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170-534: James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Taylor achieved his breakthrough in 1970 with the No. 3 single " Fire and Rain " and had his first No. 1 hit in 1971 with his recording of " You've Got a Friend ", written by Carole King in the same year. His 1976 Greatest Hits album

340-567: A bed-and-breakfast in Aquinnah, Massachusetts , with his wife since 1989. In 1951, Taylor and his family moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina , when Isaac took a job as an assistant professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine . They built a house in the Morgan Creek area off the present Morgan Creek Road, which was sparsely populated. Taylor later said, "Chapel Hill,

510-609: A guitar , although this role has transmuted through different eras of popular music . Traditionally, these musicians would write and sing songs personal to them. Singer-songwriters often provide the sole musical accompaniment to an entire song. The piano is also an instrument of choice. In the early 21st century, various digital production tools, examples including GarageBand and other software programs, began to be used by singer-songwriters to compose their music and otherwise work as an audio engineer enhancing media. The label "singer-songwriter" (or "song-writer/singer" )

680-458: A methadone maintenance program to cure him of his drug addiction . Over the course of four months starting in September 1983, spurred on in part by the deaths of his friends John Belushi and Dennis Wilson and in part by the desire to be a better father to his children Sally and Ben, he discontinued methadone and overcame his heroin habit. Taylor had thoughts of retiring by the time he played

850-691: A public primary school in Chapel Hill. Isaac's career prospered, but he was frequently away from home on military service at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland or as part of Operation Deep Freeze in Antarctica in 1955 and 1956. Isaac Taylor later rose to become dean of the UNC School of Medicine from 1964 to 1971. Beginning in 1953, the Taylors spent summers on Martha's Vineyard . Taylor took cello lessons as

1020-582: A resident physician at the hospital and came from a wealthy Southern family. Taylor is of English and Scottish descent from the Taylor family of the Montrose area, with the former being rooted in Massachusetts Bay Colony ; his ancestors include Edmund Rice , an English colonist who co-founded Sudbury, Massachusetts . His mother, Gertrude (née Woodard; 1921–2015), studied singing with Marie Sundelius at

1190-571: A "natural sense of phrasing, every syllable beautifully in time. I knew James had that thing ." Taylor wrote his first song on guitar at 14, and he continued to learn the instrument effortlessly. By the summer of 1963, he and Kortchmar were playing coffeehouses around the Vineyard, billed as "Jamie & Kootch". In 1961, Taylor went to Milton Academy , a preparatory boarding school in Massachusetts. He faltered during his junior year, feeling uneasy in

1360-579: A Friend"; King also won Song of the Year for the same song in that ceremony. The album went on to sell 2.5 million copies in the United States. November 1972 heralded the release of Taylor's fourth album, One Man Dog . A concept album primarily recorded in his home recording studio, it featured a cameo by Linda Ronstadt along with Carole King, Carly Simon, and John McLaughlin . The album consisted of eighteen short pieces of music put together. Reception

1530-497: A Grammy nomination for Album of the Year in 1978. Peter Herbst of Rolling Stone was particularly favorable to the album, of which he wrote in its August 11, 1977, issue, " JT is the least stiff and by far the most various album Taylor has done. That's not meant to criticize Taylor's earlier efforts. ... But it's nice to hear him sounding so healthy." JT reached No. 4 on the Billboard charts and sold more than 3 million copies in

1700-464: A March 1, 1971, Time magazine cover story of him as "the face of new rock". It compared his strong-but-brooding persona to that of Wuthering Heights ' Heathcliff and to The Sorrows of Young Werther , and said, "Taylor's use of elemental imagery—darkness and sunlight, references to roads traveled and untraveled, to fears spoken and left unsaid—reaches a level both of intimacy and controlled emotion rarely achieved in purely pop music." One of

1870-523: A Taylor performance at Radio City Music Hall turned into a large-scale wedding party, and the Simon-Taylor marriage would find much public attention over the following years. They had two children, Sarah Maria "Sally" Taylor , born January 7, 1974, and Benjamin Simon "Ben" Taylor, born January 22, 1977. During their marriage, the couple would guest on each other's albums and have two hit singles as duet partners:

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2040-775: A child in North Carolina , before learning the guitar in 1960. His guitar style evolved, influenced by hymns , carols , and the music of Woody Guthrie , and his technique derived from his bass clef -oriented cello training and from experimenting on his sister Kate's keyboards: "My style was a finger-picking style that was meant to be like a piano, as if my thumb were my left hand, and my first, second, and third fingers were my right hand." Spending summer holidays with his family on Martha's Vineyard , he met Danny Kortchmar , an aspiring teenage guitarist from Larchmont, New York . The two began listening to and playing blues and folk music together, and Kortchmar felt that Taylor's singing had

2210-462: A cover of Inez & Charlie Foxx's " Mockingbird " and a version of The Everly Brothers' " Devoted to You ". Taylor spent most of 1973 enjoying his new life as a married man and did not return to the recording studio until January 1974, when sessions for his fifth album began. Walking Man was released in June and featured appearances of Paul and Linda McCartney and guitarist David Spinozza . The album

2380-524: A drink." He hung out in Washington Square Park , playing guitar to ward off depression and then passing out, letting runaways and criminals stay at his apartment. Finally out of money and abandoned by his manager, he made a desperate call one night to his father. Isaac Taylor flew to New York and staged a rescue, renting a car and driving all night back to North Carolina with James and his possessions. Taylor spent six months getting treatment and making

2550-597: A duet with JD Souther , " Her Town Too ", which reached No. 5 on the Adult Contemporary chart and No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Simon announced her separation from Taylor in September 1981 saying, "Our needs are different; it seem[s] impossible to stay together" and their divorce finalized in 1983. Their breakup was highly publicized. At the time, Taylor was living on West End Avenue in Manhattan and on

2720-846: A duet with Mark Knopfler , " Sailing to Philadelphia ", which also appeared on Knopfler's album by the same name. Also in 2002, Taylor teamed with bluegrass musician Alison Krauss in singing " The Boxer " at the Kennedy Center Honors Tribute to Paul Simon . They later recorded the Louvin Brothers duet, "How's the World Treating You?" In 2004, after he chose not to renew his record contract with Columbia/Sony, he released James Taylor: A Christmas Album with distribution through Hallmark Cards . Always visibly active in environmental and liberal causes, in October 2004, Taylor joined

2890-563: A genre known as nueva trova . Trova as a genre has had broad influence across Latin America. In Mexico, for example, canción yucateca on the Yucatán Peninsula and trova serrana in the Sierra Juárez, Oaxaca , are both regional adaptations of trova. Today, Guatemalan Ricardo Arjona qualifies as Latin America's most commercially successful singer-songwriter. Although sociopolitical engagement

3060-458: A late 1966 hasty recording session, the group cut a single, Taylor's " Night Owl ", backed with his "Brighten Your Night with My Day". Released on Rainy Day Records, distributed by Jubilee Records , it received some radio airplay in the Northeast, but only charted at No. 102 nationally. Other songs had been recorded during the same session, but Jubilee declined to go forward with an album. After

3230-527: A mind-altering way to boost creativity; for example, Emil Amos of Holy Sons took drugs daily from age sixteen on, wrote over 1,000 songs, and landed a record contract with an indie label . Recording on the professional-grade systems became affordable for individuals in the late 1990s. This created opportunities for people to independently record and sell their music. Such artists are known as "indies" because they release their records on independent, often self-owned record labels, or no label at all. Additionally

3400-438: A motorcycle accident on Martha's Vineyard and was forced to stop playing for several months. However, while recovering, he continued to write songs and in October 1969 signed a new deal with Warner Bros. Records . Once he had recovered, Taylor moved to California, keeping Asher as his manager and record producer. In December 1969, he held the recording sessions for his second album there. Titled Sweet Baby James , and featuring

3570-572: A new backing band. Taylor recorded what would become his first album from July to October 1968, at Trident Studios , at the same time the Beatles were recording The White Album . McCartney and an uncredited George Harrison guested on "Carolina in My Mind", whose lyric "holy host of others standing around me" referred to the Beatles, and the title phrase of Taylor's "Something in the Way She Moves" provided

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3740-482: A political background (Venditti, Guccini). Branduardi was greatly influenced by Medieval and Baroque musical styles, while his lyrics are usually inspired by ancient fables. Battiato started as a progressive rock and cultivated music artist in the 1970s, shifting to an original blend of pop, electronic, new wave, and world music in the 1980s. Those canutautori linked to the city of Genoa (De André, Paoli, Bindi, Tenco, Baccini, etc.) are also referred as members of

