Today we’d like to introduce you to Tommy Taylor.
Hi Tommy, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in Denton, Texas. I grew up in Austin. My father moved here in 1959 to start a Golf Cart Corporation. He was a former Air Force Fighter Pilot. My mother was a book keeper. I was a little over a year old. I guess you could say I’m a native. I’m the youngest of 2 children. My sister and I are 11 years apart. I was born into full blown, teenage, rock and roll pandemonium, a record collection, and my sister and her young teen aged friends. I really never saw age differences the way people do. I thought they were just my friends and that everything they were into, I was into. That burgeoned my interest in popular music very early on.
With the eruption of the Beatles and the British Invasion, my goals were cemented. I wanted to be in the Beatles. Every kid wanted an electric guitar in the early to mid 60s. I shined shoes at a local barber shop one summer to buy my first one. A neighbor taught me some chords and things at first. Very soon, he started playing drums and I followed him in that. It was an instant talent that I kind of just had. At age 10, 3 months after I started, I was drumming in a band. The following year I was playing parties, teen recreation center dances and even started playing some clubs. By thirteen my group and I were headlining the most popular nightspot in Austin, The New Orleans Club. I was billed as “sensational 13 year old drummer.” I played all through school in local groups. I was always a singer as well. When Austin was much smaller, I knew almost every musician, singer, songwriter and industry person, personally. Many of the people who were my mentors early on should be given credit for establishing the beginnings of what became one of the strongest, ever changing, music scenes in the world. They might say the same of me.
In 1977, I landed the drummer/vocalist slot with the aspiring originals group, Christopher Cross. Christopher Cross (a confusing name) ended up with a dual identity, a solo artist, as well as a band. Releasing a classic, self titled, debut album, Christopher Cross swept the charts and the grammy’s in the early 1980s. We helped put Austin on the map. We toured the world with great success and then splintered as leader Chris Geppert assumed the solo artist persona of Cross entirely.
I soon fell in with the amazing Austin artist, Eric Johnson in 1984 and recorded many lp’s with him and toured extensively throughout the world. Even though my contributions were always greater than that of a side man, it seemed that I was destined to be a support player. I recorded with and backed many artists live during the 80s 90s and 2000s, including Eliza Gilkyson, Karen Kraft, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Van Vilks, Will and Charlie Sexton, Kris McKay, Jerry Jeff Walker, Shawn Colvin, Jake Andrews, Tomas Ramirez, Jon Blondel, Bruce and Charlie Robison, Sara Hickman.
I always hankered after something that I could call mine without anyone being able to lay claim to it after we parted ways. The older one becomes the more difficult it is to have those natural band situations develop. I decided to write my own songs and make my own recordings, with my own production and my own voice and become a “solo artist.” My first recorded effort, Across the Stars, debuted last fall. I’m continuing to support that recording now as well as working on tracks for a follow up. I have begun playing solo shows around town some.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The music business is a horrendous choice for an occupation. Ha ha ha. One has to be terribly resilient and have a willingness to live the ups and downs, both emotionally and financially. Early on, things were fairly simple. I had a few difficulties with my age because no one expected me to be able to play as well as I did. That would be alleviated in a few seconds each outing. Being young and being kind of picked on, even playfully, by older bandmates and musician friends, I would say bolstered an insecurity/arrogance complex. It left a lot of patterns and impressions that have taken decades to learn to circumvent. In 1979, I found myself in a great band that overnight had been signed as a solo artist to a major record label. This was, we were told, because the lead vocalist/guitarist was the primary songwriter. We made one of the biggest albums in history. I’ve never known the truth of what actually happened there. I was promised that it was merely a technicality, from a legal standpoint, and that it would have no bearing on my participation in the band. Four people split proceeds four ways, right? We always all considered ourselves to be equal parts of a whole. I took that at face value. I trusted my friends. Greed, dishonesty, and lack of integrity are rampant in this business. It’s a tough lesson.
I think my current dilemmas are dealing with the lack of recognition locally, considering my history. I find that many of my oldest friends and acquaintances in the nonperforming avenues of the business all but ignore the quality of what I’m creating. Often, it’s the newer people on the radio or in the venues who DON’T know my history and previous accomplishments that are the first to cheer me on. I can only rely on what the people outside of the local demographic with much greater stature and tenure have to say, which is all extremely positive and supportive.
My good friend Patterson Barrett has stated, “We’re all just looking for an audience.”
