MUSIC Taylor embraces his heritage

The musician, his mother and his sister are all touring together.
By JOHN BENSON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Two albums into his career and singer-songwriter Ben Taylor is ready to admit he was hiding from himself. Or more specifically, that he was hiding from the burden, the curse, the baggage, the expectations of being an aspiring musician and having parents named James Taylor and Carly Simon.
"It's just the tough part comes from when you try to do something for a living that is not putting your best foot forward," said Taylor, calling from Martha's Vineyard.
Characterized as if not mistakes, then perhaps misguided efforts, Taylor's first two albums -- 2002's "Green Dragon, Name a Fox" and 2003's "Famous Among the Barns" -- were respectable in terms of performance and technique but something was missing.
"I think the songwriting is strong, and the singing is just sort of coming around but I find that ultimately, stylistically, it's me responding to an awful lot of pressure to do something different from what my folks do, which I do pretty well," Taylor said. "So, I hired a whole bunch of musicians to come in and basically try to hide me from what I did most naturally."
What he does more naturally is the solo acoustic motif, a bare-boned singer-songwriter approach that can be found on his most recent album "Another Run Around the Sun." Not surprisingly, he does possess a definite James Taylor vibe. Then again, not only is it in his genes, but where do you think he learned how to play music?
How his folks work
"I grew up playing guitar, learning how to play my old man's songs and singing his stuff because that was all in my range, my register," Taylor said. "And when I actually decided to start writing songs, my mom really helped me out because she's a phenomenal songwriter. She really knows what she's doing with it. She's very generous with her artistic process and she's actually also very calculative about it. I think that my father's process is a little bit more chaotic and private."
Privacy is something Taylor didn't always enjoy growing up. However, with world-renowned musicians as parents, Taylor said he's found a kindred spirit in Bijou Phillips, daughter of John Phillips and Genevieve Waite. "We can definitely relate on what it was like to grow up with crazy famous people," Taylor said.
Despite the celebrity lifestyle, Taylor said his family remains uncharacteristically close. After pressuring his mother to tour for years, she finally took him up on the offer, making him her musical director and onstage partner for a tour this fall that also includes Taylor's older sister Sally. The special Simon/Taylor family show comes through Cleveland Nov. 30 at Playhouse Square's Palace Theatre.
Simon will be performing material from her latest standards album "Moonlight Serenade," as well as hits (perhaps "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" and "You're So Vain & quot;) from the past.
As for Simon's legendary stage fright, Taylor admits he gets his fair share of butterflies as well.
"Certainly not when she's around, she does it all for me," Taylor said.
"The other thing is she's all freaked out until five minutes before she goes on stage and she gets up there and is the queen of the world. I don't take it that seriously. She definitely gets anxiety beforehand and even now I have to hold her hand and say it's definitely going to be all right and it's too late to get out of but once she gets out there, she's fine."