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Chapel Hill's Kate Taylor -- Biography and New Album
by Charly Mann
Kate Taylor is a 60 year old late bloomer. She is the middle child, and only daughter, of the remarkable Issac and Trudy Taylor family of Chapel Hill. Now 45 years after her career in the music business started she has released one of the best albums of all original material in the new millennium. The album is entitled Fair Time! and opens with two very memorable songs. The opening number, Soap Opera Life, sounds like a #1 country hit, particularly if Carrie Underwood or Taylor Swift decided to do a cover. The next track, Things I Carry, is an instantly enjoyable affirmative rocking love song. Most of the album is an autobiographical record of her life starting with growing up in Chapel with her four brothers on the track, Sun Did Shine (On Carolina), but more accurately called Chapel Hill-Billies. Coinciding with the release of the album is a DVD biography of Kate entitled Kate Taylor: Tunes from the Tipi and Other Songs From Home that is beautifully filmed, produced, and directed by her daughter Liz Witham. Included in the film is some delightful color footage of UNC and downtown Chapel Hill from the early sixties. There is also an array of photos and film clips of the entire Taylor family growing up.
A 20 year old Kate Taylor
Kate Taylor was born on August 15th, 1949 in Boston, and grew up at 618 Morgan Creek Road in Chapel Hill on 28 acres of beautifully secluded land in a house that was designed by two of the most acclaimed architects of 1950s modern houses, George Matsumoto and John D. Latimer. She was named after Katherine Child, the head mistress of a school her mother attended in Boston. Every summer the family would leave Chapel Hill's heat and humidity to stay on the remote island of Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts. It was a perfect place for Kate and the rest of her clan, and all the Taylors would eventually make it their home. In the 1960s it was a bohemian paradise full of musicians, artists, and writers. The Taylors were all unconventional. Even their father, a respected academic, left his family and teaching position at UNC for two years, doing his service to his country by joining the Navy and being the resident doctor on a naval expedition to Antarctica. All of the Taylor children pursed music in favor of education from an early age, and all lived their late adolescent years as vagabonds.
Issac and Trudy Taylor's house at 618 Morgan Creek Road Chapel Hill, NC
Kate's older brother, Alex, was the only family member who passionately wanted to have a career as a singer, and he probably would have succeeded if he had not abused alcohol so much from an early age. James's surprise meteoric elevation to rock stardom in 1970 allowed Kate to showcase her own talents on her debut album Sister Kate, produced by James's friend and manager Peter Asher. The album is a masterpiece and tour de force of great songs, with back up musicians including Carole King, Linda Ronstadt, her brother James, J.D. Souther, and Bernie Leadon. After a brief career in music, Kate returned to Martha's Vineyard and met her soul mate, Charlie Witham , raised two daughters, and helped raise her stepdaughter. From 1976 to the present Kate has also pursued her interest in Native American art and culture. For several summers she lived with her family in a tipi on Martha's Vineyard. She and her husband revived the ancient craft of wampum bead making which the native peoples once used as a means of communication.
Kate Taylor and her late husband Charlie Witham, with daughters Aquinnah, Aretha, and Liz Witham
In 1976 brother James produced her excellent second album, Kate Taylor. This album features a duet with James of It's In His Kiss (The Shoop Shoop Song), originally a 1962 hit for Betty Everett. This is the only top-forty single Kate has had in her career. In 1978 Kate went to Muscle Shoals, Alabama to record her third album, It's In There and It's Got to Come Out, produced by Barry Beckett and using the famed Muscle Shoals Sound rhythm section. In 1999 her husband Charlie brought her and James together again to record a beautiful rendition of the Robert Burns 1788 poem, Auld Lang Syne, which was long ago made into song. It was subsequently issued on Kate's 2002 album, Beautiful Road.
Kate Taylor and her brother James Taylor October 1968, when James was recording his first album in London for the Beatle's Apple Records
The Taylor family is certainly the most noted and written about in recent Chapel Hill history. Even without James's celebrity status, Dr. Taylor's contribution as dean of the UNC medical school and the children's uniquely privileged and unconventional upbringing make all seven members of this tribe fascinating. It is noteworthy in Chapel Hill if even one child raised by a UNC professor does not attend college, but in this case all five did not. Also amazing is the array of musical talent that each of the five children have. There are debates among Chapel Hillians about each member's abilities, such as who had the best voice -- Alex usually wins this title, most gifted songwriter -- James hands down, best performer -- unquestionably Livingston, most balanced and underrated, and usually rated the second best singer -- Hugh, and for me the one I can never hear enough of -- Kate.
