Description
Ben Taylor “Listening” CD, signed on the front cover of the CD booklet in black marker by Ben Taylor.
The artwork on the booklet cover is identical to the CD cover.
Signed at a private autograph session.
Sold with a Certificate of Authenticity from The Autograph Source (Lifetime Guarantee).
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Benjamin Taylor is a musician and actor. He is the son of folk rock artists James Taylor and Carly Simon.
Listening, the fourth full-length studio album from singer/songwriter/actor Ben Taylor, the son of Rock & Roll Hall of Famer James Taylor and multiple Grammy Award-winner Carly Simon, is also his first for a record label. Written and recorded over a four-year span, the 11 tracks run the gamut from quiet, introspective folk (“Listening”) and shimmery, gospel-infused Americana (“Next Time Around”) to soulful, late-night blues rock (“Oh Brother”) and breezy, west coast country-pop (“Giulia”). Held together by Taylor’s deep, expressive voice and deceptively simple guitar playing, Listening feels less like an amalgamation of styles and more like a guided tour through the genres that have inspired the self-described “kung folk” artist (he has extensive training in multiple martial arts) over the years. Polished but retaining the weathered edges of someone who has spent their career employing a fairly strict, D.I.Y. set of studio ethics, the album plays by its own set of rules within an already established game — the tuneful title cut is clearly the work of the son of James Taylor, while the sleek, trip-hoppy “America” reflects a more urban, less urbane perspective of the world. That said, incorporating reggae (“You Could Be Mine”) and hip-hop (“Dirty”) into an already busy cocktail can be a bit jarring, even for fans of the increasingly cosmopolitan world of commercial folk-pop (Dave Matthews, Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson), but Taylor’s laid-back delivery, everyman lyrics, and familiar melodies lend each stylistic digression an air of unpretentious-ness that eventually wins the listener over.
