Livingston Taylor and his older brother James are polar opposites on the celebrity scale. Though they have a similar vocal quality and share a love of well-crafted melodic pop songs, Livingston Taylor is about as anonymous as James Taylor is well known. WGLT's Jon Norton caught up with Livingston Taylor in advance of his two Chicago appearances this weekend to talk about his anonymity.
They also discussed his father’s alcoholism, and how it affected both brothers.
"The first image of my father isn't him with a drink in his hand. My first image is that he's a good man, and a loving man. And a man who like most of us Jon, is chased by demons."
Despite dealing with his family's alcohol issues from a young age, Taylor says he likes the person he has become, and who he is. Though he did say those family issues affected his career choice.
“I think my parents preoccupation with drinking and the problems that caused really left my siblings and I to make career decisions that weren't particularly adult informed. Our oldest brother Alex gravitated to music, and the four of us just naturally came along. And parents who weren't preoccupied with their own difficulties might say 'no you're going to go to law school, or you're going to go to med school.' But they were delighted to have us find a direction on our own."
The music Taylor gravitated to was along the pop/folk side.
“In my case, I've always been a melody driven guy. My parents listened to a lot of Broadway, so I was raised with My Fair Lady, Oklahoma, and Carousel. That was early tonalities. As well there was folk music: Woody Guthrie, Pete Seger, Peter Paul and Mary, Joan Baez. And personally, I absolutely LOVED pop music. I loved the melodic sense of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. I like well thought out and well-disciplined music."
Understandably, Livingston Taylor is often compared to James Taylor. But rather than resenting his famous older brother, Livingston gushes praise.
"James Taylor is a truly wonderful world class artist, who is willing to tolerate the celebrity and the visibility that comes with personally selling your music as a part of you. The assumption core in that is that fame and celebrity are desirable things. Fame and celebrity are desirable ONLY to people who don't have them. I think it was T.S. Elliot who said this wonderfully. 'A little fame is wonderful. Trust me. A LOT of fame is a nightmare'"
Livingston says he's been blessed to have James as an older brother. He says he gets to play the "James Taylor card" when he feels like it, and embraces his relative anonymity.
"Not only do I embrace it, I argue anonymity is the truly precious gift that exists."
Taylor's upbeat music is matched by his similarly upbeat personality.
"I am a guy who believe at his very core that I live in a universe that is overseen by deities and forces that are good and decent, and love me and love everybody. That when I'm negative and cynical, what I know is that the problem is not with them, the problem is with me. The world on any level has treated me so beautifully and so well that I cannot help but be in a state of gratitude and thankfulness about this."