3910-589: A psychiatric hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts , where he was treated with chlorpromazine , and where the organized days began to give him a sense of time and structure. As the Vietnam War escalated, Taylor received a psychological rejection from the Selective Service System , when he appeared before them, uncommunicative, with two white-suited McLean assistants. Taylor earned a high school diploma in 1966 from

4080-425: A receptive audience. It featured a number of quiet instrumental accompaniments and passages. Overall, it found Taylor in a more peaceful frame of mind; rather than facing a crisis now, Taylor said in an interview that "I thought I'd passed the midpoint of my life when I was 17." The album appeared in two versions, a single-disc version and a " limited edition " two-disc version which contained three extra songs including

4250-567: A revival of Portuguese folk culture, including a modernized, more socially aware form of fado called nova canção. Following Portugal's Carnation Revolution of 1974, nova canção became more politicized and was known as canto livre. Another important Spain singer-songwriters are Joaquín Sabina , José Luis Perales , and Luis Eduardo Aute . In the latter part of the 1960s and into the 1970s, socially and politically aware singer-songwriters like Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanés emerged in Cuba, birthing

4420-496: A semester before he moved to New York City to form a band. They recruited Joel O'Brien, formerly of Kortchmar's old band King Bees to play drums, and Taylor's childhood friend Zachary Wiesner (son of academic Jerome Wiesner ) to play bass. After Taylor rejected the notion of naming the group after him, they called themselves the Flying Machine. They played songs that Taylor had written at and about McLean, such as " Knocking 'Round

4590-453: A series of poorly chosen appearances outside New York, culminating with a three-week stay at a failing nightspot in Freeport, Bahamas for which they were never paid, the Flying Machine broke up. (A UK band with the same name emerged in 1969 with the hit song " Smile a Little Smile for Me ". The Flying Machine was briefly referenced in Taylor's song " Fire and Rain ", and following his success as

4760-687: A series of six shows at the Troubadour. The appearances marked the 50th anniversary of the venue, where Taylor, King and many others, such as Tom Waits , Neil Diamond , and Elton John , performed early in their music careers. Proceeds from the concert went to benefit the Natural Resources Defense Council, MusiCares, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, and the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank (a member of America's Second Harvest ,

4930-602: A single in Raleigh that featured James's song "Cha Cha Blues" on the B-side . Having lost touch with his former school friends in North Carolina, Taylor returned to Milton for his senior year, where he started applying to colleges to complete his education. But he felt part of a "life that [he was] unable to lead", and he became depressed ; he slept 20 hours each day, and his grades collapsed. In late 1965 he committed himself to McLean ,

5100-527: A solo artist, the band's recordings were later released in 1971 as James Taylor and the Original Flying Machine .) Taylor would later say of this New York period, "I learned a lot about music and too much about drugs." Indeed, his drug use had developed into full-blown heroin addiction during the final Flying Machine period: "I just fell into it, since it was as easy to get high in the Village as get

5270-465: A song about his daughter Sally, "Sarah Maria". Gorilla was followed in 1976 by In the Pocket , Taylor's last studio album to be released under Warner Bros. Records . The album found him with many colleagues and friends, including Art Garfunkel , David Crosby , Bonnie Raitt , and Stevie Wonder (who co-wrote a song with Taylor and contributed a harmonica solo). A melodic album, it was highlighted with

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5440-488: A tentative recovery; he also required a throat operation to fix vocal cords damaged from singing too harshly. Taylor decided to try being a solo act with a change of scenery. In late 1967, funded by a small family inheritance, he moved to London, living in various areas: Notting Hill , Belgravia , and Chelsea . After recording some demos in Soho , his friend Kortchmar gave him his next big break. Kortchmar used his association with

5610-410: A veteran of four previous Antarctic Expeditions, was appointed as officer in charge of the expedition. In 1955, Task Force 43, commanded by Rear Admiral George J. Dufek , was formed to provide logistical support for the expedition. Operation Deep Freeze I prepared a permanent research station and paved the way for more exhaustive research in later Deep Freeze operations. The expedition transpired over

5780-424: A while", he recalled in 1995: I sort of hit a low spot. I was asked to go down to Rio de Janeiro to play in this festival down there. We put the band together and went down and it was just an amazing response. I played to 300,000 people. They not only knew my music, they knew things about it and were interested in aspects of it that to that point had only interested me. To have that kind of validation right about then

5950-614: A year. The actual transition to Air Guard control began in March 1996. By 1999, the United States Navy had transferred military support operations for Antarctica over to the United States Air Force and its contractor Raytheon Polar Services . Operation Deep Freeze was managed by the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard members of Air National Guard Detachment 13 , a subordinate unit which administratively reported directly to

6120-593: Is a mixture of traditional folk motifs, city folklore from the early 20th century, and modern influences. In the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the Communist regime in the country started to tolerate the Bulgarian "bards", promoting the so-called "political songs", performed usually by one-man bands. A national festival tradition was established, under the title "Alen Mak" (Red Poppy), a symbol with strong Communist meaning in Bulgaria. At

6290-437: Is common to them – to Joni Mitchell and Lotti Golden , to Laura Nyro , Melanie , and to Elyse Weinberg , are the personalised songs they write, like voyages of self-discovery, brimming with keen observation and startling in the impact of their poetry." In The Guardian , author Laura Barton describes the radical shift in subject matter—they sang about politics, love affairs, the urban landscape, drugs, disappointment, and

6460-478: Is often hyphenated instead of using a slash between singer and songwriter), but also solicits more sociological agency aside from singing and songwriting, such as arranging, mixing, producing, collaborating, and media management. In other words, a singer-songwriter thus undergoes a thickening process involving two-layered voices, including performing stylistic persona, amassing other voices, and coordinating other sociological skills. This thickening process demonstrates

6630-453: Is that this form of poetry focuses less on style and more on meaning. This means that fewer stylistic devices are used, and the poetry often takes the form of narrative. What separates bard poetry from other songs is the fact that the music is far less important than the lyrics; chord progressions are often very simple and tend to repeat from one bard song to another. On the other hand, in the USSR

6800-448: Is the coolest breath of fresh air I've inhaled in a good long while. It knocks me out." The record's commercial potential suffered from Taylor's inability to promote it because of his hospitalization, and it sold poorly; "Carolina in My Mind" was released as a single but failed to chart in the UK and only reached No. 118 on the U.S. charts. In July 1969, Taylor headlined a six-night stand at

6970-508: Is to place emphasis on the song rather than on their performance of it. Most records by such artists have a similarly straightforward and spare sound that places emphasis on the song itself. The term may also characterise songwriters in the rock , folk , country , and pop-music genres – including Henry Russell (1812–1900), Aristide Bruant (1851–1925), Hank Williams (1923–1953), and Buddy Holly (1936–1959). The phrase "singer-songwriter", recorded from 1949, came into popular usage from

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7140-659: Is uneven in his oeuvre, some see Arjona's more engaged works as placing him in the tradition of the Italian cantautori . In the mid-1970s, a singer-songwriter tradition called canto popular emerged in Uruguay. With the influence of Tropicalismo , Traditional Samba and Bossa Nova , MPB ( Música popular brasileira ), or Brazilian Popular Music, became highly singer-songwriter based. For years solo artists would dominate Brazilian popular music with romantic cynicism alla Jobim or subliminal anti-government messages alla Chico Buarque . After

7310-460: Is used by record labels and critics to define popular music artists who write and perform their own material, which is often self-accompanied – generally on acoustic guitar or piano. Such an artist performs the roles of composer , lyricist , vocalist, sometimes instrumentalist, and often self-manager. According to AllMusic , singer-songwriters' lyrics are often personal but veiled by elaborate metaphors and vague imagery, and their creative concern

7480-654: The Air Staff , and the United States Navy. Among other issues, it was difficult at first for the Air Guard to convince the Air Staff to commit long term resources to an area of the world that had not been declared a warfighting region because of international treaties. The Air Guard had supported military operations in Greenland and the Arctic (including classified U.S. Navy operations) since

7650-613: The American folk music revival , pioneered by Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger had grown to a major movement in the early 1960s, popularized by Joan Baez and her protégée, Bob Dylan , who had started reaching a mainstream audience with his hit, Blowin' in the Wind " (1963) bringing " protest songs " to a wider audience. There were hints of cross-pollination, but rock and folk music had remained largely separate genres, often with different audiences. An early attempt at fusing elements of folk and rock

