Taylor hopes to inspire connection
He’s gone to Carolina in his mind and on tour for much of 2024. Not long after his 76th birthday, James Taylor & His All-Star Band will take their show on the road in the U.S., hitting 24 cities for 31 shows.
Over a video call from his studio in western Massachusetts, Taylor says, “It’s been September since the last time I’ve been out.” That, he says, is “a long time for me.”
The tour kicks off
May 29 in Los Angeles and ends Sept. 15 in Virginia.
This interview with Taylor has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: Before the continental U.S. tour, you’re headed to Japan, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. What keeps it interesting?
A:
The audience, always. The event itself has never failed to supply the motivation and the energy that is required. You know, it’s very compelling to go a great distance and to find a crowd of people that have bought tickets to come see me and the band play again. Over time, it’s something you learn to do, to keep your strength up, keep your health ... also, I don’t do more than a couple of shows in a row without a day off. I’ll do more than that if I’m in one town, but generally speaking, we pace ourselves now.
Q: You’re performing at Tanglewood, in your home state of Massachusetts, 50 years since you first performed there. What significance does it hold? A:
I was trying to figure out whether or not it was 50 years or 50 shows that I’ve been playing at Tanglewood, and it turns out it’s both. … It averages out to one a year, although at one point we skipped a whole decade. We had an episode where one of my crew members, in a fit of pique, drove a truck across the Tanglewood lawn and made a mess of it. … As we were breaking down after the show, he was driving out there to unload the mixing board and stuff. But he put it in reverse, stomped the accelerator and tore a great trough, a great furrow in the Tanglewood lawn. And they never asked me back. It was only when (my wife) Kim came along and resurrected my reputation that I was allowed to come back. It’s been a great privilege
... It’s turned out to be a great thing for me, to play Tanglewood every year.
Q: What do you hope people take away from your live show, and are you working on a new album? A:
I feel like I’ve got another one in me — sounds like an egg — but I’m writing a little bit. And as to what I hope people take away from live performances, I hope they take away a sense of connection. You know, live music — the thing that I’m so attached to about it, why I can’t let it go — is that there’s something (that) happens when people come together for a couple of hours for two or three hours and have a sort of collective experience. It’s indescribable. You prepare for it, but when it happens, it’s spontaneous and, in a way, unique. I love it when that happens, and it does most nights.
I have a lot of hesitation about a visit by my brother and sister-inlaw this summer. They live out of state and last visited us two years ago. That visit did not go well. My brother made a lot of negative comments about my family and our lifestyles, including how and where we live.
During our communication over the years, I never really realized the negative downside of him.
I have visited him several times in the last 10 to 15 years at his home, and those visits went fairly well. During his visit with us, his attitude, comments and conversations reminded me of our father from years ago — and that is not a good thing.
He has offered to stay at a hotel, but do you have suggestions on how I can have him stay at our home and have it maybe go better than the last visit? We have a very small family. We want to have a good and positive relationship, but I’m not sure if that will work out. Your advice?
— Worried Sibling
Dear Amy:
You seem to want your brother and his wife to stay with you in your home, but his complaints during their last visit seemed fairly global and quite personal.
You ask for suggestions on how things could go better this time. The answer would be for your brother to behave differently. Is this likely? You shouldn’t count on it.
In some cases, it can be easier on relationships all the way around if longerterm guests stay elsewhere (at a hotel or short-term rental house) during a visit.
You could address this
Dear Worried:
with your brother by responding: “If you would feel more comfortable at a hotel, there are several nearby; I’m happy to send links for you to make a choice. Whatever works best for you is fine with us. We’ve always had a good time staying with you and want to reciprocate, but I don’t think you were comfortable in our home the last time you visited.”
You should approach this visit with a hopeful attitude, but you should also consider and strategize about how you will respond if your brother insults you personally when he is with you.
I care for my 15-month-old granddaughter Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 7 a.m. until noon.
I am not compensated and am very happy to do this. Both parents work — mainly from home.
What’s become an issue is my son and daughter-inlaw’s insistence that I not allow my granddaughter to nap during my morning shifts. Instead, they prefer that nap time be reserved for the afternoons so they can focus on their jobs.
The little girl has a tendency to fall asleep for a brief 20 to 30 minutes mid-morning. This takes the edge off her afternoon nap, which can be as long as two to three hours if she doesn’t nap in the morning.
I see sleep deprivation as a form of child abuse and my son and daughter-inlaw’s demands to be somewhat selfish. If I call them out on this, I fear there will be retribution in the form of reduced contact with my granddaughter over something that is a minor
Dear Amy:
inconvenience for the young parents. What do you think I should do?
— Concerned Grandparent
You raised your son. You are now helping to raise his child.
Babies this age normally take two naps a day. Having a rested baby is better than an exhausted and fussy baby, and rested babies tend to sleep better than exhausted babies.
These parents need to trust your judgment. I suggest you carry on, letting the child sleep when she needs to, and if the parents confront you about it, tell them that you believe it is better for their baby if she is allowed to follow her body’s need to nap briefly in the morning.
If they have a problem letting you follow this commonsense and compassionate practice and want to “fire” you over it, let them find and compensate another caregiver, who might be less personally invested in the baby’s well-being.
Dear Concerned:
I’m responding to your recent quip
“… if you don’t think that our higher power has a sense of humor, I suggest you take a good, long look around.”
It has always been my opinion that any God who could create a camel had to have a sense of humor.
— Rabbi Yaakov Lavon
Dear Amy:
Dear Rabbi Lavon:
Amen!
Copyright 2024 by Amy Dickinson
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