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
At this point, I’m calling myself a singer, songwriter, drummer, producer. I think growing up in what I would term the golden era of popular music, I have a distinct knowledge of what really makes a quality record. I can produce other artists, I can sing lead and backing vocals on my work and that of others, I can create solid and interesting drum parts from a perspective of someone who grew up listening to tracks played by real drummers, not by computer programmers. My songwriting, I believe, is unique in that most people begin writing at a very early time in their lives comparatively. They are writing about their aspirations and what they see in the future or what they might be experiencing at that early juncture. That is when they are in their peak form usually. I didn’t actually complete a song and record it until I was 45 and didn’t write the bulk of my album until I was over 55. I’m in my prime as a writer and I’m debuting at 66 years old. No one does that. I think being associated with great songwriters over decades, I sat and watched and learned a great deal from each of them. I was also a study of songs my entire life. I feel like I know what makes a song great, and what falls short of the mark. It’s also a first for me going out to the front of the stage, playing guitar and singing, rather than being behind a drum kit. People are often surprised to find out about my accomplishments in the recording industry with others. Now, I think I’m just proud to be still out here with something finally of my own that others say has great merit. Changing horses or at least changing racecourses at what many people consider retirement age is BOLD. No doubt about it. I’d love to have a song become a feature in a film or gain some real acceptance worldwide or even get a great cover by another artist. But I’m at that Van Gogh place. I’m creating my music to hear it finished. I hope others find some enjoyment in the experiencing me doing that.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
It takes a village. I’ve been a villager for others, and I’ve certainly had the village in my camp. Locally, the older musicians when I was just starting out as a kid, treated me with great respect and equality. This was at a time when I was fairly unique, playing bars on the same stages as guys 10-20 years my senior. These days we have all manner of 3rd generation removed, helicopter parents and grandparents, furthering their own aspirations through their progeny. Not so when I was a kid.
So many people, I’ll remember after this is finished.
Rusty Wier always comes to mind because he took me under his arm at age 11 when he ruled the city. We were friends until he passed. Rusty was an entertainer as much or more than a singer/songwriter/drummer. It was an early lesson.
I had great parents, but they were quite sideline. I was raised at Strait Music Company. The people who worked there in the 70s were my family. Dan and Irene Strait were some of the best people to ever be a part of the Austin Music Scene. I had keys to the store and the alarm codes at age 16. Trust.
Vince Mariani was my best friend. He championed me as drummer/vocalist as well as a songwriter/artist. He was hard to impress, and he didn’t mince words.
Eric Johnson has always been supportive of me and has helped me grow as a musician on many levels during our 40-year tenure together.
As I began to venture into this idea of being a singer/songwriter, I had many champions. People I trusted to tell me if what I was doing was not making it.
I can’t forget the many fans who know my work with other artists that follow me on social media. Without their support and interest, I wouldn’t have near the interest in pursuing the music today.
Lance Keltner. He was the person who forced my hand to complete and record my first song.
Bradley Kopp, another great producer, and engineer, held me up me both as a player and later as a singer/songwriter. He helped me get my tracks started, offering to record my sketches for free.
My co-producer, Mark Hallman. Mark worked with Carole King, Dan Fogelberg, and just about anyone who has ever made a record in Austin at some point. Mark believed I could make a great record. He helped me do that. He’s just one of those people who can do whatever it takes to make something happen in any arena musically.
I was fortunate enough to be reconnected with an old friend, Michael Omartian. He took a liking to my music and offered to play keyboards and orchestrate it. He has produced everyone from Bobby Bland to The Jacksons, to Rod Stewart, to Michael Bolton, to Amy Grant and Vince Gill. He is one of the greatest, most successful writer/keyboardest/producer/arrangers in popular music history. He has sold over 350 MILLION ALBUMS.
Lastly, a young artist, who recently moved to Austin, RYAN, has been so supportive of my efforts. He was a fan of music I helped create with Eric Johnson and reached out to me when he was a teenager. I showed him bits of what I was working on, and he really took an interest. I began working with him as a co-producer on his music a few years back and we are now getting some of it out in there to be enjoyed. He’s a great sounding board and a great inspiration. It’s been great having the ear of a younger generation to see how my music flies in those skies.
Contact Info:
- Website: TommyTaylor.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tommytaylorofficial/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TommyTaylorOfficial/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TommyTaylorOfficial
- Other: https://linktr.ee/thetommytaylorofficial
Image Credits
Kristen Nagel Hallman