7820-867: The American folk music revival , young performers inspired by traditional folk music and groups like the Almanac Singers and the Weavers began writing and performing their own original material and creating their own musical arrangements. In the early 21st century, the digital audio workstation GarageBand has been utilized by many aspiring singer-songwriters to compose and record music. Singer-songwriters who have composed music professionally with GarageBand include Erykah Badu (for her 2008 album New Amerykah Part One ) and Bilal (for his 2010 album Airtight's Revenge ). The term "singer-songwriter" in North America can be traced back to singers who developed works in

7990-587: The Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, the track also reached the top, and the follow-up single, the feelgood "Mexico", featuring a guest appearance by Crosby & Nash , also reached the Top 5 of that list. A well-received album, Gorilla showcased Taylor's electric, lighter side that was evident on Walking Man . However, it was arguably a more consistent and fresher-sounding Taylor, with songs such as "Mexico", "Wandering" and "Angry Blues". It also featured

8160-569: The Billboard Hot 100 in late July. The follow-up single, " Long Ago and Far Away ", also made the Top 40 and reached No. 4 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. The album itself reached No. 2 on the album charts, which would be Taylor's highest position ever until the release of his 2015 album, Before This World , which went to No. 1 superseding Taylor Swift . In early 1972, Taylor won his first Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male , for "You've Got

8330-577: The Buddy Holly song " Everyday ", released as a single reached No. 61. On the album track "Only One", the backing vocals were performed by an all-star duo of Joni Mitchell and Don Henley. Taylor's next albums were partially successful; in 1988, he released Never Die Young , highlighted with the charting title track, and in 1991, the platinum New Moon Shine provided Taylor some popular songs with "Copperline" and "(I've Got to) Stop Thinkin' About That", both hit singles on Adult Contemporary radio. In

8500-515: The Genoese School . The Neapolitan cantautore Pino Daniele often fused genres as diverse as R&B, fusion, blues, pop, jazz, and tarantella to produce a sound uniquely his own, with lyrics variously in Italian, Neapolitan, or English. Similarly Paolo Conte was often tagged as a cantautore , but was more into the jazz tradition. In the 1980s Vasco Rossi was renowned for his blend of blues-tinged rock music mixed with Italian melodies. He

8670-491: The New England Conservatory of Music and was an aspiring opera singer before she married Isaac in 1946. Taylor is the younger brother of musician Alex Taylor (1947–1993) and the older brother of musicians Kate Taylor (born 1949) and Livingston Taylor (born 1950). His youngest sibling, a brother named Hugh (born 1952), was also a musician; Hugh eventually left the music industry and has operated The Outermost Inn,

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8840-607: The Rock in Rio festival in Rio de Janeiro in January 1985. He was encouraged by the nascent democracy in Brazil at the time, buoyed by the positive reception he got from the large crowd and other musicians, and musically energized by the sounds and nature of Brazilian music . "I had ... sort of bottomed-out in a drug habit, my marriage with Carly had dissolved, and I had basically been depressed and lost for

9010-729: The Tin Pan Alley era in American popular music. Song topics of singer-songwriters from the American folk music revival include political protest , as in the case of Woody Guthrie (1912–1967) and Pete Seeger (1919–2014). According to the Journal of Popular Music Studies , from the folk revival and onward into its permanence in pop music, the role of a singer-songwriter has involved several dimensions of creative identity: The first aesthetic layer encourages songwriters to sing and perform their own works and to instill their own stylistic flavors into

9180-581: The United Kingdom , France , Japan , Norway , Chile , Argentina , and the U.S.S.R. agreed to go to the South Pole, the least explored area on Earth. Their goal was to advance world knowledge of Antarctic hydrography and weather systems , glacial movements , and marine life . The U.S. Navy was charged with supporting the U.S. scientists for their portion of the IGY studies. Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd ,

9350-666: The Vote for Change tour playing a series of concerts in American swing states . These concerts were organized by MoveOn.org with the goal of mobilizing people to vote for John Kerry and against George W. Bush in that year's presidential campaign. Taylor's appearances were joint performances with the Dixie Chicks . Taylor performed " The Star-Spangled Banner " at Game 2 of the World Series in Boston on October 24, 2004, on October 25, 2007, both

9520-536: The communist isolation, the tradition of the singer-songwriter in Romania flourished beginning with the end of the 1960s and it was put in the context of folk music , with its three main styles in Romania: ethno folk, American-style folk and lyrical (cult) folk. The framework for many of these initiatives came under the form of Cenaclul Flacăra , a series of mass cultural events with an inevitable ideological touch. Still, with

9690-482: The country music field, singer-songwriters like Hank Williams , Patsy Cline , Tammy Wynette , Loretta Lynn , George Jones , Merle Haggard , Roger Miller , Billy Edd Wheeler , and others emerged from the 1940s through the 1960s, often writing compelling songs about love relationships and other subjects. The first popular recognition of the singer-songwriter in English-speaking North America and

9860-578: The icebreaker USS Atka made a scouting expedition for future landing sites and bays. The impetus behind Operation Deep Freeze I was the International Geophysical Year 1957–58. IGY as it was known was a collaborative effort among forty nations to carry out earth science studies from the North Pole to the South Pole and at points in between. The United States along with New Zealand ,

10030-440: The '60s, while Edoardo Bennato , Lucio Dalla , Francesco De Gregori , Franco Battiato , Rino Gaetano , Ivano Fossati , Antonello Venditti , Claudio Baglioni , Pino Daniele , Roberto Vecchioni , Angelo Branduardi , and Eugenio Finardi all appeared in the '70s. Their songs are still popular today, often telling stories of marginalized (De André, Guccini, Dalla) and rebellious people (Finardi, De Gregori, Venditti), or having

10200-448: The 109th would be largely out of business because its primary mission had ended. The unit had been informally keeping tabs on Navy LC-130 operations supporting the National Science Foundation in Antarctica. Because of its aging aircraft fleet and extensive depot maintenance period, the United States Navy asked if the 109th could provide limited emergency search and rescue (SAR) capability for two years to support Operation Deep Freeze, which

10370-411: The 1950s) are traditionally referred to as the First Five: Mikhail Ancharov, Alexander Gorodnitsky , Novella Matveyeva , Bulat Okudzhava , and Yuri Vizbor . In the 1960s, they were joined by Vladimir Vysotsky , Victor Berkovsky , Yuliy Kim , and many others. In the course of the 1970s, the shift to the classical 6-string guitar took place, and now, a Russian guitar is a rare bird with the bards. In

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10540-400: The 1960s and following the Italian cantautori style of the 1950s (like the one of Domenico Modugno), many Latin American countries developed singer-songwriter traditions that adopted elements from various popular styles. The first such tradition was the mid-1960s invention of nueva canción , which took hold in Andean countries like Chile, Peru, Argentina and Bolivia. At around the same time,

10710-472: The 1960s onwards to describe songwriters who followed particular stylistic and thematic conventions, particularly lyrical introspection, confessional songwriting, mild musical arrangements, and an understated performing style. According to writer Larry David Smith, because it merged the roles of composer, writer, and singer, the popularity of the singer-songwriter phenomenon reintroduced the Medieval troubadour tradition of "songs with public personalities" after

10880-401: The 1980s (see the 'Brazilian folk/folk-rock sub-article in Brazilian Music ). Since the 1960s, those singers who wrote songs outside the Soviet establishment have been known as "bards". The first songs traditionally referred to as bard songs are thought to be written in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and the very existence of the genre is traditionally originated from the amateur activities of

11050-736: The 21st century, with poet Warsan Shire as the muse for Beyoncé 's 2016 album Lemonade . By the mid-1970s and early 1980s, the original wave of singer-songwriters had largely been absorbed into a more general pop or soft rock format, but some new artists in the singer-songwriter tradition (including Billy Joel , Stevie Wonder , Bruce Springsteen , Tom Petty , Jackson Browne , Chris Isaak , Victoria Williams , John Mellencamp , and Warren Zevon ) continued to emerge, and in other cases rock and even punk rock artists such as Peter Case , Paul Collins , and Paul Westerberg transitioned to careers as solo singer-songwriters. Kate Bush remained distinctive throughout with her idiosyncratic style. In

