Taylor Holden and the Law of Averages

Moe Berg may be best known as the lead singer of Toronto rock group The Pursuit of Happiness, but his success in recent years has been found in the recording studio producing up-and-coming musicians.

For the past six months, Berg’s musical know-how has been used to put the finishing touches on the debut album of London singer/songerwriter Taylor Holden.

The 20-year-old captured the opportunity to work with Berg after winning the FM96 Made In London contest in October 2015.

Work on the album, Home, was completed just last month.

As Holden prepares for a launch party at the Western Fair Farmers’ & Artisans’ Markets on Thursday, May 26, Berg took some time to reflect on the bright future he sees for the young artist.

“I think she is an incredible talent. These songs are exciting and infectious, but mostly, really, really smart,” he said. “Lyrically, she has a unique voice that I think millions of people will be able to relate to. She’s like an alt-folk Taylor Swift and I don’t think Taylor would mind me saying that.”

Holden has been playing music professionally for the past three years, but she’s been singing for as long as she can remember.

With the help of the Made in London contest, not to mention Berg and everyone at EMAC Recording Studios, Holden said she has been caught up in what feels like the beginning of something special.

“It’s an interesting thing to realize people actually care about your music,” Holden said. “I think music is something I’ve always loved. I look at it as a bonus that sometimes people want me to do it as a job. It’s who I am as a person; music is in my blood, I love to perform.”

Although she’s recorded songs on her own in the past, having Berg around to polish her music is something that has her particularly excited.

She praises Berg as “a great person to work with,” and someone whose only goal was to make her the best musician she could be.

Of course, like any young ­musician, it was tough to give up total control of her music — even to Berg.

“I’m a bit of a stubborn person. Giving up control, well I guess it got easier,” she said. “To have someone like Moe onboard, to have his experience, to be able to push you into things you might’ve been scared to do . . . his advice really paid off, really played out in sound the band loves performing.”

Berg worked with Holden on her songs for a few weeks, “giving them some shape,” and coming up with some new arrangements before entering the recording studio.

“I’m extremely happy with how the record turned out. We had some nice performances by her musicians and Taylor did an amazing job singing these songs,” Berg said. “She is also a very good musician, playing the uke and most of the acoustic guitar on the record.”

As a singer-songwriter, Holden said she often feels pulled into the folk music trend that has emerged in recent years.

The concern being if she wants her music played on the radio, she might need to modify her sound.

Berg, it turns out, helped move her in that different direction, one that while still fitting with her folk roots, also connected with the “cool, quirky pop vibe” Holden said is the “sweet spot” for her music.

Wherever her music career might take her, ­Holden said she’s never going to leave the Forest City behind.

“I love London; I really do. I think conservative London has taken a hike. I think there’s a younger generation taking hold,” she said. “The music scene, watching it grow; London has always been a great place to be, it’s just now more people know about it.” - Our London

The oldest of London’s July music festivals was feeling the young love at Victoria Park on Friday.

Opening the 43rd edition of the Home County Music & Art Festival was London singer-songwriter Taylor Holden — a poised pro with her own ace songbook at the age of 20.

That would likely make Holden the youngest opening act in Home County history. For many of those years, it was Hamilton’s Jackie Washington — blessed with an eternally young soul and an encyclopedic way with songs from any era — who was the opener.

In his memory and honouring all those amazing songs in Home County’s past, a sign at the front of the Kiwanis bandshell proclaimed the area to be Jackie Washington Way.

Holden had her own songs and way at the bandshell Friday. Most of the songs were from her new album Home. “This is a song that’s pretty cool,” Holden said of one of the best of them, Southwestern Ontario, a love letter to the London-region. “This is the song that started it all off.”

Southwestern Ontario grew out of a backyard jam. The song then propelled her to the prize of studio recording time via the Made In London contest on radio station Free 98.1 FM.

Home was produced by Canadian music icon Moe Berg. The title track provided Holden with her finale.

Playing the later sets Friday were Winnipeg’s Sweet Alibi, Great Big Sea founding member Sean McCann and Toronto’s The Sadies.

Dating from 1974, Home County was more than 20 when TD Sunfest emerged and is decades older than the big July fests arriving in the 21st-century — Rock The Park and Trackside.

In addition to their Home County gigs at Victoria Park on the weekend, Holden and Sweet Alibi have shows at Grand Bend’s Rotary Community Stage on Saturday.

Holden had new material for Home County. Impressing a Holden fan who had heard the Laurier secondary school grad on the soundstage at The Free Press newsroom was Jenny. It is a solo tune — or “Just Tay” (as in “just Taylor”) on her setlist. Jenny is apparently about some “Jenny” who has a collection of broken hearts and has an edge.

“I just wrote it a few days ago,” Holden said after her set. That meant her band’s ace accordion player and vocalist Liv Cazzola, of Guelph, was hearing it for the first time. Cazzola told Holden how much she liked Holden’s voice and the dark twists to Jenny.

Cazzola came to London for studies at Western’s Don Wright music faculty. She is also a member of Guelph-tied acts The Lifers and Tragedy Ann. Cazzola is on one album track and was part of Friday’s London music all-star lineup backing Holden. “(A) cool thing about being a solo artist is you get to pick and choose (from other bands),” Holden said.

Joining her at the bandshell were longtime ally Major/Minor on guitar, Mountain of Wolves’ bassist Michael Middleton and veteran drummer Carl Welch, with The Wack MC’s and other bands.

Holden enjoyed making Home County history and then prepared to enjoy the rest of the fest.

The Fortunate Ones opened with Bliss and the crowd, growing by the hundreds, cheering for their late cover of Feist’s 1234.

