Jane Taylor

Jane Taylor is a British singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist and vocalist based in Bristol, UK. Born in 1972, she begins pursuing music full time in 2003. Her work is associated with folk and singer-songwriter music, and she is also tagged with new age.

Early releases and recognition

In 2003, Taylor records her first single, Blowing This Candle Out, in a Bristol studio with Massive Attack guitarist Angelo Bruschini. The song wins the UK and International Songwriting Competition in 2003 and also wins Best Song in the International Songwriter of the Year competition. Its success leads to Taylor’s first major performance at Ronnie Scott’s in London.

Her debut album, Montpelier, appears in 2005. She records it on a low budget in a barn over nine days in a freezing October, with producer Bill Lovelady and her band. Taylor finances the manufacturing costs by pre-selling the album to supporters she has built up in Bristol. The album’s cover is a charcoal sketch of her street, drawn by Taylor herself. It receives radio attention after Johnnie Walker plays the opening track on BBC national radio, even though it is not on the playlist, and invites her in for a live session. The album also leads to wider exposure through BBC Radio 2, support slots for Jools Holland, Bill Wyman, Seth Lakeman, Paul Buchanan, Andy Fairweather Low and Paulo Nutini, a distribution deal, MTV airplay for Fall on Me, and touring in the UK and Germany.

Compass and later acclaim

Two years after her debut, Taylor releases Compass. The album is backed by two supporters she later calls “The Angels”, and she records it at Sheffield’s Yellow Arch Studios with Mercury-nominated producer Colin Elliot, who is known for work on Richard Hawley’s albums. The album includes the Grimethorpe Colliery Brass Band, a gospel choir made up of songwriters and musicians from Bristol and Bath, a rhythm track built from everyday sounds including a rustling bin and a cellist’s imitation of a dolphin, and string arrangements by her resident band members Robin Davies, Bethany Porter and Feargus Heatherington. Tracks from the album receive BBC Radio 2 airplay, and it wins Best Album in the Folk / Singer-Songwriter category at the 2010 Independent Music Awards.