Although country songwriter Carmol Taylor (1931-1986) is hardly a household name, to my way of thinking he was one of the top honkytonk artists of the 1970s, based largely on the strength of his 1976 masterpiece, Song Writer, an album that never fails to satisfy no matter how many times I revisit it.
Born in rural Alabama, Taylor started out in the southern rockabilly and white R&B scene, but like many early rockers he shifted into a country career. Like many talented writers and performers, Taylor struggled to find his footing in Nashville, and spent a full decade during the 1960s trying to break into the industry. He enjoyed limited success with one of his songs providing a minor hit for country star Charlie Walker. That wasn't enough to sustain him, though, and he wound up moving back to Alabama and setting his music dreams aside... for a while. A second swing through Nashville caught the attention of songwriter Norro Wilson, and through Wilson, countrypolitan icon Billy Sherrill, who had been in a band with Taylor back in the 1950s, and finally brought him into the fold. In the early 1970s Taylor rapidly rose to the heights of Top Twang songwriting, placing tunes with Elvis Presley, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Mickey Gilley and others, and is best known for co-composing the George Jones hit, "The Grand Tour," which topped the country charts in the fall of 1974. Of course it didn't last. Taylor recorded an absolutely brilliant debut LP in 1976 and scored a couple of modest hits, but he lost his momentum in Nashville when his followup singles failed to gain traction. Taylor also tried his hand as a producer but eventually headed back home to Alabama where he worked in the early 'Eighties as a regional artist, sadly dying quite young after a battle with lung cancer. Here's a quick look at his career...
Carmol Taylor "Song Writer" (Elektra Records, 1976) (LP)
(Produced by Norro Wilson & David Malloy)
An exceptionally strong mid-'Seventies country-pop set from a tragically underrated artist. Carmol Lee Taylor was born in the small but delightfully-named town of Brilliant, Alabama, a postage-stamp crossroads halfway between Birmingham and Tupelo, Mississippi. I don't know much about Taylor's early career, but in the early 1970s he rose to the heights of Top Forty songwriting, placing tunes with Elvis Presley, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Mickey Gilley and others, and was perhaps best known for co-composing the George Jones hit, "The Grand Tour," which topped the country charts in the fall of 1974. Like many talented writers and pickers, Carmol Taylor struggled to find his footing in the music industry: starting out as a rockabilly twangster, by the early 'Sixties he was trying to break into Music City, and enjoyed limited success with one of his tunes providing a minor hit for country star Charlie Walker. That wasn't enough to sustain him, though, and he wound up moving back to Alabama and setting his music dreams aside... for a while. A second swing through Nashville caught the attention of songwriter Norro Wilson, and through Wilson, countrypolitan icon Billy Sherrill, who brought Taylor into the fold. Despite his association with one of Nashville's most lavish musical stylists, Carmol Taylor remained a rootsy, back-to-basics artist, with this album as his greatest legacy. In my estimation is one of the singularly great gems of 1970's alterna-twang, a jaunty, upbeat, relentlessly enjoyable set of simple, irresistible novelty songs propelled by some of the cleanest, best-produced honkytonky pop of the era. Indeed this is the record that inspired one of my slogans, that "the sign of a truly great country song is that you should be able to sing along with the chorus by end of the first time you hear it." And boy, are these songs doozies. The set kicks off with the moonshiner tune, "Shoot Low Sheriff," with Taylor and the Nashville studio crew blasting off at full-tilt boogie: not just a great songwriter, he was also a superior vocalist, knocking one home run after another right out of the park. There are several amiable, uncomplicated novelty numbers -- the slightly dopey "That Little Difference," "You're Looking At A Happy Man," and a nice, romping rendition of Wayne Kemp's "I Really Had A Ball Last Night" (which was previously recorded by Emmylou Harris as "Feelin' Single, Seein' Double"). The album's finest gems are a couple of barstool weepers, both Carmol Taylor originals: the soul-crushing "Play The Saddest Song On The Juke Box" and the wry, boozy, "Good Cheatin' Songs," where the song's cheeseball narrator hits on some gal sitting at a bar and it turns out she's twenty times as cynical and amoral as he is... If you haven't heard them yet, or any of the songs that surround them, then track this album down. It really is that good.
