.. .. Rick Taylor made his first professional appearance at the famed Mariposa Folk Festival in 1971, going on to perform at many of the major Canadian folk festivals. Blues, jazz, country, rock, roots and contemporary music influenced Rick's early years on the folk and coffee house circuits. As a singer-songwriter and guitarist, Rick has been featured on CBC television and radio programmes Touch The Earth with host Sylvia Tyson, The Entertainers with host Bill Garrett , Peter Gzowski's 90 Minutes Live, City TV's Music City and Intimate Evenings with Songwriters with Willie P. Bennett on Rogers Cable TV. Other highlights of Rick's career include opening act for Bruce Cockburn and appearing in New York City as a multi-instrumentalist in Leonard Cohen's musical production "The Sisters of Mercy", as well as guitarist in the Vancouver production of "Hank Williams, The Show He Never Gave." Rick's dynamism on guitar has led to session and sideman work with Willie P. Bennett, Stan Rogers, Doug McArthur and a highly acclaimed tour with Colleen Peterson, which culminated in nine evening engagement as opening act for Gordon Lightfoot at Massey Hall in Toronto. Rick also fronted his own band The Torpedoes with drummer and brother Steve Taylor in Southern Ontario; a sound described by Doug McArthur as "folkaboogietoadrock" as well as the Rick Taylor Band which featured some of the finest blues and jazz musicians in Vancouver, and more recently was a member of HARD 8 Tio; a Vancouver roots-acoustic trio featuring guitar great Paul Pigat and harmonica legend Monte. Rick is well know for his high energy live performances, rich, expressive baritone voice, quirky and novel song-writing styles; such as his cult classics "Black Leather Diaper" and "Drunkards Lullaby", his delicately, haunting, well crafted ballads, and unforgettable "guitarnastics". Rick's early chart hit classics "Letters from Jane" and "Soldier in the Rain", released internationally in 1989 on Volunteer Records, continued in "gold rotation" on radio stations around the world for many years. His new CD release entitled "Clown River" contains 13 original solo guitar compositions. This work is a beautifully woven instrumental story. Rick has reached deeply into his influences of the great fingerstyle guitar traditions of the world. Widely respected as one of Canada's foremost fingerstyle guitarists, Rick Taylor was honoured to be a featured artist on Borealis Records guitar compilation CD "Six Strings North of the Border Volume 3 ", released internationally in Feb. 2006.~ For up coming show listings visit Rick Taylor Band on Myspace http:www.myspace.com/ricktaylorband Six Strings North of the Border: Volume 3
.. ..Liner notes from Clown River by Rick Taylor
The Journey
The making of Clown River has been a dream of mine for a very long time. It is, in essence, the re-awakening of my love for the acoustic guitar.
The opportunity to compose, rehearse and record these compositions is a wonderful gift realized. I am forever grateful to my producer Derek Macneill for his commitment to our vision and his willingness to embark on this journey with me. A warm and translucent sonic container, evokes this journey of re-discovery in the pieces recorded.
I composed several of these tracks during my early career as a guitarist, singer-songwriter. There have always been a few instrumentals in my repertoire.
Some of the compositions were written in the 1970's. Some were composed and rehearsed on an eighty-nine dollar guitar in a small bedroom. A few were coaxed from an old blue, abandoned guitar I named "The Blue Jesus", that I found behind a furnace in an old house I rented once in Vancouver: all are labours of love.
I used some unorthodox open tunings; such as the B Flat slack string tuning for the title track "Clown River". Derek's restored and pristine Martin D-35 acoustic guitar with 24 karat gold strings donated by his luthier Ge'za Burghardt was brought into commission for all of the recording sessions. We recorded all performances an a single pass without edits or over-dubs, with the exception of a special guest performance by my friend and neighbour, Joel Kroeker.
Credits
Produced, engineered, mixed by Derek MacNeill
Mastered by Water's Edge Productions
Recorded at Water's Edge Studios II, Vancouver , Canada
Released by Volunteer Records in association with Water's Edge Records
Cover design, concept, layout and original artwork by BruceTaylor. Original artwork Copyright 2004 by Bruce Taylor. Thanks to 3dcafe forthe wire.
Photography and clown makeup by Sarah Jane Taylor
*Additional guitar on Smokey Mountain Devil by Joel Kroeker.
*Joel Kroeker appears courtesy of True North Records/Universal Mucic Canada
Download Clown River from iTunesClick here to download from Napster/Virgin Digital Also visit Rick Taylor's band site on Myspace!