Search - Jackson Taylor Band :: Jackson Taylor: Dark Days

The Jackson Taylor Band has gone through many line ups over the last few years. The one constant though has been singer/songwriter Jackson Lee Taylor. Jackson's passion for music began as a little boy in Moody, Texas, a small town just north of Austin. His father would take him to see the greats such as Willie, Billy Joe Shaver and Waylon. These musicians planted a deep seed in the heart and mind of that young boy. Jackson was heart broken when he and his father moved to California to find work on fruit ranches. He and his father spent the rest of Jackson's adolescence bouncing from one migrant labor town to another, finally settling in a small farming town in Washington state. After high school, Jackson moved back to Texas for a while before going to Nashville. There, Jackson found work as a songwriter for Of music, and for legendary song writer Dewayne Blackwell. After a couple of years, Jackson had to face the hard truth that Nashville would not let him produce and pick his own material. ("I ain't got nothing against Tim McGraw or Mark Wills or none of those folks, but that just ain't the kind of music I feel in my heart. If I am going to do something I don't care to do, I might as well go back to school and a day job." ) Jackson moved to New York City to play clubs, and found a vibrant live scene. There Jackson met the owner of a small Southern California label. Within a month of the meeting, Jackson was in the studio recording "Humboldt County," a record dedicated to his brother who had died there the year before. "Humboldt" got great reviews and did well enough to gain attention from pop mogul George Tobin. Jackson and Tobin struck a deal. After a year Jackson realized Tobin was the same as the Nashville crowd; whatever is on the radio is what you need to sound like. Jackson and Tobin where never able to agree on a song selection or sound, but they parted ways as friends. Jackson talked to his label and told them he wanted to go back home to Texas. Gaske had reservations, because Texas wasn't LA, Nashville or New York, but Jackson said that was the whole point. Before leaving from Los Angeles and heading to Austin, Jackson went into the studio and recorded "Gypsies & Drifters." After getting settled in Austin, Jackson had to go back up North for a few months to play previously booked shows. While he was there he recorded his third CD "Hollow Eyed & Wasted." Now Jackson is back in Texas where he belongs, writing and producing the kind of music he was born to do.