Kate Taylor and her brother Alex Taylor
Kate's new CD "Fair Time!" now available at katetaylor.com.
Amazon.com
CDBaby
iTunes
Kate's new DVD Kate Taylor: Tunes from the Tipi and Other Songs from Home now available at DocuTunes.TV.
Comments:
Corey
2:31 PM Sun 11/22/2009
Another great Taylor article! Love it!
Kate's newest album Fair Time is her best, I think. She has only sporadically written songs on her previous albums, but here she fully arrives. Great writing, and as ever, great singing.
I need to get the DVD and am really looking forward to it.
Also, thank you for the reminder of the Beatles cover song. I'd completely forgotten about that.
Skip Via, I'm really looking forward to your interview with Livingston! I would love to hear more about your school & band days with Liv and Hugh.
Skip Via
9:29 PM Sat 10/10/2009
The only thing missing from the photo of the Taylor's house is the "boys' house"--the two-bedroom and a den cottage, separate from the main house, where we had band rehearsals. Hugh and Liv lived there when I knew them. We went into Ike and Trudy's house only rarely--probably when they weren't home.
I remember two or three instances when Kate stopped in during one of our performances (the Sands of Time) and contributed a song or two. Great singer.
Bob Nogushi
10:56 AM Thu 10/8/2009
Thanks for your update on Kate Taylor. I enjoyed her three albums in the 1970s, and had not heard about her in almost thirty years. I look forward to hearing her new album.
Charly Mann
11:27 AM Wed 10/7/2009
Hello - Sarah,
I do not know how many of the children of James, Alex, Kate, and Hugh have attended college. James has a few that are not yet even college aged. Livingston has no children, and is uncle to all of this generation of Taylors. Next year I hope to interview him for Chapel Hill Memories, and I will ask him this question.
As far as money goes, all of the Taylor's are frugal and self-supporting as far as I know. Livingston also teaches at the Berklee College of Music, Kate makes jewelrey, and Hugh owns and runs a Bed and Breakfast on Martha's Vineyard.
Sarah Ellroy
9:42 AM Wed 10/7/2009
I do not know very much about the Taylor family, but was surprised that none of the children went to college. I understand that one son, James, does very well in the music business. When I read about their estate sized house in Chapel Hill, and that they all now live on Martha's Vineyard, it makes me believe that there must be family money that has given them the financial security to forgo higher education.
Do you know what percent of the children of the next generations of Taylors went to college?
Melanie Braxton
5:00 PM Tue 10/6/2009
I think this is an excerpt from the new Kate Taylor DVD. It features some video of Chapel Hill and a brief bio of Kate.
http://revver.com/video/1073394/the-vineyard-scene-episode-3-kate-taylor-tunes-from-the-tipi/
Charly Mann
2:11 PM Tue 10/6/2009
The album with Kate doing "Drive My Car" is called Cape Cod Covers Volume II - The Beatles. It came out a few years ago and has an array of great Beatles coves, though the Kate's rendition is especially good.
I recommend also her version of "Crying in the Rain" with Ben Taylor. I have the mp3, but do not believe it is an official release.
I do not think putting up Kate's version of "Drive My Car" has a Chapel Hill connection, but I hope our readers think about buying or downloading that album.
All-Bran1960
1:16 PM Tue 10/6/2009
A real treat is Kate's version of THE BEATLES - Drive My Car on a Cape Cod Beatles Tribute album. You should post that.
Wanda Gaither
10:21 AM Tue 10/6/2009
Kate Taylor has such a beautiful and dynanic voice. If Aladdin was to give me one wish it would be for her to do an album of standards from the Great American Songbook.
Tracy Anderson
8:23 AM Tue 10/6/2009
My Grandfather gave me an album by James Taylor called Mud Slide Slim for my birthday in June which I really enjoy. I look forward to getting this album by his sister.
Fran Boseman
9:32 PM Mon 10/5/2009
I going to order the album from Amazon. The song about Chapel Hill is great, but I did not see "The Weight" listed as one of the album's tracks. Where can I get that?
Sue W
9:22 PM Mon 10/5/2009
What a great write up, thanks Charly. Kate's new album is getting great reviews on Amazon.com. Fun to hear all five of the Taylor kids singing.
