Eric Taylor (September 25, 1949 – March 9, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter from Texas,known for his storytelling style, combining spoken word with anecdotal songs to create a theater-style performance. In addition to Taylor's nine solo releases, his songs have been recorded by Nanci Griffith, Lyle Lovett, Peter Cooper, and others.
Taylor was born and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. He began playing guitar as a child and performed in a racially-integrated soul music band in high school. He started playing soul music in his early years, steeping himself in the rich cultural heritage of the black South. "I've written poetry all my life," Taylor recounts. "When I learned how to play guitar, it was a natural progression to write songs." After high school, a brief stint at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, just "didn't work out," said Taylor during an interview. "Music lured me away, I thought I'd make my way to California like everybody else back then but I ran out of money and ended up in Houston." It's a good thing he never made it to California, because the musical environment in Houston during the '70s was just what Taylor needed to inspire him.
Taylor learned intricate blues guitar stylings from music legends Lightnin' Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb and Mississippi Fred McDowell while working at the Family Hand club. Later, he developed his own unique guitar picking style, that would be imitated by many of his contemporaries from the early Houston days, such as Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Robert Earl Keen, Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, and Nanci Griffith. "There were no lines drawn in the sand between musical genres in Houston back in those days," Taylor remembers. "You were just a musician. I believe so many great writers came out of that scene because you could learn from others. Isn't that the point of this whole thing?"
Here’s “Shermann Karmann” from above album.
In 1977 Taylor was a winner of the "New Folk" competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival. Shameless Love, his first album, came out in 1981, and after a hiatus of almost 14 years, he returned with the self-titled Eric Taylor, released in 1995. His eponymous release was chosen as the 1996 Kerrville Folk Festival Album of the Year. Three years later he released Resurrect, and it was subsequently named one of the "100 essential records of all time" by Buddy magazine. Taylor has headlined the prestigious Newport Folk Festival, played National Public Radio's "Mountain Stage" and has appeared on both "Late Night With David Letterman" with Nanci Griffith and "Austin City Limits" with Lyle Lovett, Guy Clark, and Robert Earl Keen.
2001 brought forth Scuffletown, and shortly following its release, Taylor was a featured artist on "Austin City Limit's" and NPR's "Morning Edition." The Kerrville Tapes (2003) was his first live album, recorded during three years of appearances at the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival. In 2004, heeding repeated requests by fans and media, Taylor re-mastered the vinyl Shameless Love and reissued it as a CD with 2 never-released-before bonus tracks.
In the spring of 2005, Taylor returned to Rock Romano's Red Shack in Houston to record his 5th studio album, The Great Divide. Garnering rave reviews at home and abroad, The Great Divide quickly reached #3 on the Euro Americana Chart and in 2006 was named one of the Top Releases Most Played by Folk Radio. Hollywood Pocketknife, released in 2007, is a 10-song collection that shows Taylor in his prime as a writer and performer, with his exquisite narrative style, his keen, studied observation of the human spirit, and his intricate, roots-driven guitar work. In January 2008, Eric Taylor and Hollywood Pocketknife were nominated for FolkWax's Artist Of The Year and Album Of The Year.
In early 2011 Taylor decided to bring together some of his oldest friends and favorite musicians for a live recording. These included Nanci Griffith, Lyle Lovett, Denice Franke, Susan Lindfors Taylor, Marco Python Fecchio and James Gilmer joined in to play percussion. Live At The Red Shack CD was named One Of The Top 10 Albums Of The Year (Texas Music magazine) and Best Of 2012 – Live Album (Third Coast Music magazine).
Taylor toured extensively in the United States and Europe, playing notable venues and Festivals. He taught at the Kerrville Song School, and conducted songwriting workshops throughout the United States and in Europe. His last release was Studio 10 in 2013, recorded at the Red Shack Studio in Houston and features nine original songs and a cover of Tim Grimm's "Cover These Bones." In 2016, Taylor was nominated for an Emmy Award for Musical Composition for songs he wrote for the Storyworks television documentary, Road Kid to Writer: The Tracks of Jim Tully.
Taylor died on March 9, 2020, at the age of 70 from liver disease. While Eric Taylor has sadly gone, his legacy will be maintained and nourished by the cohort of artists who were influenced by his songwriting and guitar playing. Taylor was married to singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith from 1976 to 1982.
(Edited from Blue Ruby Music, Wikipedia & Americana-UK)
Late in life he performed the YouTube video below, in which he spends some time talking about Pine Ridge and Fort Robinson, and about the writing of the song and some of what came after. He tells a story about how he discovered that the song had made him some money. It is a poignant telling of old stories, bringing a lump to his throat, and in itself is a fair tribute to the man.