Print-friendly Version
Benjamin Taylor readies coast-to-coast trek
Indie singer/songwriter Benjamin Taylor will take his eclectic brand of 'Kung Folk' across North America this winter.
The musician, who is the only son of folk icons James Taylor and Carly Simon, is set to kick things off next week in Northampton, MA, and make his way from the East Coast to the West Coast through late February, stopping for a few dates in Canada along the way. He'll wrap the tour with a half-dozen shows across California.
Actress/songwriter Schuyler Fisk and her band will support all North American dates, which are listed below. Taylor has also booked a week-long run of UK performances in April; those shows are posted at his website.
Taylor is supporting his September release, "The Legend of Kung Folk part 1 (The Killing Bite)," which broke into Billboard's Top Heatseekers and Top Independent Albums charts. The set, his third offering on Iris Records, was recorded with Grammy-winning producer Frank Filipetti, who has worked on albums by both of Taylor's parents. Guests include former Morcheeba vocalist Skye Edwards and British jazz/pop star Jamie Cullum.
The new album showcases Taylor's brand of soulful, hip-hop-influenced folk, and includes the sexy, tongue-in-cheek "Wicked Way," which was chosen as iTunes' No. 2 folk song for 2008. That track and a few others from the record are streaming at the singer/guitarist's MySpace page.
"The Legend of Kung Folk" follows Taylor's 2005 release, "Another Run Around the Sun," which was a more bare-bones, traditional take on the folk genre.
