Award-winning singer-songwriter Julian Taylor releases a new single “Georgia Moon,” out now. It is one of the new songs from his forthcoming retrospective collection, “Anthology Volume One”, set to release October 20, 2023.
Listen on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/track/4rccvQd9g94LPiej5ZQk4l
Julian Taylor talks about “Georgia Moon”: This is one of the first songs that I wrote when I was still in high school and my band was starting to do some shows in and around the city. I remember really focusing on writing this song from a third person point of view and trying to convey a tale that took place in a sort of Wild West, modern romantic era. Even though the song is very dark, it doesn’t come off that way. tells the tale of a bandit and someone chasing him all over the Eastern Seaboard. I used to play this song frequently at open stages, and it went over really well. It was never officially recorded before this, and as I reflect on much of my work, it felt like the right time to go back into the studio and finally nail it down."
Watch it on YouTube here:
Entitled Anthology Volume One, the album includes music from Taylor's various musical guises over the years, including his early music with Staggered Crossing, the Julian Taylor Band, and his more recent solo music. The collection also includes three new tracks which are being released as singles prior to the album release date.
Anthology Volume One follows on the heels of several acoustic single releases in 2023, as well as his most recent album, Beyond the Reservoir, which was released on October 14, 2022, via his Howling Turtle, Inc. label, with distribution via Warner Music/ADA. An album that addressed identity, loss, sadness, hope, and redemption, and the themes of resilience, courage, and strength, Beyond the Reservoir was nominated for a 2023 Juno Award in the Contemporary Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year category. PopMatters named the album one of the top folk albums of 2022. A song from the album, "100 Proof," was nominated for single of the year in the 2023 Canadian Folk Music Awards.
Taylor's award-winning 2020 release, The Ridge, scored him worldwide critical acclaim and eight award nominations in 2020 and 2021, including two Juno Awards, the Polaris Long List, and two Canadian Folk Music Awards, in which he won Solo Artist of the Year.
Toronto-based singer-songwriter Julian Taylor has been part of the musical fabric and landscape in Canada for two decades. Taylor enjoyed a breakthrough year in 2020, when his second solo acoustic album, The Ridge, earned more than five million plays on Spotify, praise from press worldwide, and airplay from America to Australia to the U.K. Loaded with soulful Americana and country twang, the album was produced by Taylor himself and Saam Hashemi, and was recorded at The Woodshed in Toronto. In addition to winning Taylor Solo Artist of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards, The Ridge was also nominated for: two Juno Awards (Contemporary Folk Album of The Year, Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year), the Polaris Prize Long List, a Summer Solstice Indigenous Award (Contemporary Folk Album of the Year), a Canadian Music Week INDIES Award (Indigenous Artist of the Year), and an additional Canadian Folk Music Awards nomination in the English Songwriter of the Year category. The nominations and awards kept coming in 2022, with Taylor winning best male artist in the International Acoustic Music Awards and scoring five Native American Music Award nominations.
Taylor, of combined Mohawk and Caribbean ancestry, is a major label veteran, Toronto music scene staple, and musical chameleon. His versatility as a songwriter is signature; one minute he’s onstage playing with his band spilling out electrified rhythm and blues glory, and the next he’s featured at a folk festival delivering a captivating solo singer-songwriter set. Formerly associated with the band Staggered Crossing, he has continued to record and perform as a solo artist and has released twelve studio albums since 2001. With his songs being placed in such TV shows as “Haven,” “Private Eyes,” “Kim’s Convenience,” “Degrassi: The Next Generation,” and “Elementary,” his versatility as a songwriter is signature. He has had four albums on the long list of the Polaris Prize in Canada and has charted on several Canadian and Indigenous Music Charts. Two songs from The Ridge album, the title track “The Ridge,” and “Human Race,” went to #1 on the Indigenous Music Countdown, while the Julian Taylor Band song “Back Again” hit #3 on the same chart.
Taylor is as explosive and captivating a live performer as you’ll ever see. Taylor has toured Canada and the U.S. countless times, sharing the stage with the likes of Serena Ryder, Blue Rodeo, William Prince, AHI, Rodney Crowell, Keb’ Mo’, and has performed at the Festival d’Été de Quebec, the Mariposa Folk Festival, Ottawa BluesFest, and more. Taylor was extremely honored to perform at not one but two Olympic Games, in Salt Lake City and Vancouver.
