INTRODUCTION – BIOGRAPHY (HOW DID IT ALL START?) - LINER NOTES TO THE CDS, COVER VERSIONS OF ALLAN TAYLOR’S SONGS AND DISCOGRPHY.

FOR PRESS AND PROMOTION – A FEW LINES TO USE:

Allan Taylor, the consummate performer, a writer of literary gracefulness whose troubadour chronicles encapsulate the realism of otherwise unsung heroes, otherwise uncharted lives. Few people can convey with such eloquence their life experiences. His songs are written from a lifetime of traveling; always the observer passing through, each song is a vignette of life, like a story told over a drink in a bar; characters come to life like people you know and places become as familiar as if you had been there. His songs have been recorded by more than a hundred other performers of various nationalities (there are more than sixty cover versions of his song “It’s Good to See You”, in ten different languages), proof enough that a concert by Allan Taylor will be an experience to remember. As Allan says at the beginning of each concert, “Sit back and enjoy the journey.”

Biography

For 35 years he has been considered as the consummate performer, a writer of literary gracefulness whose troubadour chronicles encapsulate the realism of otherwise unsung heroes, otherwise uncharted lives. His songs are faultlessly constructed and flawlessly performed, with his instantly recognisable voice, attractively dark and mellow, and his intricately detailed yet full-sounding guitar playing. His album The Traveller won the Grand Prix du Disque de Montreaux for the best European album, and his CD Colour to the Moon (released in 2001) represents the work of an artist at his most mature and confident. The songs on the CD, Hotels and Dreamers (which was awarded “CD of the Year” in Germany) add to a superb back catalogue of great songs, songs that have been recorded by more than a hundred other performers of various nationalities (there are more than sixty cover versions of his song “It’s Good to See You” in ten different languages). His most recent recording, Old Friends, New Roads (released in July 2007) – a completely solo CD with voice and guitar, and voice and piano has introduced some of his classic older songs (such as "The Morning Lies Heavy") to a new audience and has already gained complimentary plaudits from the media.

Looking back as well as forward, few people can convey with such eloquence their life experiences. His songs are written from a lifetime of travelling; always the observer passing through, each song is a vignette of life, like a story told over a drink in a bar. Each has an integrity that tells you it comes from something real; characters come to life like people you know and places become as familiar as if you had been there. As Allan says at the beginning of each concert, “Sit back and enjoy the journey.”


Notable Quotes

I think you are more purely musical than just about anyone I know. I would find it pure pleasure to work with you someday in any way – writing, sharing the stage, whatever. You are one of the very few who record as well as you perform. (Tom Paxton)

He is an artist, a poet, a singer, call him what you like, but he has the ability to paint pictures using the minimum of words, pictures which demand closer study. (The Living Tradition)

There’s no mystery about his appeal: beautifully crafted, worldly-wise songs with beguiling, precision-built guitar accompaniments, delivered in a firm, American-tinged voice that sounds as if it is telling you a story. (Alistair Clark writing in The Scotsman)

He manages to draw to draw you into his world, sometimes amusing you, at other times disturbing you. His gentle sense of humour wins you over as he regales you with anecdotes. Then when your guard is down, he gives you a song that leaves you with a lump in your throat. (Review by Drew McAdam of The Edinburgh Evening News of Allan's’s concert in Edinburgh)

Allan Taylor is one of the more literate and sensitive of contemporary songwriters in terms of words and music, and one who is capable of exploring more complex subjects than most of his contemporaries… he should probably be regarded as potentially the most important songwriter of his generation. (Dr. Frederick Woods, The Oxford Book of Traditional Verse)

Allan’s Colour to the Moon album presented a series of compelling vignettes largely concerning themselves with bohemian remembrances, and Hotels and Dreamers is, at least in part, both a true thematic follow-up to that album and a development of that concept. This new offering deserves every bit as much critical acclaim, for each and every song is a typically finely wrought and evocative piece of work. Its musical settings present a variety of individual timbres casting Allan’s distinctive, mellow guitar into relief; and, unusually, on two songs, even puts aside his guitar altogether. While Allan continues to produce albums of such high standard and unstinting quality and freshness, he need have no worries about maintaining a healthy profile. (David Kidman, fRoots, April 2004)

Discography

1971 LP	Sometimes, United Artists Records LBH83483
1971 LP	The Lady, United Artists Records UAS29275
1973 LP	The American Album, United Artists Records UAG 29468
1976 LP	Cajun Moon, Chrysalis Records CHR1116
1978 LP	The Traveller, Rubber Records RUB026
1980 LP	Roll on the Day, Rubber Records RUB040
1983 LP	Circle Round Again, Black Crow Records CRO205
1984 LP	Win or Lose, T Records T001
1988 LP & CD	Lines, T Records TCD002
1991 LP & CD	Out of Time, T Records TCD003
1993 CD	So Long, T Records TCD004
1995 CD	Faded Light, T Records TCD005
1996 CD	Looking for You, Stockfisch Records RTD357.6013.2
1997 CD   (double CD)	The Alex Campbell Tribute Concert, Various Artists,T Records TCD007
2001 CD	Colour to the Moon Stockfisch, Records SFR 357.6021.2
2002 CD	Banjoman – A Tribute to Derroll Adams, Various Artists, CD BG-1420
2002 CD	Out of Time, T Records TCD003 Re-mastered with 3 bonus tracks
2003 CD	Hotels and Dreamers, Stockfisch Records SFR357.6028.2
2007 CD	Old Friends New Roads, Stockfisch Records SFR 357.6047.2

Cover Versions of Allan Taylor's Songs