Carmol Taylor "I Think They Call It Homesick" (Country International Records, 1984) (LP)
(Produced by Carmol Taylor & Al Pachuki)
Carmol Taylor & The County Line Band "Honky Tonk Two Steppin' Beer Drinkin' Saturday Night" (Password Records, 1987) (LP)
(Produced by Gary Lumpkin & Carmol Taylor)
The driving force behind this Nashville band was lead singer Gary Lumpkin (1952-2012) although personally I was drawn by the presence of co-producer Carmol Taylor, who I know mostly as a 1970s secret-sauce songwriter, a guy whose work a decade earlier I really admire. Taylor sings lead on a few tunes, and strums guitar, but just having him in the room signals that this was my kinda party. The County Line Band issued a handful of singles several years earlier, though interestingly enough they don't include any of those songs here -- I guess they had plenty of good ideas to spare. Like Carmol Taylor, Gary Lumpkin was primarily known as a songwriter, and shared a preference for good-natured, hard-drinkin' novelty numbers. The title track, Lumpkin's "Honky Tonk Two Steppin' Beer Drinkin' Saturday Night," was covered by a guy named Larry Jackson, a few years later in '91. This was, sadly, Taylor's last album, posthumously released after his death in 1986 after a battle with lung cancer, and seems to have been released exclusively in the United Kingdom.
Carmol Taylor (TAGG Record Company, 1959-?) (#504-1/2) (7")
A: "Guess I've Been A Fool" (c: Carmol Taylor)
B: "Free As A Breeze" (c: Carmol Taylor)
(Producer not identified)
It seems unlikely that I'll ever be able to track down Carmol Taylor's many indie-label singles... Though if someone with more resources were to put together a career retrospective, I would definitely snap that sucker up. I'm not sure which of his late- 'Fifties singles came out first, though they are often considered to be rockabilly releases. Taylor's earlier career included stints in several obscure local bands, including a combo which also had future countrypolitan king Billy Sherrill. In the early 'Sixties he turned his attention towards Nashville, pitching his songs to established stars and recording a handful of singles before his first major-label deal, briefly signing with Epic Records and his old pal, Billy Sherrill. Though that deal didn't last, but it did give Carmol Taylor access to the top tiers of the the top forty country scene: in 1974 he co-composed one of George Jones's biggest hits, "The Grand Tour," and finally broke through as a performer himself with his 1976 masterpiece, Song Writer, an impressive true country album that yielded Tylor's only chart hits. (Note: almost all the songs on that album were also released as singles; the Elektra 45s listed below are only for singles with non-album tracks.)
It was his work on
Carmol Taylor (Sherba Records, 1959) (#1501) (7")
A: "Street Of Broken Hearts" (c: Carmol Taylor)
B: "Tell Me What To Do" (c: Carmol Taylor)
(Producer not identified)
Carmol Taylor (Sherba Records, 1960) (#1502) (7")
A: "Aching, Breaking Heart" (c: Carmol Taylor)
B: "A Life Time Loving You" (c: Carmol Taylor)
(Producer not identified)
Carmol Taylor (Crow Records, 1965) (#2000) (7")
A: "You Squall Like A Leopard" (c: Carmol Taylor)
B: "Your Wild And Wicked World" (c: Edgar Clayton)
(Producer not identified)
Carmol Taylor (Crow Records, 1966) (#2001) (7")
A: "Every Where I Look There's Love" (c: Carmol Taylor)
B: "The Girl Across The Street" (c: Carmol Taylor)
(Producer not identified)
Carmol Taylor (Goldwax Records, 1967-?) (#324) (7")
A: "Did She Ask About Me" (c: Carmol Taylor)
B: "Here Comes The Fool" (c: Carmol Taylor & Q. Claunch)
(Produced by Quinton Claunch & Rudolph Russell)
Carmol Taylor (Timmy Records, 1968) (#40008) (7")
A: "Sugar Creek Bottom" (c: Carmol Taylor)
B: "Love Me Tonight" (c: Carmol Taylor)
(Produced by Quinton Claunch & Rudolph Russell)
Carmol Taylor (Bell Records, 1968) (#45004) (7")
A: "The Train Never Stops At Our Town" (c: Dallas Frazier)
B: "Another Man's Shoes" (c: Carmol Taylor & Shirley Tackett)
(Produced by Quinton Claunch & Rudolph Russell)
Carmol Taylor (Epic Records, 1970-?) (# 5-10615) (7")