11220-449: The Air Guard accepted. At that time, it had no thought of taking over the mission. The 109th believed it to be an exercise in futility for its aircraft to deploy to the Antarctic to merely wait for emergency SAR missions, so it asked if the Navy could help carry cargo to the South Pole . The Navy resisted at first because its procedures and cargo configurations differed from those of the Air Guard, but eventually it agreed. The main mission of

11390-541: The Air National Guard Readiness Center (ANGRC) at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland , and operationally reported to United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) in Honolulu, Hawaii . Upon its deactivation in 2005, the detachment consisted of a full-time officer (Commander) and four full-time non-commissioned officers (Logistics, Communications, Security Forces, and Information Management) which remained in New Zealand year-round. Operational command now belongs to Commander, Thirteenth Air Force as part of USPACOM. In 2005, through

11560-506: The American national anthem at the NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park , while Daniel Powter sang the Canadian national anthem . On March 7, 2010, Taylor sang the Beatles ' " In My Life " in tribute to deceased artists at the 82nd Academy Awards . In March 2010, he commenced the Troubadour Reunion Tour with Carole King and members of his original band, including Russ Kunkel , Leland Sklar , and Danny Kortchmar . They played shows in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and North America with

11730-433: The Antarctic continent are overseen by the United States Antarctic Program as well as the National Science Foundation. Military support missions flown from Christchurch International Airport are conducted during the Antarctic summer (late September to early March) each year by The 109th Airlift Wing Scotia New York. The Ski equipped LC-130 Hercules is the backbone of Operation Deep Freeze. LC-130 Hercules aircraft provide

11900-525: The Antarctic summer of November 1955 to April 1956, and was filmed by the U.S. Navy and Walt Disney Studios . For having designed the emblem of Task Force 43, Walt Disney became an honorary member of the expedition. Task Force 43 consisted of the following ships: The ships of the task force were supplemented by a specially trained Navy Construction Battalion , formed at the Naval Construction Battalion Center at Davisville, Rhode Island and several aircraft. On October 31, 1956, at 8:34 p.m. local time,

12070-415: The BBC in 2010: "The guy had sort of pinned me to the wall and was glistening with maniacal sweat and talking some freak speak about what he was going to do and his stuff with how John was interested, and he was going to get in touch with John Lennon. And it was surreal to actually have contact with the guy 24 hours before he shot John." The next night, Taylor, who lived in a building next-door to Lennon, heard

12240-571: The Brazilian popular style bossa nova was evolving into a politically charged singer-songwriter tradition called Tropicalismo . Two performers, Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso became two of the most famous people in all of Brazil through their work in Tropicalismo. After World War II it was developed in Italy a very prolific singer-songwriter (in Italian cantautore ) tradition, initially connected with

12410-777: The Broadway musical based on Studs Terkel 's non-fiction book Working , which Terkel himself hosted. Taylor himself appeared in that production as a trucker; he performed "Brother Trucker" in character.) Taylor also appeared on the No Nukes concert in Madison Square Garden, where he made a memorable live performance of "Mockingbird" with his wife Carly. The concert appeared on both the No Nukes album and film . On December 7, 1980, Taylor had an encounter with Mark David Chapman who would murder John Lennon just one day later. Taylor told

12580-597: The Canadian charts. The success of the album propelled the release of two further singles; the up-tempo pop " Your Smiling Face ", an enduring live favorite, reached the American Top 20; however, " Honey Don't Leave L.A. ", which Danny Kortchmar wrote and composed for Taylor, did not enjoy much success, reaching only No. 61. Back in the forefront of popular music, Taylor guested with Paul Simon on Art Garfunkel's recording of Sam Cooke 's " Wonderful World ", which reached

12750-612: The Dixie Chicks. In early 2006, MusiCares honored Taylor with performances of his songs by an array of notable musicians. Before a performance by the Dixie Chicks, lead singer Natalie Maines acknowledged that he had always been one of their musical heroes and had, for them, lived up to their once-imagined reputation of him. They performed his song, "Shower the People", with a surprise appearance by Arnold McCuller , who has sung backing vocals on Taylor's live tours and albums for many years. In

12920-708: The European Bänkelsang ("bench-singing") and Moritat traditions while also taking immediate inspiration from the French chanson scene and the American folk music revival , the 1960s and 1970s saw the emergence of a whole generation of German-language singer-songwriters called Liedermacher ("songmakers"), among them Hannes Wader , Franz Josef Degenhardt , Reinhard Mey , and Konstantin Wecker from West Germany, Wolf Biermann from East Germany as well as Ludwig Hirsch and Georg Danzer from Austria. With regards to content and style,

13090-512: The French school of the chansonniers , and lately developed very heterogeneously. Although the term cantautore normally implies consistent sociopolitical content in lyrics, noteworthy performers in a more inclusive singer-songwriter categorization are: Domenico Modugno , Luigi Tenco , Gino Paoli , Sergio Endrigo , Fabrizio De André , Francesco De Gregori , Antonello Venditti , Roberto Vecchioni , Ivano Fossati , Lucio Dalla , Francesco Guccini , and Franco Battiato . In neighbouring Malta,

13260-498: The International Geophysical Year. It was commissioned on January 1, 1957. The original station ("Old Byrd") lasted about four years before it began to collapse under the snow. Construction of a second underground station in a nearby location began in 1960, and it was used until 1972. The station was then converted into a summer-only field camp until it was abandoned in 2004–05. The mission's second base, Byrd Station ,

13430-575: The Internet has provided a means for indies to get their music heard by a wider audience. French " chanson " comes from an old tradition, since the Middle Ages . It is driven by the rhythms of the French language. It can be distinguished from the rest of French "pop" music or soft rock format that began to spread in France during the 1960s until today, under the cultural influence of Anglo-American rock music and

13600-537: The King Bees (who once opened for Peter and Gordon ), to connect Taylor to Peter Asher . Asher was A&R head for the Beatles ' newly formed label Apple Records . Taylor gave a demo tape of songs, including " Something in the Way She Moves ", to Asher, who then played the demo for Beatles Paul McCartney and George Harrison . McCartney remembers his first impression: "I just heard his voice and his guitar and I thought he

13770-522: The Liedermacher spectrum ranges from political balladeering to rather observational storytelling and love songs. The lyrics often deal with topics such as social injustice , militarism , consumerism , environmental issues or the repercussions of the German Nazi past , often expressing technoskepticism and anti-establishment views. In the mid-1960s, Sweden witnessed the renaissance of the "trubadur",

13940-911: The Navy's command in Antarctica was US Naval Support Force Antarctica, (NSFA) Terminal Operations. In early 1996, the United States National Guard announced that the 109th Airlift Wing at Schenectady County Airport in Scotia, New York was slated to assume that entire mission from the United States Navy in 1999. The Antarctic operation would be fully funded by the National Science Foundation. The 109th expected to add approximately 235 full-time personnel to support that operation. The decision to switch from Naval leadership to National Guard

14110-602: The Northern province of Groningen who sang mainly in the Groninger dialect of Dutch. Operation Deep Freeze The U.S. Navy already had a record of earlier exploration in Antarctica. As early as 1839, Captain Charles Wilkes led the first U.S. Naval expedition into Antarctic waters. In 1929, Admiral Richard E. Byrd established a naval base at Little America I, led an expedition to explore further inland, and conducted

14280-486: The One Man Band Tour, featuring some of Taylor's most beloved songs and anecdotes about their creative origins—accompanied solely by the "one man band" of his longtime pianist/keyboardist, Larry Goldings . The digital discrete 5.1 surround sound mix of One Man Band won a TEC Award for best surround sound recording in 2008. On November 28–30, 2007, Taylor accompanied by his original band and Carole King, headlined

14450-457: The Piedmont, the outlying hills, were tranquil, rural, beautiful, but quiet. Thinking of the red soil, caused by local copper mining [Taylor's later song, "Copperline" was a nostalgic salute to that area where Taylor grew up], plus the seasons, the way things smelled down there, I feel as though my experience of coming of age there was more a matter of landscape and climate than people." James attended

14620-483: The Soviet intelligentsia, namely mass backpacking movement and the students' song movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Many bards performed their songs in small groups of people using a Russian guitar , rarely if ever would they be accompanied by other musicians or singers. Though, bards using piano or accordion are also known. Those who became popular held modest concerts. The first nationwide-famous bards (starting their career in

