Acoustic Guitar magazine once wrote, “If there’s anything better than Nanci Griffith or Lyle Lovett singing an Eric Taylor tune, it’s Taylor singing it himself … he’s one of those songwriters that has the ability to plop you down in the middle of a story or a situation and make you care that you’re there.”
A Golden Triangle audience has the opportunity to hear Taylor live Friday night. The Columbus Arts Council presents the Texas singer/songwriter in a solo show at 7:30 p.m. in the Rosenzweig Arts Center Omnova Theater at 501 Main St. Tickets to the concert sponsored, in part, by the Mississippi Arts Commission, are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. His appearance in the Southeast precedes a return tour in The Netherlands that begins Jan. 16.
“Eric Taylor is an artist who’s had something to say,” said CAC Programming Manager Beverly Norris. “His songs are like slice-of-life short stories … ”
Taylor’s narrative style is widely praised. Oxford American has called his images, language and characters “staggering,” his settings stark and beautiful. His songs have been recorded by many artists, including Griffith and Lovett.
Griffith once said, “If you miss an opportunity to hear Eric Taylor, you have missed a chanced to hear a voice I consider the William Faulkner of songwriting in our current time, and you will miss the rare opportunity to watch the hands of one of America’s most unusual guitarists, with lyrics that will nail your heart to your ear and mind.”
Landing in Texas
Taylor grew up in Atlanta. He briefly attended Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., before music lured him away.
“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,” he said in his biography. He learned intricate blues guitar stylings from Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb and Mississippi Fred McDowell and developed his own picking style that would influence some of his early contemporaries, such as Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Robert Earl Keen and Steve Earle.
The iconic Earle has praised Taylor as ” … the real deal … one of my heroes and teachers when I started playing around Houston in the early ’70s.”
“There were no lines drawn in the sand between musical genres in Houston back in those days,” Taylor said in the bio. “You were just musicians. 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?”
Newport to Letterman
Taylor has headlined the Newport Folk Festival and performed on programs including “Austin City Limits,” “Late Night with David Letterman” and NPR’s “Mountain Stage.” He’s a past winner of the New Folk competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival, where one of his recordings was chosen Album of the Year. His 1998 “Resurrect” was named one of the “100 Essential Records of All Time” by Buddy magazine.
In 2008, Taylor and his album “Hollywood Pocketknife” were nominated for FolkWax magazine’s Artist of the Year and Album of the Year. In 2011, the artist brought together some of his oldest friends, including Lovett and Griffith, to record “Live at The Red Shack” in Houston.
Lovett has said, “I’m always the opening act when I’m around Eric.”
For tickets or information, contact the arts council at 662-328-2787 or visit columbus-arts.com, where videos of Taylor are posted.
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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