Julian Taylor: Georgia Moon

By Kerry Doole

Julian Taylor - Georgia Moon (Howling Turtle, Inc.): This hard-working and prolific Toronto roots troubadour is releasing his retrospective collection, Anthology Vol. 1, on Oct. 20, and has just delivered a lyric video for one of its advance tracks, Georgia Moon.

In a press release, Taylor describes the tune this way: "This is one of the first songs that I wrote when I was still in high school, and my band was starting to do some shows in and around the city. I remember really focusing on writing this song from a third person point of view and trying to convey a tale that took place in a sort of Wild West, modern romantic era.

"Even though the song is very dark, it doesn’t come off that way. It tells the tale of a bandit and someone chasing him all over the Eastern Seaboard. I used to play this song frequently at open stages, and it went over really well. It was never officially recorded before this, and as I reflect on much of my work, it felt like the right time to go back into the studio and finally nail it down."

This version is much fuller than in his open-stage days, and the co-production of Taylor and Jimmy Bowskill (Blue Rodeo) is crisp. Bowskill's electric guitar lines are a treat, supporting Taylor's strong and warm vocals. It's nice to hear a real story song (depicting a crime in the South) rather than the confessional introspective material of so many singer/songwriters these days.

Anthology Vol. 1 is a collection of 16 songs that track the full arc of his career from the formative days as a member of popular roots-rockers Staggered Crossing to the genesis of his own Julian Taylor Band collective and more recent transition to becoming a solo artist.

The collection follows his two most recent solo LPs, 2020’s acclaimed The Ridge (which helped him win Solo Artist of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards and earned Juno and Polaris noms), and 2022’s equally lauded Beyond the Reservoir. Material from The Ridge earned more than five million plays on Spotify.

Taylor has released twelve studio albums since 2001 and had songs placed in such TV shows as Haven, Private Eyes, Kim’s Convenience, Degrassi: The Next Generation, and Elementary. Taylor has toured Canada and the U.S. countless times and recently returned from his second UK tour. He plays the Edmonton Folk Fest on Aug. 13 and Toronto's CNE Bandshell on Aug. 21. Check other dates here. 

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Publicity: Bev Kreller, Speak Music