Gig - Eric Taylor

First up a few plaudits from some of US singer-songwriter Ian Taylor’s more famous fans. Here’s country-folk legend Nanci Griffith: “To say that Eric Taylor is one of the most famous writers of our time would be an understatement. If you miss an opportunity to hear Eric Taylor, you have missed a chance to hear a voice I consider the William Faulkner of songwriting in our current time." Griffith has recorded a number of Taylor’s songs, including ‘Deadwood’ and ‘Ghost in the Music’. Here’s Iain Matthews, once of Fairport Convention: “Once you become a Taylor fanatic, it gives you immense joy and pride to be able to enlighten others to the man's work." Lyle Lovett, with whom he wrote ‘Hemingway Shotgun’, has compared Taylor to Bruce Springsteen (for better or worse). Taylor, as well as being an excellent writer, is famous for his unique, and much imitated, guitar-picking style. He has the reputation of being a mesmerizing performer.

He started out as a poet. “When I learnt to play guitar it was just a natural progression to start to play songs.” He moved from Atlanta, Georgia to Houston, Texas in the seventies, and mixed with the right crowd, including Lovett and Griffith, at the right time. In the new Millennium he has produced some of his best work, including the acclaimed 2001 LP ‘Scuffletown’ and, earlier this year ‘The Great Divide’. It is quite remarkable that such a performer should have been lured to play in a tent next to the Anchor in Barcombe Mills - and a great example of the pulling power of Barn d’Or’s promoter, Mike Lance. Enjoy. DL