover)

Country Road

Millworker

Carolina in My Mind

One More Go Round

Sweet Baby James

Shower the People

Second Set

Stretch of the Highway

You and I Again

Raised Up Family

Handy Man

Steamroller

Only One

Fire and Rain

Up on the Roof

Mexico

Your Smiling Face

Encore:

How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)

You’ve Got a Friend

Wild Mountain Thyme

Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/music-reviews/2014/11/30/James-Taylor-breezes-into-Consol-Energy-Center-warm-and-reliable/stories/201411300228

GREENVILLEONLINE.COM — Review: James Taylor displays stellar musicianship in Greenville

By Donna Isbell Walker

James Taylor filled Bon Secours Wellness Arena with an easygoing spirit of fun and an impressive display of musicianship on Saturday night.

The singer-songwriter performed a 21/2-hour show that wound its way through his extensive musical catalog, with a few interesting detours along the way, brief forays into blues, country, even a touch of Latin music.

Taylor opened the show with “Something in the Way She Moves,” from his 1968 debut album, his voice at age 66 seemingly unchanged in all those years.

The two dozen songs ranged from familiar classics, like “Fire and Rain” and “Country Road,” to lesser-known gems such as “One More Go-Round” and the Celtic-flavored “Wild Mountain Thyme.”

Taylor’s stage banter demonstrated an easy rapport with his audience and a few hints of self-deprecating humor, as when he prefaced a song by describing it as “another of those tree-hugger anthems.”

He introduced the hit “Sweet Baby James” by talking of how he wanted to write a “cowboy lullaby” for his namesake nephew who, 44 years later, has grown into a “big ol’ thing.”

For “Steamroller,” he turned the place into his own little blues club. Accompanied by his Carolina-blue electric guitar, Taylor channeled the spirit of a grizzled old bluesman, contorting his face, scatting some lyrics, wailing on the harmonica and duck-walking across the stage.

“Shower the People” offered lovely harmonies, along with a chiming guitar solo from Taylor, then finished up with a soul-stirring vocal contribution from backup singer Arnold McCuller.

And the crowd-pleasing “Mexico” brought the audience to its feet for a salsa-powered number highlighted by the stellar percussion work of Luis Conte.

A musical legend like Taylor has no trouble drawing an audience to his show; his performance proved why they keep coming back.

source: http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/entertainment/2014/11/23/james-taylor-displays-stellar-musicianship-greenville/19437539/

JACKSONVILLE.COM — James Taylor warms up Jacksonville crowd on a chilly night

By Tom Szaroleta

It is perhaps fitting that, on the coldest night of the year, a crowd at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena was treated to one of the warmest voices in rock history.

James Taylor is eligible to collect Social Security, but you wouldn’t know it from his voice — he sounds pretty much the same as he did during his ’70s hit-making days. Backed by a band of seasoned pros, he played for better than two hours, mixing in a few new songs with old favorites.

Taylor doesn’t look the part of a rock star these days; he’s tall and thin with just a fringe of hair and he makes goofy faces and tells corny stories. But he’s got a pretty amazing catalog of hits. If you’ve ever been to a beach bar where some guy was playing an acoustic guitar for tips, or if you ever sat in the back of dad’s station wagon on a cross-country trip, odds are good you’ve heard James Taylor’s songs.

He ran through pretty much every song you’d want to hear — “Carolina on My Mind,” “Sweet Baby James,” “Shower the People,” “Handy Man,” “Fire and Rain,” “Mexico,” “Up on the Roof,” “Your Smiling Face,” “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You),” “You’ve Got a Friend,” even the wildly atypical blues romp “Steamroller,” in which he proclaims himself to be a “churnin’ urn of burnin’ funk.”

The upper deck of the arena was curtained off, but the bottom was jam-packed (if you are going to play to a crowd of 6,000 or so in Jacksonville, half of the arena is your only real option). The crowd was awfully docile, though. Not that you’d expect a mosh pit at a James Taylor show, but hardly anybody was dancing in their seats or standing, even to applaud. To be fair, though, even Taylor was sitting for much of the show, on a stool at center stage while he picked out his hits on an acoustic guitar.

Taylor is one of America’s great storytellers, in songs such as “Fire and Rain” and between songs, when he was funnier than you’d expect from a guy of his stature. He talked about recording his first album in the same studio where the Beatles were working on their “White Album” (“I wish I could remember more of that, but I’m pretty sure I had a good time.”), writing a song for a failed Broadway play and composing one of his signature songs, “Sweet Baby James,” as a lullaby for his newborn nephew.

Taylor’s show is never going to be as high-energy as some of the concerts that have played the same venue this fall (Garth Brooks, Paul McCartney) but as the crowd filed out into the 30-something-degree night, at least Taylor left them with a warm feeling.

source: http://jacksonville.com/entertainment/music/2014-11-19/story/james-taylor-warms-jacksonville-crowd-chilly-night