Stop us if you heard this one before:
Did you hear about the native Detroit singer/songwriter
who joined the
Peace Corps?
Actually, there's no punch line because it's not a joke.
There's far more to this most talented and dedicated of musicians
than the standard tale of learning guitar
from Bob Dylan records.
Taylor's musical journey began when, at the age of 8,
she found a trumpet in her
grandparent's barn and
taught herself to play, before joining the school band.
Meanwhile, mild obsessions
with Cat Stevens and hometown
heroes Bob Seger and the Motown Records roster
helped develop her
songwriting talent.
Taylor spent her high school years honing her craft;
while her classmates were learning
to smoke and drink with boys,
Taylor was practicing for 4 hours each day. Her efforts
and sacrifices weren't
in vain though; she would play
with numerous orchestras and ensembles, and would tour
Europe with an
Honors Orchestra at the age of 16,
an experience that would lead to an insatiable passion for travel.
In fact,
she would write her first song in a Prague cafe,
during her post-high school years on one of
her many
backpacking excursions around Western
and Eastern Europe. Her studies continued at a frenzied pace,
and she soon achieved her BA in Music Performance
and Musicology with, after more had work,
would be
followed by an MA in Germanic Studies. Not one to subscribe
to the "I know enough" theory, Taylor's
travelling and studying
has led to her speaking three languages fluently.
Somehow, during her time at grad
school, she also found time to learn to play guitar,
presumably when she should have been eating or sleeping.
In 1997, fate would work its mysterious powers over Taylor
when her car broke down in front of the Gaelic
League/Irish American club in Detroit.
The results of the seemingly random incident were two-pronged.
Firstly, she would go on to become heavily involved with
Detroit’s Irish community, learning to play fiddle
and forming
a Celtic band called Fiddlin' Friends. Secondly, she would
meet her future husband at that very
venue.
Her music would
take a back seat in 2004 when she joined the Peace Corps
(something that, to this
day, she's extremely proud of),
travelled to Kazakhstan and taught American Literature to 3rd year students
at the West Kazakhstan University.
Upon her return,
the Fiddlin' Friends were dissolved and so she embarked
on a solo career.
In 2007, she marred the man that she describes as the "world's best roadie"
and that same
year saw the release of her first CD, "Fix My Guitar."
As we begin a new decade, Taylor is working on her second album.
She also managed to find the time to host an open mic Thursday evenings
at Te Roma's in Centerline, MI.
Having already performed at venues as prestigious
as the Emerald Theater and Freedom Hill in Michigan,
as well as
Nashville, New Orleans, Chicago and Austin, Taylor is preparing
for her first national tour this
summer.
With a new album in the making and a tour to look forward to,
these are exciting times for Rachael Taylor.