CONCERT : ERIC TAYLOR
DATE : Friday, June 10, 2016
TIME : 8:00 p.m. (doors opens for tickets & hellos @ 7:30 p.m.)
PLACE : Gallatin Labor Temple, 422 E. Mendenhall Avenue, Bozeman, Montana
TICKETS : $18.00 ($3 discount BFS members, $5 children 5-12 years
ADVANCE TICKETS: Cactus records, 29 W. Main – (406) 587-0245 cactusrecords.net
TICKETS PAGE: https://cactusrecords.net/tickets/
Note: These are Will Call tickets, Your name will be at the door. Bring an ID to show at door
AT THE DOOR: (Doors open at 7:30 p.m.)
SPONSOR: The Bozeman Folklore Society Concert Series
EMMY NOMINATED SONGWRITER ERIC TAYLOR RETURNS TO BOZEMAN!
On Friday, June 10. at 8:00 p.m. the veteran southern singer-songwriter Eric Taylor returns to present another memorable evening of songs and stories for The Bozeman Folklore Society Concert Series.
This show will be held in the Gallatin Labor Temple, 422 East Mendenhall Avenue in Bozeman, just east of the downtown BFD station.
Advance will call tickets are available now at Cactus Records downtown at 29 W. Main or online at www.cactusrecords.net. At the door, opening at 7:30, general admission price is $18, with a $3 discount to BFS members. For more invormation, visit BozemanFolklore.org or call Rik James, (406) 586-4123.
Eric Taylor is known to many is a sage musician, a lyrical genius and a master of the guitar.
Tom Netherland, of the Bristol Herald Courier, wrote, “Taylor’s songs read like novels snipped to their essence. They side-step classification and yet compel rapt attention. They summon grit to the point of beauty. Likewise, Taylor’s music bears imprints of a style for which no official genre exists.”
“I’m always the opening act when I’m around Eric. I love his voice, and he has a great narrative quality and sense of detail. He sort of takes you out of your own reality and into the reality of his songs. It’s good writing no matter how you cut it,” adds the fellow Texas songster, Lyle Lovett.
If you’re familiar with the intricate Texas singer/ songwriter jigsaw puzzle, you probably already know a lot about him. If you’re not familiar with Taylor by name, you’ve probably heard his songs performed by people such as Nanci Griffith and Lyle Lovett. He has created a multitude of fans and devotees that are legends themselves in the singer/songwriter realm. The week after this show, Eric will be attending the Emmy Awards, where he has been nominated for an award in the category of Music Composition for his work on the Storyworks.TV documentary Road Kid to Writer: The Tracks of Jim Tully.
Taylor grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and started playing soul music in his early years, steeping himself in the rich cultural heritage of the black South. “I’ve written poetry all my life,” Taylor recounts. “When I learned how to play guitar, it was a natural progression to write songs.” After high school, a brief stint at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, just “didn’t work out,” according to Taylor.
“Music lured me away,” says Taylor. “I thought I’d make my way to California like everybody else back then but I ran out of money and ended up in Houston.” It’s a good thing he never made it to California, because the musical environment in Houston during the ’70s was just what Taylor needed to inspire him.
Although a Georgia native, Eric Taylor, born in Atlanta, August, 1949, found fame in Texas, where his folksinging influenced both Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith (both of whom have recorded his songs). Taylor got a ride to Houston in 1970, and after seeing Lightnin’ Hopkins and Townes Van Zandt, was convinced to stay. He emerged from the Houston folk scene of the ’70s along with Van Zandt and Guy Clark; despite local fame, his full-scale national debut on Watermelon Records wasn’t released until August 1995. The self-titled album (produced by Iain Matthews and Mark Hallman) included backing vocals from Lovett and help from many Texas musicians. Resurrect followed in 1998; after that album Taylor signed with Eminent Records and released Scuffletown three years later. The album was critically acclaimed and was the first to feature Taylor performing cover songs alongside his original compositions, including two songs by Townes Van Zandt.
Taylor learned intricate blues guitar stylings from music legends Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb and Mississippi Fred McDowell while working at the Family Hand club. Later, he developed his own unique guitar picking style, that would be imitated by many of his contemporaries from the early Houston days, such as Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Robert Earl Keen, Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, and Nanci Griffith. “There were no lines drawn in the sand between musical genres in Houston back in those days,” Taylor remembers. “You were just a musician. I believe so many great writers came out of that scene because you could learn from others. Isn’t that the point of this whole thing?”
In 1977 Taylor was a winner of the “New Folk” competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival. Shameless Love, his first album, came out in 1981, and after a hiatus of almost 14 years, he returned with the self-titled Eric Taylor, released in 1995. His eponymous release was chosen as the 1996 Kerrville Folk Festival Album of the Year. Three years later he released Resurrect, and it was subsequently named one of the “100 essential records of all time” by Buddy magazine. Taylor has headlined the prestigious Newport Folk Festival, played National Public Radio’s “Mountain Stage” and has appeared on both “Late Night With David Letterman” with Nanci Griffith and “Austin City Limits” with Lyle Lovett, Guy Clark, and Robert Earl Keen.
Taylor has toured extensively in the United States and Europe, playing notable venues such as Club Passim, The Bottom Line, Caffe Lena, The Bluebird Cafe, Eddie’s Attic, The Ark, CSPS, Freight & Salvage, Paradiso (Amsterdam), Theatre Kikker (Utrecht), The Real Music Club (Belfast), Hotel du Nord (Paris), Grey’s Pub (Brighton), and The Bein Inn (Perth). Festival appearances include Kerrville, Newport Folk Festival, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, Take Root (The Netherlands), and Roots of Heaven Festival (The Netherlands). He has taught at the Kerrville Song School, and has conducted songwriting workshops at the Fulston Manor Performing Arts Centre (Sittingbourne, England), CARAD (Rhayader, Wales), and the Plowshares Coffeehouse (Pennsylvania).
And finally, Charlie Hunter, of Flying Under Radar Productions, says the following about Mr. Taylor:
“This is a man who takes the art of songwriting – and the art of performance – seriously. And, at the end of the set, the audience will have been transported some place and back again. Eric taylor doesn’t just make you feel the sun and taste the dust of Texas, he takes you places and puts you inside people’s minds. From prison inmates trying to fathom the jumble of their lives to little kids watching their family implode, Eric Taylor makes it real. Aspiring – and accomplished – songwriters leave Eric Taylor shows shaking their heads with awe. And well they should.”
The BFS concert series is unique in our area, The Bozeman Folklore Society (BFS) is an all volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, preserving, enjoying and sharing the music, dance, arts, crafts, and skills of traditional cultures. The BFS is an associate group of the Country Dance and Song Society (CDSS). And we invite you to join and become involved with our effort to continue to present live music and promote dancing in our community. Volunteers are needed, as well as your support to continue to share our love for all the richness in the folk traditions. Visit the BFS website at WWW.BOZEMANFOLKLORE.ORG. As an underwriting supporter of radio KGLT-FM, BFS invites community members to listen to KGLT and other listener supported radio for more news about BFS sponsored events.
### That’s it, folks! It was long, but it was fun. See you at the show.
