I wanted to explain what the audio was that I posted yesterday. It’s audio from the Grey Eagle from March of last year. I thought some people might know this, but I didn’t want to say what it was at first, for a couple of reasons.
Mainly, I think that the music itself is more important than where or when it was from.
Also, since so many people thought it was “pre-idol” audio, I think this just goes to show that the musician inside Taylor before Idol will always be there, no matter what the setting.
There are some restrictions on sharing the audio, one being that there be no downloads. However, I wanted the fans to be able to hear the songs, so uploading partial songs to Vimeo was the compromise I came up with.
I’d like to post more, but remember this is rare audio, so let’s discuss the music 
Bloggerina- Thank you for your explanation.
I was with a large group of SP’er’s last night and when I first came running into the room to hear “Minute By Minute.”
I TRULY thought I was listening to The Doobie Brothers.
It wasn’t until I looked at the computer monitor that I saw your blog was up.
We were all cheering and clapping and dancing!
To have unearthed such a rarity was literally music to all of ears. Even a partial is better, in my book, than never to hear this at all.
It’s the Taylor so many of us hope and dream we’ll hear someday in an intimate setting such as the Grey Eagle.
You’re right, you can take the soul singer out of his element, but, you can never take his soul. It’s still there, and always will be.
Thanks again!
Wow, TH . . . I really love your reasoning behind why the audio post was a bit of a mystery.
I think, with our summer of Grease performances and visions of glittery Teen Angels looming ahead of us for the next couple months, it’s so amazing that you were able to obtain this music to share with all of us.
The timing could not have been more perfect. The Taylor we fell in love with on American Idol, is the same Taylor we fell in love with when we heard his early music. The same Taylor we fell in love with when we saw him on tour. And the same Taylor who’s singing and dancing on Broadway for the summer.
They’re all the same man, and I love them all . . . and first and foremost, above all else, I fell in love with the music.
Play on, Taylor . . . we’ll keep on listening.
What Soulaz said? Yeah, that. Every single word of it.
Thanks, TH, for the music, and for the gentle reminder that no matter the time or the place, the soul is ever-present.
you know…it’s really kind of cool that I saw Taylor for the first time before all of this other stuff…and it was about the only time I got to see ANY kind of band that year because my life was just in a very weird place…and I remember thinking how much I appreciated the fact that these folks were out late at night doing this when they might have chosen to do something else…and I needed what they were doing…a little more time went by and while I was out walking with my sister and my son one night we heard someone playing a harmonica…I saw this guy on someone’s porch…it was dark outside…started singing the chorus standibng there on the sidewalk…and started to walk up the hill to say something but he went inside…then he came back out and played a little bit more…my sister wanted to go but I was still standing there like some goof…so I yelled “THANK YOU!” and walked back to her house…saw him on TV because of my son…saw his band a few weeks latr on TV and realized it was the same guy I’d seen in that bar before the sidewalk thing…the more I have heard and the more I have learned the more I have grown to love and respect this man…I never really knew how people who did that kind of stuff did what they did or how much they had to want it and be willing to sacrifice to get there…have heard a few recording from various places in the interim that just blew me away…and the thing that surprised me was how sometimes it seemed like no one was paying attention…could have been really late at night…but it has ingrained in my mind how hard doing that stuff can be…and how dedicated someone has to be to get where he is today…so every time I see someone doing that now I just want to be part of what helps them get to where they need to go even though I can barely pay cover charges to see anyone right now…because my llife is still a little strange…but who’s isn’t these days… the difference is that now I know I can handle it somehow….that if I really want something I have to keep focused on it and not give up no matter what…and the more chances I get to listen, the more I believe that…I always have all sorts of different feelings when I listen to Taylor…but the things I feel the most are gratitude, encouragement, love and respect…and that makes me want to encourage people to hang on whenever I get the chance…you never know when the door might finally open…but you’ll never what could have been if you give up and walk away…if music can make someone feel that way then we need all the music we can get…people who give themsleves over to something or someone they love with everything they’ve got are worth listening to…and that’s what I hear when I listen to Taylor Hicks.
Lauren . . .
What a beautiful post! And what a wonderful and random coincidence that you happened upon Taylor that evening so long ago.
Thank you SO much for sharing that story with us here. I hope your life gets “less strange” in the coming days.
These words of yours will stay with me for a long time, so beautifully and simply stated:
“If music can make someone feel that way then we need all the music we can get…people who give themsleves over to something or someone they love with everything they’ve got are worth listening to…and that’s what I hear when I listen to Taylor Hicks.”
and I gotta say…I don’t know HOW to seperate the music from the man…so it’s really hard to talk about one without the other for me…okay…it’s just plain impossible…but I can say this for sure…even though there are times I wish I could go back in time and make it to the porch before he slipped inside (and before I chickened out) because I generally make a habit of approaching men that way in any situation…that “hmmm hmmm hmm hmm” stuff made me lose my inhibitions (hmmm hmmm hmm = my attempt at making a harmonica sound in words) but I am glad I didn’t get there in time…what if my running up there somehow inadvertantly cost him another year or more of waiting???? If I could have seen into the future I’d have RUN the othe way as fast as my legs could carry me if that’s all it took to make all of this happen for him even though it was his own work that got him where he wants to be and will continue to do so…but I’d have still said thank you…thankfully though it was just meant to be…he was due…I still feel him on that porch though….and I still feel him inside of who I am somehow even though I’m not sure why…anyone who puts themselves on the line that way whether it’s music or anything else that means something deeply personal to them deserves to be acknowledged and supported ’cause it it is just not an easy thing to do even if it looks like it is.
Gonna shut up now…getting sleepy…thanks for sharing this audio thing!
boy do you have a way with words. thanks for sharing your pre-idol Taylor moment with us. i know there are only a few of the sp that experienced Taylor before AI. I like these stories. Your descriptions makes me feel like i was there.Thanks
thanks soulaz and Ilike and you’re welcome!
I too love the music and the man. Thanks for the music yesterday and the explanation today. I want to thank the posters for their wonderful thoughts. I only wish I had a way with words like y’all.
Thanks for sharing these snippets of music from that night. It makes me wanna cry to know I coulda been there (at the Grey Eagle) that night but it was so cold and I didn’t have a coat with me….and with that lame excuse I missed part of our Soul Man’s intimate history.
His friends had come to see him in Asheville cause he told them he’d be too busy in Birmingham. When the pictures emerged from that night…I was mad (at myself) and sad (for myself).
I still hold the opinion that he is going on to such a height in his career, he’ll never be so accessable as he was then.
Go get ‘em Baby.