A: "Mama, Take Me Home" (c: Carmol Taylor)
B: "Someday I'll Leave You" (c: Carmol Taylor & Quinton Claunch)
(Produced by Billy Sherrill)
Carmol Taylor (Epic Records, 1971-?) (#5-10803) (7")
A: "Standing In The Need Of Love" (c: Carmol Taylor & Shirley Tackett)
B: "Kiss The Baby" (c: Carmol Taylor & Quinton Claunch)
(Produced by Billy Sherrill)
Carmol Taylor (Country International Records, 1974) (#171) (7")
A: "It's Hard To Love A Woman (With A Memory On Her Mind)" (c: James W. Waggoner)
B: "It's Hard To Love A Woman (With A Memory On Her Mind)" (c: James W. Waggoner)
(Produced by Carmol Taylor)
Carmol Taylor (Elektra Records, 1975) (#E-45255) (7")
A: "Back In The USA" (c: Chuck Berry)
B: "I'd Like To Sleep Til I Get Over You" (c: Roger Bowling)
(Produced by Norro Wilson)
Both songs on this '75 single were also included on Taylor's Song Writer LP, which came out the following year. The Chuck Berry cover charted, and nearly cracked into the Top Forty, which was apparently enough to green-light an entire album. As noted above, almost all the tracks on that record were also released as singles, so other than this one, I'm only listing the Elektra seven-inches with non-album tracks. Though he never made it into the Top Ten, Carmol Taylor's Elektra singles were reasonably successful: eight songs charted on Billboard between 1975-77, with the highest entries being "I Really Had A Ball Last Night" (#23) and "Play The Saddest Song On The Jukebox" (#35). (But was that enough to sustain a Nashville career? Sadly, no. But the songs are all really great, so there's that.)
Carmol Taylor (Elektra Records, 1975) (#E-45277) (7")
A: "Who Will I Be Loving Now" (c: Carmol Taylor & Agnes Wilson)
B: "So Fine" (c: Jon Otis)
(Produced by Norro Wilson)
Intriguingly, neither of these songs made it only Taylor's Elektra album, not even the A-side, which was co-written by Agnes Wilson, a prolific, successful country songwriter whose "Crying Steel Guitar" was earlier recorded by Tammy Wynette, and later by Taylor himself. The B-side was penned by Jon Otis, the oldest son of R&B star Johnny Otis (and sibling to Shuggie Otis, who was in the Pop charts at the time...) "Who Will I Be Loving Now" was barely a "hit" for Carmol, charting at #91 -- George Jones also recorded the song, but only as an album track.
Carmol Taylor (Elektra Records, 1976) (#E-45366) (7")
A: "What Would I Do Then?" (c: Carmol Taylor & Norro Wilson)
B: "You’re Looking At A Happy Man" (c: Carmol Taylor & George Jones)
(Produced by Norro Wilson)
The A-side is a non-album track...
Carmol Taylor & Stella Parton (Elektra Records, 1976) (#E-45367-A/B) (7")
A: "Neon Women" (c: Carmol Taylor, Bobbi Cole & Toni Dae)
B: "Crying Steel Guitar" (c: Carmol Taylor, Agnes Wilson & Billy Sherrill)
(Produced by David Malloy)
Carmol Taylor (Elektra Records, 1976) (#E-45409-A/B) (7")
A: "Good Cheatin' Songs" (c: Carmol Taylor & David Malloy)
B: "I Don't Want My Country Funky" (c: Dan Hobson & Gene Simmons)
(Produced by David Malloy)
Carmol Taylor (Country International Records, 1982) (#186-A) (7")
A: "Honky Tonk Nights" (c: Terry Morgan & Joe Hester)
B: "Honky Tonk Nights" (c: Terry Morgan & Joe Hester)
(Produced by Carmol Taylor)
Carmol Taylor (Country International Records, 1983) (#191-A) (7")
A: "Homesick" (c: Carmol Taylor & Barbara St. James)
B: "Homesick" (c: Carmol Taylor & Barbara St. James)
(Produced by Carmol Taylor)
Carmol Taylor (Spinit Records, 1983-?) (#SP-8305-A/B) (7")
A: "The Perfect Christmas Gift" (c: Jimmy Farmer)
B: "Georgia Christmas" (c: Bill Bleckley, John Riggs, Barbara St. James & Carmol Taylor)
(Produced by Bill Bleckley)
Around the same time this holiday-themed single came out, Taylor also released a string of singles on the Country International label; as far as I know all those singles featured songs that were also included on his 1984 Country International album, and so they're not listed here. These two Christmas-themed tracks are stand-alone orphans, though like Taylor's work on Country International and Password Records, this may have only been distributed in Europe. Anyone know for sure?
