JT: Wow, you know the Beatles were really big at the time I was with my band in New York in the mid ‘60s. MT: Growing up, and when first learning to play guitar, what band did you fantasize about being in? Who was your musical hero, and who is your musical hero now?
He was also a big influence on my piano player, Steven Gadd. Oh man let’s see, thinking of legendary players, I’ve recorded a couple of times with Richard Tee who was in a band called Stuff, but mainly he was know as Paul Simon’s piano player. JT: You know the best thing about getting some degree of success is that you can play with the best. MT: What sideman, who is no longer with us, do you wish you could have had in your band? You’ll have to check them out–they’re pretty phenomenal. Although I call them current, their main recording was about 15 years ago now. They had a band called Little Village that made a phenomenal record with one of my favorite guitar players. The band that I always thought was the dream band was Ry Cooder, John Hiatt and Jim Keltner. Doing this for over 50 years, it’s a great surprise that I’m still on the road and still have an audience that supports me and comes out when I tour. When you ask me which current band I would play with, that’s tough because I have a pretty broad concept of what current means. You know, I played rhythm guitar in my brother Alex’s band in high school, and in the mid ‘60s I went to New York and was a sideman in that band, too. JAMES TAYLOR: Man, that’s a good question. If you were not the successful solo artist that you are, with what contemporary artist or band would you most like to be a sideman? MAUITIME: You’re known for having the most talented, “in-demand” musicians in your band–Steve Gadd, Jimmy Johnson, Michael Landan, Larry Golding and Louis Clark. His kindness and humility immediately put me at ease, making me feel as though I was chatting with an old friend over coffee… A few days before his show, I was able to interview him by phone. This Friday, April 12, Taylor will perform at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center. It certainly made for great make-out music during my college days when we would put compilations of JT, Dan Fogelberg and others onto our “make-out” cassette tapes.
My collection of ‘80s punk rock was replaced by the Americana sounds of James Taylor and his contemporaries. Since then, my choice of music changed significantly. James Taylor’s voice washed over me like musical valium. Within moments came the realization that the music of my previous generation was far superior to my own. My older brother had given me tickets, so with nothing better to do, my friends and I donned our pink high-tops and matching pink hair and went to check out what the older generation was all excited about. I was sitting on the lawn at Irvine Meadows Amphitheater when Taylor opened the show with “Shower the People.” It was 1982, and my music collection was limited to a compilation of INXS, Duran Duran and The B-52’s. It was more like an epiphany–a revelation tantamount to the one in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.
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