14790-473: The Swedish version of the singer-songwriter. Cornelis Vreeswijk and Fred Åkerström were particularly influential in their efforts to blend the heritage of the " visa " (a specific way to render simple stanzaic poems or songs, given distinction by artists such as Carl Michael Bellman and Evert Taube ) with modern approaches to balladeering. Ede Staal ( Warffum ) (1941–1986) was a Dutch singer-songwriter from

14960-544: The Top 20 in the U.S. and topped the AC charts in early 1978. After briefly working on Broadway , he took a one-year break, reappearing in the summer of 1979, with the cover-studded Platinum album titled Flag , featuring a Top 30 version of Gerry Goffin 's and Carole King's " Up on the Roof ". (Two selections from Flag , " Millworker " and "Brother Trucker" were featured on the PBS production of

15130-567: The Troubadour in Los Angeles. On July 20, he performed at the Newport Folk Festival as the last act and was cheered by thousands of fans who stayed in the rain to hear him. His set at Newport was cut short after 15 minutes, when festival co-founder George Wein announced on stage that the Apollo 11 astronauts had landed on the moon. Shortly thereafter, Taylor broke both hands and both feet in

15300-460: The U.S. Navy and Air National Guard C-130s was to airlift fuel and supplies to the National Science Foundation's South Pole Station so that its personnel could survive the isolation of the long Antarctic winter, which lasted from February to October. An Air National Guard working group had been formed to study the idea in 1990. The following year, a dialog began among the Air National Guard,

15470-568: The US in 2015 with Before This World . Taylor is also known for his covers, such as " How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) " and " Handy Man ", as well as originals such as " Sweet Baby James ". He played the leading role in Monte Hellman 's 1971 film Two-Lane Blacktop . James Vernon Taylor was born at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on March 12, 1948. His father, Isaac M. Taylor , worked as

15640-405: The USSR. As a result, bard tunes usually made their way around as folk lore, from mouth to mouth, or via the copying of amateur recordings (sometimes referred as magnitizdat ) made at concerts, particularly those songs that were of political nature. Bard poetry differs from other poetry mainly in the fact that it is sung along with a simple guitar melody as opposed to being spoken. Another difference

15810-574: The United Kingdom occurred in the 1960s and early 1970s when a series of blues, folk and country -influenced musicians rose to prominence and popularity. These singer-songwriters included Bob Dylan , Neil Young , John Lennon , Van Morrison , Willie Nelson , Paul Simon , Leonard Cohen , Albert Hammond , Gordon Lightfoot , and Joni Mitchell . Artists who had been primarily songwriters, notably Carole King , Townes Van Zandt , and Neil Diamond , also began releasing work as performers. In contrast to

15980-524: The United Kingdom, then in her home market. In the early 1990s, female artists also began to emerge in new styles, including Courtney Love and PJ Harvey . Later in the mid-1990s, the term was revived again with the success of Canada's Alanis Morissette and her breakthrough album Jagged Little Pill . Also in the 1980s and 1990s, artists such as Bono , the Edge , Dave Matthews , Jeff Buckley , Richard Barone , Duncan Sheik , and Elliott Smith borrowed from

16150-529: The United States alone. Sweet Baby James was received at its time as a folk-rock masterpiece, an album that effectively showcased Taylor's talents to the mainstream public, marking a direction he would take in following years. It earned several Grammy Award nominations including one for Album of the Year . It went on to be listed at No. 103 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003, with "Fire and Rain" listed as No. 227 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004. During

16320-462: The United States alone. The album's Triple Platinum status ties it with Sweet Baby James as Taylor's all-time biggest-selling studio album. It was propelled by Jimmy Jones 's and Otis Blackwell 's " Handy Man ", which hit No. 1 on Billboard' s Adult Contemporary chart and reached No. 4 on the Hot 100, earning Taylor another Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance . The song also topped

16490-484: The Weavers who performed their mostly topical works to an ever-growing wider audience. These proto-singer-songwriters were less concerned than today's singer-songwriters with the unadulterated originality of their music and lyrics, and would lift parts from other songs and play covers without hesitation. The tradition of writing topical songs (songs regarding specific issues of the day, such as Lead Belly's "Jim Crow Blues" or Guthrie's " Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) ")

16660-639: The Zoo ", "Don't Talk Now", and "The Blues Is Just a Bad Dream". In some other songs, Taylor romanticized his life, but he was plagued by self-doubt. By summer 1966, they were performing regularly at the high-visibility Night Owl Cafe in Greenwich Village , alongside acts such as the Turtles and Lothar and the Hand People . Taylor associated with a motley group of people and began using heroin, to Kortchmar's dismay. In

16830-526: The album that comprised most of his best work between 1970 and 1976. With time, it became his best-selling album ever. It was certified 11× Platinum in the US, earned a Diamond certification by the RIAA , and eventually sold close to 20 million copies worldwide. In 1977 Taylor signed with Columbia Records . Between March and April, he quickly recorded his first album for the label. JT , released that June, gave Taylor his best reviews since Sweet Baby James , earning

17000-663: The anthem and "America" for the game on October 24, 2013, and Game 1 on October 23, 2018. He also performed at Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals in Boston on June 5, 2008, and at the NHL's Winter Classic game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins . In December 2004, he appeared as himself in an episode of The West Wing entitled " A Change Is Gonna Come ". He sang Sam Cooke 's classic " A Change Is Gonna Come " at an event honoring an artist played by Taylor's wife Caroline. Later on, he appeared on CMT 's Crossroads alongside

17170-457: The assassination occur. Taylor commented: "I heard him shoot—five, just as quick as you could pull the trigger, about five explosions." In March 1981, Taylor released the album Dad Loves His Work whose themes concerned his relationship with his father, the course his ancestors had taken, and the effect that he and Simon had on each other. The album was another Platinum success, reaching No. 10 and providing Taylor's final real hit single in

17340-458: The blues and folk music style. Early to mid-20th century American singer-songwriters include Lead Belly , Jimmie Rodgers , Blind Lemon Jefferson , T-Bone Walker , Blind Willie McTell , Lightnin' Hopkins , Son House , and Robert Johnson . In the 1940s and 1950s country singer-songwriters like Hank Williams became well known, as well as Woody Guthrie , and Pete Seeger , along with Ronnie Gilbert and Lee Hays and other members of

17510-456: The chief bard supporter was the state Union of Composers, and the main bard hater was the state Union of Writers. A far more obvious difference was the commerce-free nature of the genre: songs were written to be sung and not to be sold. The similar genre dominated by singers-songwriters is known as sung poetry in other Post-Soviet countries. Singer-songwriters are popular in Bulgaria under the name "bards", or "poets with guitars". Their tradition

17680-505: The dark themes on the album, and Hourglass was a commercial success, reaching No. 9 on the Billboard 200 (Taylor's first Top 10 album in sixteen years) and also provided a big adult contemporary hit on "Little More Time With You". The album also gave Taylor his first Grammy since JT , when he was honored with Best Pop Album in 1998. Flanked by two greatest hit releases, Taylor's Platinum-certified October Road appeared in 2002 to

17850-432: The end of the military dictatorship in Brazil , Brazilian music became less politically and socially conscious. The censored Raul Seixas or the humorous spiritualist Jorge Ben were slowly obscured by funk carioca , axé music , and Brazilian disco . In recent years, however, a new stock of socially conscious Brazilian singer-songwriters is beginning to break the almost strictly dance-music momentum that has reigned since

18020-400: The ex-husband of the character played by Allison Janney , and he performs a duet of sorts on Leon Russell 's 1970 classic " A Song for You ". Singer-songwriter A singer-songwriter is a musician who writes , composes , and performs their own musical material, including lyrics and melodies . In the United States, the category is built on the folk - acoustic tradition with

18190-514: The fall of 2006, Taylor released a repackaged and slightly different version of his Hallmark Christmas album, now entitled James Taylor at Christmas , and distributed by Columbia/Sony. In 2006, Taylor performed Randy Newman 's song " Our Town " for the Disney animated film Cars . The song was nominated for the 2007 Academy Award for the Best Original Song. On January 1, 2007, Taylor headlined

18360-445: The final episode of the original 17-year run of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno . On September 8, 2009, Taylor made an appearance at the 24th-season premiere block party of The Oprah Winfrey Show on Chicago's Michigan Avenue . Taylor appeared briefly in the 2009 movie Funny People , where he played " Carolina in My Mind " for a MySpace corporate event as the opening act for the main character. On January 1, 2010, Taylor sang

