Taylor Hollingsworth preview

Taylor Hollingsworth
Martyrs’, Chicago
Friday, March 24 & Saturday, March 25, 2006

Taylor Hollingsworth proves you can’t judge a young singer-songwriter by his CD cover.

The questionable artwork, in Hollingsworth’s case, is that of his full-length debut, Tragic City, which features the handsome, thin, shaggy-haired young man standing next to a marquee sign displaying his name and that of the record. It reeks of Ryan Cabrera-type anonymous singer-songwriters, star-struck 15-year-old girls, and an opening slot on Ashlee Simpson’s tour.

Thank goodness there’s also a CD packaged in that jewel case to save us from hating the young Birmingham native. With no wishy washy acoustic ballads to be found among the record’s 13 (plus one hidden) tracks — all written by Hollingsworth with the exception of Jimmie Rodgers’ “Gambling Barroom Blues”– Tragic City shows a surprising amount of maturity. Hollingsworth’s influences are all over the map: there’s the Waylon Jennings outlaw country spirit of “Bonnie And Clyde,”the fuzzy Stonesy swagger of “Take The Money,”the Modest Mouse-ish ominous pop rock on “In From The Storm,”and the Skynyrd southern twang of “How Could You Be So Cold.”The 24-year-old and his band (bassist Macy Taylor and drummer Les Nuby) are nimble with the material, slyly mixing the modern music they’ve grown up on with the deeper rock roots they’ve admired from afar.

We haven’t even mentioned yet the kid is a topnotch guitar slinger as well. He picks and chooses his spots to show it, like the Hendrix fretboard chaos of “You’re Lost,”and maybe he should showcase those nimble fingers more, to distract from his singing voice, which can be a nasally dog whistle of a screech. But hey, what 24-year-old is perfect?

Hollingsworth opens both nights for Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers.

— Trevor Fisher

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly