David j Taylor is one very busy guy. He wears many hats, including producer, recording engineer, composer, musician and foley artist. He’s been a nominee for multiple Western Canadian Music Awards, Gemini Awards and, in February, an Oscar – Taylor recorded and edited the sound effects for Wild Life, a National Film Board production nominated for best animated short film.
Over the past two decades Taylor has worked on 90 releases for other artists. In May 2011 he co-wrote a new pep song “Ride On” for the ever popular Saskatchewan Roughriders, along with Moose Jaw singer-songwriter Megan Nash. To top that all off, Taylor runs a small hobby farm outside of Milestone, Sask. So why not take on another project and launch a brand new CD, Goodbye Hazel?
Goodbye Hazel is Taylor’s first solo release in five years. He credits working with Saskatoon musicians Jay Semko and Kim Fontaine for getting him back into the studio. A couple years ago the trio of Semko, Fontaine and Taylor released a CD called Heartaches and Numbers. The experience of touring and playing whet Taylor’s appetite to record more of his own songs.
“It just feels like the right time to get back out there,” says Taylor.
CBC Music caught up with Taylor backstage, where he talked about how Goodbye Hazel came about.
Taylor is a multi-instrumentalist who plays the grand piano, Rhodes organ, electric guitar and sings on this latest release. He’s proud of how Goodbye Hazel turned out.
“As I hold this master recording in my hands, I just can’t wait for everyone out there to hear these songs and be like, ‘that producer guy is a songwriter, too?” he says.
With the title track from his album, this is Taylor in concert with “Goodbye Hazel:”
More music from Taylor’s recent Goodbye Hazel CD release concert at the Regina Broadcast Centre is available on CBC Radio’s Concerts on Demand. Songs are also available for purchase on iTunes or CD Baby.