18530-551: The final night being at the Honda Center, in Anaheim, California. The tour was a major commercial success and in some locations found Taylor playing arenas instead of his usual theaters or amphitheaters. Ticket sales amounted to over 700,000 and the tour grossed over $ 59 million. It was one of the most successful tours of the year. He appeared in 2011 in the ABC comedy Mr. Sunshine as

18700-515: The first aircraft ever to touch down at the South Pole skied to a halt atop the Antarctic ice sheet at 90 degrees South latitude. The U.S. Navy R4D, was piloted by Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Conrad C. "Gus" Shinn USN and included officer Frederick Ferrara. Immediately after the plane halted--with engines running to avoid a freeze-up (a practice still followed to this day)--U.S. Navy Adm. George J. Dufek., commander of Operation Deep Freeze, stepped out onto

18870-630: The first aircraft to land at the South Pole, it was also the first time that Americans had ever set foot on the South Pole. The aircraft was named Que Sera, Sera after a popular song and is now on display at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida . This marked the beginning of the establishment of the first permanent base, by airlift, at the South Pole (today known as the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station ) to support

19040-531: The first flight over the South Pole. From 1934 to 1935, the second Byrd Expedition explored much further inland and also "wintered over". The third Byrd Expedition in 1940 charted the Ross Sea . Byrd was instrumental in the Navy's Operation Highjump after World War II from 1946 to 1947, which charted most of the Antarctic coastline. In 1948, Commander Finn Ronne led an expedition that photographed over 450,000 square miles (1.1 million km ) by air. Then in 1954–55,

19210-408: The fluid, multiple, and heterogeneous voices underneath the singular authorial image, thus complicating the notion of authorship for singer-songwriters. The concept of a singer-songwriter can be traced to ancient bardic oral tradition, which has existed in various forms throughout the world. Poems would be performed as chant or song, sometimes accompanied by a harp or other similar instrument. After

19380-442: The high-pressure college prep environment despite having a good scholastic performance. The Milton headmaster later said, "James was more sensitive and less goal-oriented than most students of his day." He returned home to North Carolina to finish out the semester at Chapel Hill High School . There he joined a band formed by his brother Alex called The Corsayers (later The Fabulous Corsairs), playing electric guitar; in 1964, they cut

19550-494: The hospital's associated Arlington School . He later viewed his nine-month stay at McLean as "a lifesaver... like a pardon or like a reprieve", and both his brother Livingston and his sister Kate later were patients and students there as well. As for his mental health struggles, Taylor thought of them as innate and said: "It's an inseparable part of my personality that I have these feelings." At Kortchmar's urging, Taylor checked himself out of McLean and attended Elon University for

19720-455: The ice, along with pilot Douglas Cordiner, to plant the stars and stripes at the Pole. They were the first to stand there since Briton Robert Falcon Scott did more than 40 years before. Norwegian Roald Amundsen had beaten Scott in his race to the Pole. Amundsen's party survived the 800-mile return trip, Scott's did not. This flight was one part of the expeditions mounted for the IGY. This was not only

19890-616: The inaugural concert at the Times Union Center in Albany, New York honoring newly sworn in Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer . Taylor's next album, One Man Band was released on CD and DVD in November 2007 on Starbucks ' Hear Music Label, where he joined with Paul McCartney and Joni Mitchell . The introspective album grew out of a three-year tour of the United States and Europe called

20060-459: The invention of printing, songs would be written and performed by ballad sellers. Usually these would be versions of existing tunes and lyrics, which were constantly evolving. This developed into the singer-songwriting traditions of folk culture. Traveling performers existed throughout Europe. Thus, the folklorist Anatole Le Braz gives a detailed account of one ballad singer, Yann Ar Minouz, who wrote and performed songs traveling through Brittany in

20230-481: The late 1980s, he began touring regularly, especially on the summer amphitheater circuit. His later concerts feature songs spanning his career and are marked by the musicianship of his band and backup singers. The 1993 two-disc Live album captures this, with a highlight being Arnold McCuller 's descants in the codas of " Shower the People " and "I Will Follow". He provided a guest voice to The Simpsons episode " Deep Space Homer ", and also appeared later on in

20400-422: The late 1980s, the term was applied to a group of predominantly female U.S. artists, beginning with Suzanne Vega whose first album sold unexpectedly well, followed by the likes of Tracy Chapman , Melissa Etheridge , Nanci Griffith , k.d. lang , Mariah Carey , Shania Twain , Sarah McLachlan , Shawn Colvin , Sheryl Crow , Lisa Loeb , Joan Osborne , Indigo Girls , and Tori Amos , who found success first in

20570-420: The late nineteenth century and selling printed versions. In large towns it was possible to make a living performing in public venues, and with the invention of phonographic recording, early singer-songwriters like Théodore Botrel , George M. Cohan , and Hank Williams became celebrities; radio further added to their public recognition and appeal. During the period from the 1940s through the 1960s, sparked by

20740-613: The latest proof that Taylor is a more versatile singer than his best-known hits might suggest. The Covers sessions stretched to include "Oh What a Beautiful Morning", from the musical Oklahoma!, a song that his grandmother had caught him singing over and over at the top of his lungs when he was seven years old. Meanwhile, in summer 2008, Taylor and this band toured 34 North American cities with a tour entitled James Taylor and His Band of Legends. An additional album, called Other Covers , came out in April 2009, containing songs that were recorded during

20910-515: The life and loneliness of the itinerant performer. Lotti Golden , in her Atlantic debut album Motor-Cycle , chronicled her life in NYC's East Village in the late 1960s counterculture, visiting subjects such as gender identity (The Space Queens-Silky is Sad) and excessive drug use (Gonna Fay's). The women in the 1969 Newsweek article ushered in a new age of the contemporary female singer-songwriter that has informed generations of women singer-songwriters into

21080-677: The logistical movement of cargo to remote operating locations on the continent. These aircraft are augmented by the United States Coast Guard icebreaker USCGC Polar Star , the Air Force Materiel Command , and the Military Sealift Command . The United States Air Force 13th Air Expeditionary Group deploys to Christchurch, New Zealand during the operational season. A documentary on the early missions, Ice Eagles: An Account of American Aviation in Antarctica ,

21250-442: The long drive from New York City back to his home in Chapel Hill. "Enough To Be on Your Way" was inspired by the alcoholism-related death of his brother Alex earlier in the decade. The themes were also inspired by Taylor and Walker's divorce, which took place in 1996. Rolling Stone Magazine found that "one of the themes of this record is disbelief", while Taylor told the magazine that it was "spirituals for agnostics". Critics embraced

21420-455: The lyrical starting point for Harrison's classic " Something ". McCartney and Asher brought in arranger Richard Anthony Hewson to add both orchestrations to several of the songs and unusual "link" passages between them; they would receive a mixed reception, at best. James had been through so much by the time he was twenty that he had so much to express in his music. Other young artists of his age whom I worked with sang about how good or bad life

21590-569: The main singer-songwriters are Walter Micallef , Manwel Mifsud and Vince Fabri. They all perform in Maltese. Spain and Portugal have also had singer-songwriter traditions, which are sometimes said to have drawn on Latin elements. Catalonia is known for the Nova Cançó tradition – exemplified by Joan Manuel Serrat and Lluís Llach ; the Portuguese folk/protest singer and songwriter José Afonso helped lead

21760-687: The merit of supporting great opening initiatives: the appropriation of Western artists like Bob Dylan , Joan Baez and others from the Woodstock generation, the public performance of gospel-like music, the opening to big international issues (pop culture, accountability of the leadership, tension surging during the Cold War-with surprisingly neutral positions, etc.). Overall, the Romanian folk, in general, could be marked as an underground cultural movement, somewhere between non-aligned and protest music. Rooted in

21930-464: The mid-1970s with the ski-equipped C-130s of the 109th Airlift Wing . It convinced Headquarters, United States Air Force that it was not in the nation's best interest to abandon the capability to achieve quick and reliable air access to both polar regions. In March 1993, the U.S. Navy hosted a two-day workshop with representatives of the National Science Foundation, Air National Guard, and other interested parties to explore logistics support options for

22100-526: The milieu of the singer-songwriter. Often writing from an urban point of view, with poetry punctuated by rock rhythms and electric power, Dylan's fusing of folk and rock freed up emerging singer-songwriters to use elements of both traditions to tell their stories. In the mid- to late 1960s, bands and singer-songwriters began to proliferate the underground New York art/music scene. The release of The Velvet Underground & Nico in 1967, featuring singer-songwriter Lou Reed and German singer and collaborator Nico

