Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Listening to Melvern Taylor's second CD is like talking to an old friend. He knows about your lost loves and how you stood against the wall during ninthgrade dances.
But before you feel too nostalgic or lovesick, Taylor lifts you up with a snap-your-fingers-peppy song reminiscent of Elvis Costello. Which requires a warning: Don't listen to this CD in your car; you will feel compelled to get up and dance, sing along, laugh, maybe even cry.
Taylor sounds like a crooning country singer one minute and a gruff bluesman the next. The slow "Sunny California" showcases his ability to move up and down the scale like a sports car negotiating the twists and turns of the Pacific Coast Highway.
This local boy could be a one man band. Taylor plays guitar, organ, piano, and a slew of percussion instruments. But his backups, the Meltones, add to the fun with slide guitar, banjo, mandolin and some '50s-style "yeah, yeah, yeahs" at appropriate moments.
- Kimberly Click - Boston Herald
Discography
"FABULOSO" 2006
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Melvern Taylor began his musical journey growing up in Andover, Massachusetts where he secretly would listen to his older siblings recordings of The Bee Gees and The Who. With only an acoustic guitar and an Eagles songbook, a young Melvern Taylor taught himself to play. It was not until later in his career that Taylor discovered the ukulele, which enhanced his music and gave the band the sound they have today.
In the mid-1990s Melvern moved to Lowell, Ma. There he drank beer, earned a bachelors degree in fine art and fronted the band Mudfoot. In 1999 Taylor gathered a collection of tunes he had recorded with friend and studio wizard Sir Bob Nash and released his first solo record, Handsome Bastard. This album was just the beginning and solidified Melvern as a talented tunesmith and consummate performer. The CD caught the attention of former record-store owner, Kevin Guyer, who released Melverns sophomore album, The Spider and the Barfly, on his label, Broken White Records in 1998. No Depression magazine hailed his second effort as a nonstop tour-de-force of intelligent, unpredictable pop.
The Boston Herald describes Melvern Taylor as, A crooning country singer one minute and a gruff bluesman the next. Jam Music Magazine has heralded Melvern as, A pop musician who mixes sweet sounding pops stylings with dark and ironic tales that are reminiscent of Tom Waits. What he has created is as unique as it is excellent. Recent appearances with Slaid Cleaves, Marshall Crenshaw, Steve Forbert, The Samples, NRBQ, Beaver Nelson, and the Tarbox Ramblers have allowed Melvern to demonstrate his plethora of music styles and abilities to audiences across the country. Being able to draw comparisons to Jim Croce, Elvis Costello, and Chris Isaak in one breathe is what sets Melvern apart from his contemporaries. Fabuloso does indeed set the benchmark for albums encompassing pop, folk, blues, and soul all into one unique genre.
Links