Frank Young
8:41 PM Mon 10/5/2009
You have made my day, and my week. It is about time Kate Taylor got her due. She is an incredible singer and I look forward to downloading her new album.
Chapel Hill is located on a hill whose only distinguishing feature in the 18th century was a small chapel on top called New Hope Chapel. This church was built in 1752 and is currently the location of The Carolina Inn. The town was founded in 1819, and chartered in 1851.
What is it that binds us to this place as to no other? It is not the well or the bell or the stone walls. or the crisp October nights. No, our love for this place is based upon the fact that it is as it was meant to be, The University of the People.
-- Charles Kuralt
Dark Side of the Hill -- Pink Floyd, the creators of the most popular album in history, Dark Side of the Moon, took the second half of their name from Floyd Council, a Chapel Hill native, and great blues singer and guitarist. He once belonged to a group called "The Chapel Hillbillies".
Check out Charly Mann's other website:
Oklahoma Birds and Butterflies
http://oklahomabirdsandbutterflies.com
Oklahoma Birds and Butterflies
http://oklahomabirdsandbutterflies.com
There would probably be no Chapel Hill if the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees in 1793 had not chosen land across from New Hope Chapel for the location of the university. By 1800 there were about 100 people living in thirty houses surrounding the campus.
The University North Carolina's first student was Hinton James, who enrolled in February, 1795. There is now a dormitory on the campus named in his honor.
The University of North Carolina was closed from 1870 to 1875 because of lack of state funding.
William Ackland left his art collection and $1.25 million to Duke University in 1940 on the condition that he would be buried in the art museum that the University was to build with his bequest. Duke rejected this condition even though members of the Duke Family are buried in Duke Chapel. What followed was a long and acrimonious legal battle between Ackland relatives who now wanted the inheritance, Rollins College, and the University of North Carolina, each attempting to receive the funds. The case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, and in 1949 UNC was awarded the money for the museum. Ackland is buried near the museum's entrance. When the museum first opened, in the early sixties, there were rumors that his remains were leaking out of the mausoleum.
The official name of the Arboretum on the University of North Carolina campus is the Coker Arboretum. It is named after Dr. William Cocker, the University's first botany professor. It occupies a little more than five acres. It was founded in 1903.
Chapel Hill's main street has always been called Franklin Street. It was named after Benjamin Franklin in the early 1790s.
Chapel Hill High School and Chapel Hill Junior High were on Franklin Street in the same location as University Square until the mid 1960s.
The Colonial Drug Store at 450 West Franklin Street was owned and operated by John Carswell. It was famous for a fresh-squeezed carbonated orange beverage called a "Big O". In the early 1970s, I managed the Record and Tape Center next door, and must have had over 100 of those drinks. The Colonial Drug Store closed in 1996.
Sutton's Drugstore, which opened in 1923, has one of the last soda fountains in the South. It is one of the few businesses remaining on Franklin Street that was in operation when I was growing up in the 1950s.
Future President Gerald Ford lived in Chapel Hill twice. First when he was 24, in 1938, he took a law couse in summer school at UNC. He lived in the Carr Building, which was a law school dormitory. At the same time, Richard Nixon, the man he served under as Vice President, was attending law school at Duke. In 1942, Ford returned to Chapel Hill to attend the U.S. Navy's Pre-Flight School training program. He lived in a rental house on Hidden Hills Drive.
If you are in the Chapel Hill area, you might be interested in this:
The Taylor Family in Chapel Hill
Tuesday, February 9
5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Student Union Theater, UNC Campus
The very musical Taylor family lived in Chapel Hill in the 1950s and 1960s while Dr. Isaac Taylor was on the faculty, and eventually the dean of the UNC Medical School. Isaac and Trudy Taylor's children have all been musicians (Alex, James, Kate, Livingston and Hugh) as have many of their grandchildren. This program will feature a film by Liz Witham, award-winning documentary filmmaker and daughter of Kate Taylor, about her mother and other Taylors in Chapel Hill and the Taylors' long-time home, Martha's Vineyard, Mass. Kate Taylor also will perform, and she and Liz will answer questions. The event begins with a reception at 5 p.m. followed by the program at 5:30 p.m. For information, visit http://www.lib.unc.edu/blogs/news/ or call Liza Terll at (919) 962-4207.