Award-winning, Toronto based singer/songwriter Julian Taylor released his new album Anthology Vol.1 in 2023 on Friday October 20th. The album features some of his best work throughout the years of his career including songs from Julian Taylor Band and his previous band Staggered Crossing! Somewhat of a ‘best of’ album – for people like me, this has been a great way to discover Julian Taylor and I will definitely be following his career from now on!

Amongst the tracks of his years, Taylor has also included three previously unreleased tracks. Although cited as new songs, the tracks themselves were actually written years ago!

Julian Taylor is fast becoming a favourite amongst Americana music fans in the UK as his music easily spreads across various genres delivering something for everyone.

We recently spoke to Julian (before Christmas) about the album and more! Julian was such a kind and interesting person to speak with and he has so much adoration for his UK fans. We highly recommend listening to music if you haven’t already!

Hi Julian – How are you? How has your week been?

I am doing good thanks. Had a show last night. It was the last show of the year for me and it was a sold out show here in Toronto. It was kind of like a homecoming show, I have been on the road for this whole year! I have been home too but I started off 2023 with Americana UK fest in January and I haven’t stopped since.

Wow! So you will take time off now I hope?

Yeah, the next show that I have is January 25th 2024! I have a nice chunk of time where I can actually drink water and eat Broccoli haha!

What are your Christmas traditions?

We used to go up to the lake which is not too far from Toronto, it’s about 90 minutes from here and there’s a nice little cottage cabin think that my family goes too where we light fires and there’s a piano there which my dad plays and I play guitar, there’s an upright bass. My daughter loves it, we just all hang out! The best thing about it for me is I just love lighting the fire. A fire around Christmas it’s such a wonderful thing!

It does sound lovely!

Favourite Christmas movie?

We did watch Elf the other day which is hilarious but it’s got to be Christmas Vacation.

So let’s talk about Anthology Vol.1. I loved that!

Thank you!

For me, even though I can’t compare it to anyone specifically, it felt rather nostalgic as had that certain 90’s sound in places which I can’t quite get a form of description but it just had that feeling for me!

I come from that era so maybe that’s why!

The previously unreleased tracks that kick off the album, why were they unreleased because they are gold!

I don’t know actually. Actually I can explain that! Georgia Moon and City Song were deemed, at the time by the label that we were signed to as too long. Georgia Moon was a bit longer, I shortened it myself for this version. Maybe because of that feeling that was still in my head, I was subconscious about that. That’s what it was, they thought they were too long!

Oh well I love a long song and I think people do these days. Did you ever play the songs at live shows? I assume despite being new on record, they aren’t new to fans?

I did yeah! I have live recordings of them yeah!

Oh amazing!

You must be getting good reactions from fans old and new then? Old fans having waited years for a studio version?

Oh yeah, it’s been lovely!

You have had a long career so there must be so many songs that aren’t released yet. How did you narrow it down to these three for this project?

Because they were slated for the records back in the day! I thought they were good enough to go on it!

They certainly are!

Some of the others that I have in the vault are not completely finished but maybe I will do that, I am not sure!

City Song is a favourite for me and you have said that back then the dream wasn’t exactly what you thought it would be at the time?

I think when you’re 18/19 years old and you get signed to a major label and you’re about to do what you’re doing you think the whole thing is gold and you think from there on you have made it. In reality is that’s just where the work starts in a lot of ways. There are so many moments in a career and I can only speak for music but I am sure it’s relative to other careers, that you have these moments where you think you have made it and as soon as you think that, there is a reality check and it’s just when the work gets started. I have run in to that scenario several times in my career and I think that when I wrote that song, that was the first time that realisation struck true.

You said that going from City to City, you struggled to get to actually see the cities themselves. Has that changed now? Can you allow yourself more down time?

Not really haha! What I didn’t do back then that I do now and this has come with experience and also the desire to exercise or move my body haha. When I get to cities the first thing I do when I have time before a sound check or in the morning I will get up earlier than I did when I was younger and go for a walk around the city which I didn’t do when I was 19 years old.

Well if you are like me, I wasn’t interested in walking around and taking things in when I was a teenager!

No I wasn’t! But now I am really interested in it. Go for a walk and see the sights and wave at people, maybe go to a cafe.

So, did you really sell your guitar and your baseball cards? (Reference to City Song)

I did! There was a guitar that I did sell and most of my baseball cards have gone. I have a few in a little box and some Hockey cards too but yes I did!

Did you ever get to buy your guitar back? Did it have sentimental value?

Not that one but don’t worry about it, it wasn’t that great of a guitar haha!

How do you feel the industry has changed since the start of your career? What are the pros and cons?

When I first started it was the late 90’s and CD sales were still happening. When we put our record out, Napster hit! Our first record went out as soon as Napster went full swing!

No way!!

It was tough, major labels, all labels had a really hard time, a big struggle to earn money as a musician and frankly it’s got harder. We are seeing this shift in the devaluation of the arts in music and photography, literature and generally it’s really tough. For all the brilliance that technology has brought us, it has also pulled us further away from what we really need to value as part of this human experience. Who doesn’t need music? How are we going to make music without it being valued?

Even music venues are closing all over the place.

Exactly! It’s tough!

Please tell us about the song and the video for ‘Stolen Lands’.

Sure! I am really proud of the video, I think it looks extraordinary. It’s really really well shot and in a great location. I am trying to tell the story of the fact I am a person of mixed heritage and try to deconstruct the ideas and idioms that have been built into place over the last century or so that the land is a very sacred place for indigenous people. The land, and I am specifically speaking about Turtle Island which is in North America and of people of African descent (to whom) it is also sacred but also not. They’re estranged from it in a way because they were taken from another place which was their home and brought to another place which was someone else’s home. The interesting thing for me is that when you have ties to the land, you’re grounded and it’s very specific to that and when the land is stolen from you, that groundness completely falls to the wayside, it’s not there anymore so for people of indigenous culture in North America, Turtle Island, for them to have that claim to the land and then have it taken away leaves them with no footing, literally, I am using these words and metaphors to explain exactly what the feeling is like to be someone of that ilk and have that taken away. You don’t feel grounded anymore. Your footing is completely gone. From the other side of my heritage, the African, West Indian decent, not having any claim to that land, and being stolen from your own land which has left you grounded and footing where you had footing and then being brought to a place where you have none you become estranged, so it’s a really difficult time to find what your identity is and how to stay true when you don’t have that. The song is meant to say that regardless of those things, we have which is a real testimony to strength and resilience.

Will you be making Vol.2?

I will yes, it will take me a while to get it done but yes I will.

Oh good!

What has been your favourite decade of music?

To listen, the 1970’s but I like them all. For me, even though this one is a hard one to live in as an artist and as a musician because of the way things are built in the industry, I would say this one as I have travelled the most. I have met so many people and more people have listened to my music so I am stoked about that!

Thank you so much for today, hopefully we will see you back in the UK soon!

Oh you will! Thank you!