22270-461: The mission. When fully transitioned to the Air National Guard, the 109th Airlift Wing would have ten LC-130s in its inventory. These would include upgrades of four LC-130 aircraft in-service with the unit plus three new aircraft and three that would be transferred from the U.S. Navy. Air National Guard estimates of the savings to be realized by consolidating the operation in the hands of the 109th Airlift Wing ranged from US $ 5 million to US$ 15 million

22440-471: The nation's Food Bank Network). Parts of the performance shown on CBS Sunday Morning in the December 23, 2007, broadcast showed Taylor alluding to his early drug problems by saying, "I played here a number of times in the 70s, allegedly". Taylor has used versions of this joke on other occasions, and it appears as part of his One Man Band DVD and tour performances. In December 2007, James Taylor at Christmas

22610-666: The office of the Secretary of Defense, the commander of U.S. Pacific Command was designated to support the Joint Task Force Support Forces Antarctica, Operation Deep Freeze. CDRUSPACOM delegated this joint operation to the Commander, Pacific Air Forces , who then delegated primary responsibility for execution of the JTF SFA operation to the Commander, 13th Air Force . United States civilian and scientific operations on

22780-631: The operation. A draft concept of operations had been prepared by the Air Directorate of the National Guard Bureau in 1993. In February 1996, a commitment was made to transfer the Operation Deep Freeze mission and all LC-130H aircraft operating within the U.S. Department of Defense to the Air National Guard. In September 1996, senior officers from the 109th Airlift Wing briefed the National Guard Bureau on their concept of operations and

22950-590: The participation of Carole King , the album was released in February 1970 and was Taylor's critical and popular breakthrough, buoyed by the single " Fire and Rain ", a song about both Taylor's experiences attempting to break his drug habit by undergoing treatment in psychiatric institutions and the suicide of his friend Suzanne Schnerr. Both the album and the single reached No. 3 on the Billboard charts, with Sweet Baby James selling more than 1.5 million copies in its first year and eventually more than 3 million in

23120-550: The richness of his lyrics, his melodic genius, his critical density on social issues and his body of work's profoundness) and Gainsbourg (for the bright and tasteful adaptation of pop or rock music with French language-driven rhythms). During the 1960s and 1970s, prominent singer-songwriters included Claude Nougaro , Jean Ferrat , Boby Lapointe , Françoise Hardy , Frédérik Mey , Michel Polnareff , Nino Ferrer , Christophe , Bernard Lavilliers , Véronique Sanson and Jacques Higelin , amongst others. Cantautori (Italian plural;

23290-675: The rock band era. The first modern French singer-songwriter was Charles Trenet , who began his solo career in 1938. He was the first to use jazz rhythms in chanson. He would remain an isolated act until the creative blooming of a new generation during the post-World War II era (mid-1940s and 1950s), where such artists as Léo Ferré , Georges Brassens , Félix Leclerc (from Quebec ), Serge Gainsbourg , Jacques Brel (from Belgium), Henri Salvador (from French Guiana), Charles Aznavour , and Barbara appeared, with contrasted and rich imagination. Most of them are recognized as great masters by younger generations of French artists, especially Ferré (for

23460-422: The same period, the movement of KSP (Kluby Samodeyatelnoy Pesni – amateur song fan clubs) emerged, providing the bards with highly educated audience, and up to the end of the 1980s being their key promotion engine. Bards were rarely permitted to record their music, partly given the political nature of many songs, partly due to their vague status in the strictly organised state-supported show business establishment of

23630-630: The same sessions as the original Covers but had not been put out to the full public yet. During October 19–21, 2008, Taylor performed a series of free concerts in five North Carolina cities in support of Barack Obama 's presidential bid. On Sunday, January 18, 2009, he performed at the We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial , singing "Shower the People" with John Legend and Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland . On May 29, 2009, Taylor performed on

23800-510: The same time, there were some prominent underground figures which were against the official Communist Party line, such as Angel "Jendema" Angelov, Yavor "Yavkata" Rilov, and Velizar "Valdes" Vankov. After the collapse of Communism in 1989, the singer-songwriters' tradition was re-established. Currently, the Bulgarian "bards" enjoy several festivals (local and international) per year, namely the PoKi Festival (Poets with Guitars, Poetic Strings) in

23970-615: The series when the family put together a jigsaw puzzle with his face as the missing final piece. In 1995, Taylor performed the role of the Lord in Randy Newman's Faust . In 1997, after six years since his last studio album, Taylor released Hourglass , an introspective album that gave him the best critical reviews in almost twenty years. The album had much of its focus on Taylor's troubled past and family. "Jump Up Behind Me" paid tribute to his father's rescue of him after The Flying Machine days, and

24140-432: The singer-songwriter genre. Additionally in the 1930s through the 1950s several jazz and blues singer-songwriters emerged like Hoagy Carmichael , Billie Holiday , Ray Charles , Harry Gibson , Peggy Lee , and Nina Simone , as well as in the rock n' roll genre from which emerged influential singer-songwriters Jerry Lee Lewis , Buddy Holly , Chuck Berry , Roy Orbison , Sam Cooke , Ritchie Valens , and Paul Anka . In

24310-658: The singer-songwriter tradition to create new acoustic-based rock styles. In the 2000s, a quieter style emerged, with largely impressionistic lyrics, from artists such as Norah Jones , Conor Oberst , Sufjan Stevens , David Bazan , South San Gabriel , Iron & Wine , David Gray , Ray LaMontagne , Meg Hutchinson , Darden Smith , Josh Rouse , Steve Millar, Jolie Holland , Patrick Duff , Richard Buckner , Jewel , Jack Savoretti , Richard Shindell , John Gorka , and Antje Duvekot . Some started to branch out in new genres such as Kurt Cobain , Noel Gallagher , T Bone Burnett , Eddie Vedder , and Pete Yorn . Others used drugs as

24480-460: The single " Shower the People ", an enduring song that hit No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart and hit 22 on the Pop Charts. However, the album was not well received, reaching No. 16 and being criticized, particularly by Rolling Stone . Still, In The Pocket went on to be certified gold. With the close of Taylor's contract with Warner, in November, the label released Greatest Hits ,

24650-624: The singular is cantautore ) is the Italian expression corresponding to singer-songwriters in English. The word is a portmanteau of cantante (singer) and autore (writer). The first internationally renowned cantautore was Domenico Modugno with his song " Volare (Nel blu dipinto di blu) ", a huge best seller in 1958; other early cantautori , who began their careers in the late 50s, are Gino Paoli , Luigi Tenco , Umberto Bindi , Giorgio Gaber , and Enzo Jannacci . Fabrizio De André , Lucio Battisti , and Francesco Guccini began their careers in

24820-414: The song texts. The songwriters are not independent from the works once they are finished; rather, they enter into, activate, and authenticate the song texts through their vocal and musical performances. While the first layer does not always require the singer to be the songwriter, the second sociological layer not only fixates on the relationship between singer and songwriter (in this case, singer-songwriter

24990-483: The status of their preparations to implement Operation Deep Freeze. Under the transition plan which they had developed, the Air National Guard would continue to augment the United States Navy during the October 1996 – March 1997 operating season for the United States Antarctic Program . At the end of the October 1997 – March 1998 season, the Air National Guard would assume command of the program. During

25160-1039: The storytelling approach of most prior country and folk music, these performers typically wrote songs from a highly personal (often first-person), introspective point of view. The adjectives "confessional" and "sensitive" were often used (sometimes derisively) to describe singer-songwriter style. In the rock band era, members were not technically singer-songwriters as solo acts. However, many were singer-songwriters who created songs with other band members. Examples include Paul McCartney , John Lennon , George Harrison , Ringo Starr , Brian Wilson , Mick Jagger , Keith Richards , Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir , Elton John (with Bernie Taupin ), Justin Hayward , John Lodge , Robbie Robertson , Ian Anderson , Phil Collins , Peter Gabriel , Peter Frampton , Don Henley , Glenn Frey , Country Joe McDonald , and Barry Melton . Many others like Eric Clapton found success as singer-songwriters in their later careers. The scene that had developed out of

25330-506: The third year of the transition program (October 1998 to March 1999), the U.S. Navy would augment the ANG before the latter took over the entire program the following year. There would be seven LC-130s in theater. They would stage from Christchurch International Airport in Christchurch , New Zealand, to McMurdo Station , Antarctica. Traditional Guardsmen, technicians, and the cadre of Active Guard Reservists specifically brought on board to support Operation Deep Freeze would all be involved in