The duo’s Andrew James O’Brien said the audience seemed a long way off. “We want to go crowd surfing — but it would be difficult,” O’Brien said.

With that O’Brien’s comment in mind, here is some free advice. Yes, the chairs were set up a long way from the bandshell stage.

That discourages crowd surfing by the bands. The distance also may give some fans the delusion their chit-chat during quiet moments in a fest celebrating songcraft does not carry.

Well, the banter does. It’s distracting. - London Free Press

About the time she was turning 19 in January, London singer-songwriter Taylor Holden wrote Birthday Song.

“(It’s not) Happy Birthday — it’s a different kind of song,” Holden said of the words and music she created to celebrate via her ukulele.

Joined by three friends in her band, Holden shares Birthday Song in this week’s Reaney’s Pick video.

After her birthday, the London Laurier secondary school grad continued to have a successful 2015.

Holden found such allies on the London roots music scene as bassist Mike Ge and Dawn Redskye, who plays accordion on Birthday Song.

During the summer, Holden and friends gathered at her backyard to make some music.

“We just sat around my fire pit with a mic in the middle,” she said Tuesday.

Ge helmed the recording process and the Holden song they shaped was called Southwestern Ontario.

The backyard session song turned out to be a winner.

With the support of the event’s judges, Holden’s Southwestern Ontario advanced to the final three of London radio station 98.1 Free FM’s Made In London.

Then, online voting helped Holden win $8,000 in recording time at London’s EMAC Recording Studios and more prizes as the Made In London champ.

“We won this — I didn’t win anything,” Holden said of her Made In London success. It was a team effort and that is how she sees her unfolding career, Holden said.

At Laurier, she played viola and sang in the choir.

Laurier teacher Lydia Kendell inspired her. “She’s a big part of my musical journey,” Holden said.

“Taylor just loved music so much – she was involved in every ensemble at the school,” Kendell said. “She could play the viola in the orchestra and then get on stage and play her own tunes for the entire school at Laurier. Performing was always a strength of hers.”

Kendell and Holden have stayed in touch. Also inspiring Holden at Laurier was London singer, songwriter, actor and writer Donna Creighton, an occasional teacher who brought her guitar to a class. Holden played some cover tunes at Creighton’s encouragement. Then, Creighton said the student must have some originals to share.

“She kind of forced me into it,” Holden said happily.

Experiences like that helped Holden find the way to recording her songs, winning an $8,000 contest — and getting a little help from new friends on the way.

Alongside Redskye and Ge in Tuesday’s video shoot is Exeter-raised Charlie Weber on guitar. Like Redskye and Ge, Weber is part of other projects and bands. In his case, the band is called Major/Minor.

“That’s just me,” Weber said of the M/M band. “But I got Taylor to sing on one of my songs. That’s how we met up.”

Now, he is playing with Holden, too.

The Birthday Song performed by Holden and friends is to be on the album she’ll record at EMAC.

Holden and friends are also expected to be in the 2015 Winter Spectacular lineup when that London fest’s details are announced. - London Free Press

Imagine a small pond in a wooded area on a hot summer's day. The trees promise relief from the sweltering heat - the pond itself even more so. A collection of ducks gathers on one of the pond. At the other end, the silence is broken by laughter as a small cluster of friends lie on the grass.

This, in a nutshell, is Taylor Holden.

I first encountered Taylor's golden voice two years ago at the East Village Coffee House. Even then, she was a magnificent performer, enchanting her audience with magnificent stories wrapped up in delicate melodies. Since then she's only gotten better in leaps and bounds, and her latest album, simply titled "Home", is a genuinely impressive leap. I'm reminded of Alanna Gurr, Olenka Krakus, or even Basia Bulat.

The album is warm, innocent, and heartwarming. It speaks to youthful romances and lazy summer days. It is impossible to listen to it without a smile coming to one's face. But underneath these lyrics is a sophisticated series of interlocking melodies laid one over another to create an incredibly rich audible tapestry. Rising above it all is Taylor's golden voice.

"Home" is destined to become one of my favourite CDs, a work I can reliably turn to for simple and spectacular pleasures alike. But if Taylor Holden's past two years are any indication, "Home" may prove only a foretaste, and London may have yet another musical master in the making.

You can see Taylor Holden perform at the Home County Music & Art Festival this weekend in Victoria Park! She'll be performing Friday July 15th at 6pm on the Main Stage, Saturday July 16th at 3pm on the South Stage and Sunday July 17th at 3pm on the Centre Stage. - CHRW Radio

“Southwestern Ontario” definitely shows off the country elements, from the twang in Holden’s voice to the lyrics about a small town. “Tacky Plaid T Shirts” definitely shows off the quirky side to her quirky pop sound. The lyrics tell a story about a couple that perhaps moved too quickly in their relationship where the boy fell for the girl before she fell for him. A song that a lot of listeners can probably relate to, perhaps making them think of relationships that they have been in where one person had stronger feelings than the other, but still wanting to be together because they think, maybe, just maybe, they can fall for them too. “Messes”, the longest song on the album at just over four and a half minutes, seems like another happy-go-lucky pop song at first listen until you take in the lyrics and realize the story behind them seems to be about someone that may have been hurt before and is trying to put themselves back together for someone else. “Chase After You” is full of beautiful vocals and harmonies with, although short and simple lyrics, are chill inducing.

At first I wasn’t sure what to think of Home. I wasn’t a fan of the poppy sound to begin with, but after I started listening to the lyrics more closely I realized how well they paired together. Home made me think of some parts of my life more than I wanted to due to some of the most relatable lyrics I have heard on an album. Those going through finding love will adore these seven songs, and those who may have had their heart broken will find that maybe it was for the best. - Canadian Beats