![]() It’s the thing that I was put on earth to do. If there’s a silver lining around this, it’s that my kids get to see that their dad is obsessed with the thing he does and he loves it, and it’s hard to tear me away from making music. I think that my parents and many of my friends’ parents had jobs that paid the bills, but they were not particularly inspired by them. ![]() I don’t know that I really necessarily saw that myself growing up. It’s important to me that my kids understand that you can do the thing that you love. ![]() I think the guilt is a big thematic component of "Heart Like a Levee." The flip side is that my kids are going to grow up seeing their dad doing something that he is absolutely in love with and obsessed by. He was also having horrible feelings of guilt about being away from his family, including his young son, but those feelings also gave him the inspiration to record his great new album, "A Sailor’s Guide to Earth."Ī: Yeah, yeah, I definitely deal with the guilt. Q: This reminds me a lot of the interview I did earlier this year with musician Sturgill Simpson. It’s especially hard when the kids are so young and it seems like something new is happening every day with their lives and their brains and their personalities. Q: What else was a factor in your decision-making at that time?Ī: I have a couple kids, they’re 3 and 7 now, and I own a house in Durham - it’s hard to leave that. When there’s no real end in sight to a job, it’s the regularity that drives you crazy, but when given the opportunity to leave for something that you don’t know is going to pan out, it’s sort of. Ironically, that was the thing I was bucking against as well. The hard thing to leave was the regularity of the job. But it’s very important to me spiritually and emotionally to play and write music. Q: That sound s like a great, satisfying job, and something not easy to give up!Ī It’s great, it’s incredible. That’s something that really speaks to me. I would record traditional music - gospel music, old-time blues and country music. It was people sitting around the house and playing for themselves, not preparing for a big gig or tour, not preparing to make a record, but really just connected to the music in a personal and smaller way. I would get hired to record and document vernacular musical traditions. ![]() Q: Was the day job you gave up something you liked?Ī: I was working as a folklorist for the State of North Carolina and I loved doing that kind of work. My feet were sort of put to the fire, so I quit my job, and that was right around the time I started writing. What came out was the songs on "Heart Like a Levee." I did that up through the release of (my 2014 album) "Lateness of Dancers," and by the time I finished that album, I remember thinking, "I can’t keep doing it this way because I really want this music to get better, I want to be able to grow and evolve as a songwriter." I had already been working very hard for years on my music, but I basically needed to either quit my job or attempt to continue on in the way that I had been, which was using up all my sick and vacation time, never being around on the weekends, basically eking out as much free time as I could. QUESTION: What inspired your new record? What was going on your personal life at the time?ĪNSWER: I think the seeds of this record come from the time when I had to make a decision about what part music was going to play in my life. Performing Monday at the Loving Touch in Ferndale, Hiss Golden Messenger’s 41-year-old Taylor shared the story behind his new album while traveling from northern California to a show in Portland, Ore. ![]() Receiving praise by mainstream and alternative critics alike, "Heart Like a Levee" beautifully balances its flowing melodies with heartfelt, vulnerable lyrics that deal with the daily struggles of family, faith and work. ![]()
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