25500-450: The time that Sweet Baby James was released, Taylor appeared with Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys in a Monte Hellman film, Two-Lane Blacktop . In October 1970, he performed with his then partner Joni Mitchell , Phil Ochs , and the Canadian band Chilliwack at a Vancouver benefit concert that funded Greenpeace 's protests of 1971 nuclear weapons tests by the US Atomic Energy Commission at Amchitka , Alaska ; this performance

25670-482: The town of Harmanli, the Bardfest in Lovech, the Sofia Evenings of Singer-Songwriters, and others. Major figures in the Bulgarian tradition are Dimitar Taralezhkov, Angel "Jendema" Angelov, Yavor "Yavkata" Rilov, Velizar "Valdes" Vankov, Dimitar Dobrev, Andro Stubel, Branimir "Bunny" Stoykov, Dorothea Tabakova, Mihail Belchev, Assen Maslarski, Grisha Trifonov, Plamen Stavrev, Vladimir Levkov, Margarita Drumeva, Maria Batchvarova, Plamen Sivov, and Krasimir Parvanov. Despite

25840-430: The tradition has mainly been continued by Samuele Bersani , Caparezza , and the so-called "2nd Roman school of cantautori" (including Max Gazzè , Niccolò Fabi , Daniele Silvestri , Simone Cristicchi ). The word has been borrowed into other languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan cantautor , French chantauteur , Maltese kantawtur , Romanian cantautor , and Slovenian kantavtor . Beginning in

26010-416: The writers described his look as "a cowboy Jesus", to which Taylor later replied, "I thought I was trying to look like George Harrison." Released in April 1971, Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon also gained critical acclaim and contained Taylor's biggest hit single in the US, a version of Carole King's new " You've Got a Friend " (featuring backing vocals by Joni Mitchell ), which reached No. 1 on

26180-592: The year of the fifth mission, codenames began to be based on the year (e.g., "Operation Deep Freeze 60"). The Coast Guard sometimes participated; among others, the USCGC Northwind , the USCGC Polar Sea and the USCGC Glacier occasionally supported the mission. The Navy's Antarctic Development Squadron Six had been flying scientific and military missions to Greenland and the arctic compound's Williams Field since 1975. The 109th operated ski-equipped LC-130s had been flying National Science Foundation support missions to Antarctica since 1988. The official name for

26350-404: Was a (former) research station in West Antarctica established by the US Navy for Operation Deep Freeze II during the International Geophysical Year. The United States Antarctic Program airfield, built to service Operation Deep Freeze (first mission) was later named Williams Field or Willy Field. The Operation Deep Freeze activities were succeeded by "Operation Deep Freeze II", and so on. In 1960,

26520-568: Was a critical and commercial disaster and was his first album to miss the Top 5 since his contract with Warner. It received poor reviews and sold only 300,000 copies in the United States. The title track failed to appear on the Top 100. However, Taylor's artistic fortunes spiked again in 1975 when the Gold album Gorilla reached No. 6 and provided one of his biggest hit singles, a version of Marvin Gaye 's " How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) ", featuring wife Carly on backing vocals and reached No. 5 in America and No. 1 in Canada. On

26690-441: Was but really had no idea what they were singing about. James was already singing with the conviction of a singer much older than himself. Everything that he had already been through was evident in his songwriting. — Peter Asher , Taylor's manager During the recording sessions, Taylor fell back into his drug habit by using heroin and methedrine . He underwent physeptone treatment in a British program, returned to New York and

26860-516: Was certified Diamond and has sold 11 million copies in the US alone, making it one of the best-selling albums in US history. Following his 1977 album JT , he has retained a large audience over the decades. Every album that he released from 1977 to 2007 sold over 1 million copies. He enjoyed a resurgence in chart performance during the late 1990s and 2000s, when he recorded some of his most-awarded work (including Hourglass , October Road , and Covers ). He achieved his first number-one album in

27030-412: Was described as the "most prophetic rock album ever made" by Rolling Stone in 2003. In the late '60s a new wave of female singer-songwriters broke from the confines of pop, using the urban landscape as their canvas for lyrics in the confessional style of poets like Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath . These pioneering women, appeared in a feature in Newsweek , July 1969, "The Girls: Letting Go: 'What

27200-501: Was established by this group of musicians. Singers like Seeger and Guthrie would attend rallies for labor unions, and so wrote many songs concerning the life of the working classes, and social protest; as did other folksingers like Josh White , Cisco Houston , Malvina Reynolds , Earl Robinson , Ewan MacColl , John Jacob Niles , and Doc Watson , while blues singers like Johnson and Hopkins wrote songs about their personal life experiences. This focus on social issues has greatly influenced

27370-468: Was generally lukewarm and, despite making the Top 10 of the Billboard Album Charts, its overall sales were disappointing. The lead single, " Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight ", peaked at No. 14 on the Hot 100, and the follow-up, " One Man Parade ", barely reached the Top 75. Almost simultaneously, Taylor married fellow singer-songwriter Carly Simon on November 3, in a small ceremony at her Murray Hill, Manhattan apartment. A post-concert party following

27540-574: Was great ... and he came and played live, so it was just like, 'Wow, he's great .'" Taylor became the first non-British act signed to Apple, and he credits Asher for "opening the door" to his singing career. Taylor said of Asher, who later became his manager, "I knew from the first time that we met that he was the right person to steer my career. He had this determination in his eye that I had never seen in anybody before." Living chaotically in various places with various women, Taylor wrote additional material, including " Carolina in My Mind ", and rehearsed with

27710-438: Was highlighted in the Animals " House of the Rising Sun " (1964), a folk song, recorded with rock and roll instrumentation. By the mid-1960s Bob Dylan took the lead in merging folk and rock, and in July 1965, released " Like a Rolling Stone ", with a revolutionary rock sound, steeped in tawdry urban imagery, followed by an electric performance later that month at the Newport Folk Festival. Dylan plugged an entire generation into

27880-478: Was hospitalized there, and then finally committed himself to the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts , which emphasized cultural and historical factors in trying to treat difficult psychiatric disorders. Meanwhile, Apple released his debut album, James Taylor , in December 1968 in the UK and February 1969 in the US. Critical reception was generally positive, including a complimentary review in Rolling Stone by Jon Landau , who said that "this album

28050-408: Was nicknamed the "only Italian rockstar" ( l'unica rockstar italiana ) by his fans. Mixing international sounds and Italian lyrics, in the 2000s Bugo became the " fantautore ", a neologism coined for him. Despite not having achieved great fame, he is considered the pioneer of the renewal of Italian songwriting, making a point to break from the politicised content of the 70s. In the last 25 years

28220-454: Was nominated for a Grammy Award. In January 2008, Taylor recorded approximately 20 songs by others for a new album with a band including Luis Conte , Michael Landau , Lou Marini , Arnold McCuller , Jimmy Johnson , David Lasley , Walt Fowler, Andrea Zonn , Kate Markowitz , Steve Gadd and Larry Goldings . The resulting live-in-studio album, named Covers , was released in September 2008. The album forays into country and soul while being

28390-404: Was one of a cost-saving measure due to post cold war budget cuts. The possibility of the Air National Guard assuming operational control of the mission had first emerged in 1988. The 109th Airlift Wing had been notified that, almost overnight, one of the Distant Early Warning Line (DEW) radar sites that it supported in Greenland was going to be shut down. The other sites would soon follow, and

28560-450: Was really what I needed. It helped get me back on track. The song "Only a Dream in Rio" was written in tribute to that night, with lines like "I was there that very day and my heart came back alive." The October 1985 album, That's Why I'm Here , from which that song came, started a series of studio recordings that, while spaced further apart than his previous records, showed a more consistent level of quality and fewer covers , most notably

28730-403: Was released in album format in 2009 as Amchitka, The 1970 Concert That Launched Greenpeace . In January 1971, sessions for Taylor's next album began. He appeared on The Johnny Cash Show , singing "Sweet Baby James", "Fire and Rain", and "Country Road", on February 17, 1971. His career success at this point and appeal to female fans of various ages piqued tremendous interest in him, prompting

28900-416: Was scheduled to be released in 2016. Lockheed Martin is currently the prime contractor for the National Science Foundation's United States Antarctic Program. The contract award was announced via a NSF press release on 28 December 2011 after a bid solicitation process of almost four years. Support operations began on 1 April 2012. The original contract synopsis indicated that the government was contemplating

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