M.C. Taylor fondly remembers as a child sitting in the backseat of his parents' car in Orange County and being overwhelmed by "the transcendental force" of Joni Mitchell or Buffalo Springfield's music coming through the speakers.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Some 30-odd years later music continues to have the same impact on the Hiss Golden Messenger frontman.
"I'm doing whatever I can to keep music as exciting as it's always been for me," Taylor says over Zoom from his home in Durham, North Carolina. "I love music still. It's the biggest force in my life."
To rob a Stars Wars catchphrase "the force has always been strong" with Taylor.
Since launching his Americana-based Hiss Golden Messenger project in 2007 and releasing the international debut album Bad Debt in 2010, Taylor's career has been on a steady ascent.
There's been a Grammy nomination for 2019's Terms Of Surrender, tours with Bon Iver and Jason Isbell and an ever-growing fan base attracted by Hiss Golden Messenger's prolific and ever-developing creative output.
"It never occurred to me that I could ever make a living doing it," he says. "I was well into my 30s before the possibility of making even a meagre living from music seemed like a remote possibility.
"There was never a moment when I was 10 or 20 years old when I was like, 'I wanna be a musician when I grow up, that's gonna be my job'. That seemed way too far-fetched."
The one-time folklorist is receiving some of the strongest reviews of his career for his 15th album Jump For Joy, which was released last week.
The record is a proverbial warm embrace, seasoned with sunny country-soul grooves that hits the sweet spot between Wilco, Tom Petty, John Prine and New Orleans boogie.
"I'm glad to see, that for the most part, my gut instincts were steering me in the right direction," Taylor says.
There were a lot of moments in my life when the animating power of music has shown itself to me.
- M.C. Taylor, of Hiss Golden Messenger
"It feels like the record is resonating with people in ways that I hoped it would, and also thought that it would, if people gave it a chance."
In many ways Jump For Joy was a direct reaction to 2021's Quietly Blowing It and the darkness of COVID and Taylor's personal life, which hung above it like a stormy cloud.
On the album's standout track, Sanctuary, Taylor sang, "Want good news, you want sanctuary/ When you try to get real/ Oh, they break you in one week."
After reaching "a dead-end emotionally" on Quietly Blowing It, Taylor sought a happier mindset for Jump For Joy.
"I have a lot of affection for it [Quietly Blowing It] and I really like the songs on that record, but there's something about that record that still feels quite troubled to me and unresolved," Taylor says.
"That makes sense considering the time of which it was made, but I was also struggling with some personal stuff.
"I feel like when I finished it and turned it in and was tasked with the idea of touring it, I felt like I don't know if I would be able to make this type of record again.
"I need to find a way to be a little more emotionally productive for myself."
The latest version of Hiss Golden Messenger features Chris Boerner (guitar), Alex Bingham (bass), Nick Falk (drums) and Sam Fribush (keys), who will join Taylor on his maiden tour of Australia later this month.
With shows in Melbourne, Sydney and two nights at the Hunter Valley's Dashville Skyline, the tour is a mere taste test in a new market for Hiss Golden Messenger.
"The band is good and certainly for the quote-unquote, Americana crowd, I think we do something special," Taylor says.
Hiss Golden Messenger headlines Dashville Skyline on September 29 and 30. The Americana and alt-country festival runs from September 28 to October 1 at Dashville in Lower Belford.
Josh Leeson
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
