We had the pleasure of chatting to the amazing Julian Taylor at The Long Road the other week. Check out the full interview below!

How was the set? Sounded good from out there!

Oh thanks man! I didn’t hear it myself!

And it’s the first of two, right?

Yeah, the first of two. We’re playing over there on the porch stage. I was just talking to Bailon and he was saying he designed that whole stage from something from his childhood. So I’m looking forward to that, yeah!

Will it just be you or the whole band?

I think we’ll do the whole thing. My stuff’s not overbearing, it’s pretty chill!

And this is show number two of the tour, right?

Yes, we were in Shoreham-by-Sea two nights ago. Then here, London tomorrow, The Water Rats, then moving forward we’re in Liverpool and Shrewsbury, and Barnswick, and Kirton in Lindsey.

And this is your second tour out here, right?

This is the third, actually! But second with the band. First one I came out solo and did the Americana fest UK and a whole bunch of stuff in England and Scotland. Haven’t been to Ireland yet!

And, being Canadian and being country-adjacent, what’s it like being in that scene when it’s still so closely associated with the South?

Country-adjacent is a good way to describe it. It’s adjacent to a lot of things; rock n’ roll, rhythm and blues, folk music. So I call it Roots music.

Yeah, I don’t know. Like it’s kinda the same, like it is here. People enjoy it. There’s elements of storytelling and elements of just giving it. The only difference really I can see with the folk music scene, like the Americana scene, is here is really more focused towards country rock stuff, whereas in North America the country stuff is really poppy, these days at least. And if you want to dance it’s more of like a jig or bluegrass thing.

And you put out a new single just the other day, right?

Yes! Myself and my friend, Alison, put out a song, the lead single and title track from my new record, Pathways. It’s coming out in September!

Any thoughts on it?

I like it! It’s a good record!

Are you planning on any more singles for it?

Nope, the record just comes out afterwards!

What’s the writing process like for you?

It’s always a bit different, man. Sometimes I start with the lyrics first, sometimes with the chords and melody first. They’re married to each other so it doesn’t really matter what comes first. I find that if you write the lyrics first the melody kinda compliments it and it moves in a different way, rather than the other way around. If you write the melody and then the lyrics, the lyrics have to accommodate the melody. So it’s interesting! They both work in different ways but they are very much the same thing.

It’s just you mainly writing, right?

Mainly it’s me but I write with other people. The ‘Pathways’ single was written with my friend Robert Priest and Roseanne, they helped me write that. well, they didn’t help me, we wrote it together. And I write songs with a buddy of mine, Tyler Alice.

Have you got quite a busy rest of the year planned?

Busy enough, yeah! Enough to keep me away! Going to California, Colorado, doing a Western tour, and Eastern tour. I like touring, it’s cool. It is tiring though, I’m not a young buck any more!

Do you have a dream tour lineup you’d like to be a part of?

Anybody and everybody really. I like to play and I like to watch people play. I like to learn from people and I hope that I rub off on them too.

I think a real good tour would be me and Nathaniel Rateliff. He’s like me, he can do the acoustic thing or can go all in.