Tribute to James Taylor

Please turn on your volume to hear JT on my playlist today.

The timbre of his voice is smooth as golden honey, but it's his songwriting talent that makes James Taylor my favorite artist. I've always enjoyed his music, but I became a major fan in 1990, the year I went through a long and difficult recovery after major surgery that catapulted me into an abrupt, extreme, and way-too-early menopause. My nerves were raw from lack of estrogen and other hormones, but JT soothed every last one of them. I think I listened to the guy non-stop for over a year, and it's safe to say that he got me through one of the worst times in my life.

As a songwriter, Taylor is more autobiographical than most, and my personal theory is that he used music to deal with recurring bouts of depression, especially in the early years of his career. Like a snake charmer coaxing a reptile out of its cold, dark pot, James sang and played his way out of the cold, dark feelings that plagued him. His unique blend of guitar, lyrics, and tonal quality charmed me out of my darkest feelings, too, providing a powerful healing balm for the raw hormonal discomfort I was experiencing. The music he made for himself helped me as well, and I am grateful.

Today it seems as though time, maturity, sobriety, and an apparently happy marriage have exorcised most if not all of his demons, and I have long since left my surgical menopause and its worst effects behind. Taylor's work has ripened and evolved over the years, but it has never lost that lilting, lyrical quality that lulled me like a lullaby, lifting and sustaining me when little else could. I will never forget him for that.

Thanks, James.

=)

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