Artist Bio
Kathy Taylor
Introduction
“I have always been influenced by many voices; different languages, cultures and genres of music all speak to me. Even though my songs are about very different places, they are also about anywhere, about finding a home in your heart.”
“There has been an odd collection of voices in my head inspiring the songs. Imagine Billie Holliday, Kate Wolf, Norah Jones, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Andrés Segovia, Jimmy Hendrix, James Taylor, Buddy Hollie, Mississippi John Hurt, Led Zeppelin, Judy Collins, Carlos Santana, Van Morrison, Linda Ronstadt, Tom Waite, Carrie Newcomer, Neil Young and many, many others in a room together. Yet it is not a room, but the remote high country of the Colorado Rockies, ‘where the air is thin, where the mountains sigh and the rivers begin…’ This is where a diverse group of people finds community and where my songs find me. With the backdrop of the ‘mystical sound of silence on high’ and the undeveloped open spaces ‘where untamed songs run free’, the voices in my head settle and listen and the stories come to life. I am eternally indebted to all the music out there and grateful for places like Badger Creek where the music in here can find its way out.”
“Past musical projects have been somewhat random and free floating. Years of casual folk, classical guitar, love for the blues, occasional trysts with jazz and rock, love of languages, passion for Latin music and dance, world music and an easily moved heart have all contributed to wherever I land next. I’ve been lucky to have some fine musicians join me along the way.”
Link to Kathy’s Spotify page.
Link to Kathy’s YouTube channel
CDs
2010 Kantika nobo – (11 songs) a CD compilation about my experiences on Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean, and its Creole language, Papiamentu. The songs are in Papiamentu (with one in English and one in Portuguese) and are dedicated to celebrating that language.
2013 Badger Creek – (13 songs) a CD compilation about life in a remote “off the grid” community in the Colorado Rockies, its residents and natural beauty. As described above, our mountain home is where I have written many of my songs.
2015 In the Inbetween – (14 songs) a CD compilation of original singer-songwriter, blues, jazz, folk, light rock. Many of the songs have to do with transitions and identity in that space between places, people, perspectives, identity. Includes two songs written for my granddaughter, Greta Garrettson-Taylor, who sings on one of them.
2016 Passing Moments – (13 songs) a CD compilation of original singer-songwriter, folk songs about people and places we love, and the loss of beloved friends and sometimes dogs. Includes one cover of a Kate Wolf song, a traditional Navajo song, and two songs written for and with Greta Garrettson-Taylor, who also sings on them.
2017 Amor de palabras – (10 songs) a CD compilation of original songs in Spanish, Papiamentu, Portuguese and English. A mixture of Latin music influences and songs of love and loss. One song based on a poem by Pablo Neruda (Chile), another on a poem by Ida Vitale (Uruguay).
2023 Off the Grid – (13 songs) a CD compilation of original blues, jazz, singer-songwriter, blues rock, country blues. A couple songs co-written and sung with Peter Taylor and Greta Garrettson-Taylor. One also sung with my granddog JJ.
All of these are available on Spotify:
Music Videos (YouTube)
2012 Kathy Taylor –Dreams (Sueños) – a short video by Wilmer Chavarría of a song I wrote with the words of a poem by Pablo Neruda. (YouTube) (Poem LVIII by Pablo Neruda, El libro de las preguntas, music and translation by Kathy Taylor)
2013 Babelegría – another video by Wilmer Chavarría of a song I wrote in 5 languages (German, Papiamentu, Portuguese, English, Spanish) performed with some of my students at Earlham College. (YouTube)
2013 Badger Creek – video of the title song from the Badger Creek album.
2013 House on The Hill – video of another song from the Badger Creek album.
2015 My Madushi and Me – video of a song from the In the Inbetween album – with and for my granddaughter Greta Garrettson-Taylor on her 7th birthday.
2016 A Boy and a Girl and a Dream – video and song for my brother and sister-in-law on their 50th wedding anniversary.
2018 Blue Wave – video of a song of hope and prayer for the future and the things that connect us.
2022 The Wookie – video and song for my granddog JJ and my daughter Anika.
2023 Cuarentango – short film and song about the pandemic and the isolation of the early years. Originally in Spanish. A play on the Spanish “cuarentena” (quarantine) plus “tango.”
2023 Cuarentango E – the same film with the vocal in English.
Link to YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@catalinasastre
