Career
A
brief biography of Bram Taylor
Bram (Bramwell) hails from Leigh in Lancashire. Initially encouraged to
play Brass Band by his parents, he later moved on to learn the guitar.
Much inspired by the likes of Harvey Andrews, Vin Garbutt, The Spinners, Marie Little and many others he quickly became
a favourite
playing at local folk clubs during "the revival". |
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By 1975 whilst
commanding a rapidly growing audience, Bram was also co-presenting a
Saturday morning children’s programme; Chatterbox on Local
Radio for BBC Radio Manchester. Then
in 1975 he released his first recording The Haymakers, which was
well received by his growing audience. It well represented Bram's clear
and strong vocal style. In 1979 Bram along with fellow
Lancastrians Dave Dutton and Eric White formed the comedy group
Inclognito.
Jackie Finney replaced
Eric White in 1985. By 1989
however a successful combination had to part as Bram's solo engagements
and Dave Dutton’s comedy writing and other interests increased.
Bram continued to
delight folk club audiences throughout the country and in 1984 he signed
to Fellside Records, a highly respected independent Folk Label run by
Paul and Linda Adams. His
first release, Bide a While was very well received by the music
press and well reflected Bram's largely traditional repertoire. If
you ask him, Bram describes himself as a collector and interpreter of
songs, and his growing interest in contemporary material was stated with
his next release Dreams and Songs to Sing, which received the
1987 British Music Retailers award for excellence in the Folk and
Country Category. Taylor Made released in 1990
confirmed Bram's ability to record contemporary songs and provide a
traditional blend; an ability that his folk venue audiences had already
come to appreciate.
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1993
saw the release of arguably Bram's most popular recording, Further Horizons.
Opening with Chris Algar's Hills of the West, and
featuring again an immensely strong selection of songs from the likes of
Brian McNeill, Huw Williams, Ewan MacColl and Peter Knight.
An excellent line up
joined Bram on Further Horizons, including Fiona Simpson, Tom
McConville, Dave Russell, Chris Hill, and Phil Hare.
Following the
success of Further Horizons, Bram was asked to perform in the USA
in 1996, delighting audiences with his professional mix of music and
humour he is now a biannual visitor. His
visits to the US certainly had an influence on the song selection for
his next recording. As
before however, Bram combines further flavours with his well rehearsed
approach to create another popular album in the form of Pick of the Grinner Recorded and released in 1997.
New World
sensibilities abound in the album, yet the common denominator is always
for Bram, "Is this a good song?" Yet
again, certainly, these all are. Whilst
the recording line up for Pick of the Grinner was largely of
stalwarts, Bram's adventurous approach allows for the introduction of
alto sax on selected tracks. Then, just as you think Bram may be truly
contemporary, you find yourself back on the Banks of the Bann,
with only guitar and fiddle. |
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For his next
recording Fragile Peace in 2001 Bram enlisted support from a new selection of
talented musicians including Alistair McCulloch - Fiddle, Serge Gorlin -
Alto Sax, Emily Slade - Piano, and Mike France - Fretless Bass. It
may well be that Bram's travels "over the pond" are reflected
in a selection of songs that in some way rather more melancholic than
usual. As Bram says in the
sleeve notes to Robbie O'Connell's Home Away From Home;
"It's great to go away sometimes but even better to come back
home." Which was
certainly true, from the irony of Bram being near New York to promote
Fragile Peace on September 11th that year, and having been at
the top of one of the Twin Towers only 5 days before 9/11!!
A memory which he says will haunt him forever.
2001 launched Bram
on a new path to begin annual visits to Florida at the invitation of
Magnolia Concert Connections and Entertainer designers network director
Dudley Burchill (known as Miss Dudley so we know she’s a she and not a
he!!) to perform at many wonderful venues.
So Bram continues to
journey further a field and so off to Holland in 2003 and 2004 and
Switzerland in 2005, with performances before the most receptive
audiences as always. You
may of course not need to travel quite so far to catch him.
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Spring 2004 saw the
release of The Night is Young which received rave reviews from the
British and overseas Folk Music Press.
This was no doubt encouraged by the use of the talents of Fiddle
virtuoso Stuart Hardy and the multi instrumental talents of Steve
Lawrence. This CD consists
of a ‘half and half’ array of both traditional and contemporary
material. The opening track
is a quite stunning rendition of the lovely song ‘Bogie’s Bonnie
Belle’ kicking off the CD on a splendid journey in song from some
amazing British and overseas song writers; Huw Williams, Eileen McGann,
Brendan Graham (of ‘You raise me up’ fame), Ian Chesterman, Eric
Bogle and John Munroe and rounds off in great form with the title track
from the exquisite hand of Collum Sands.
His Fellside
release ‘Song Singer’ FECD206 emerged in Summer 2007 from what Bram
can only describe as ‘Hard graft’ sessions working with some
fabulous musicians (as ever); Steve Lawrence on percussion and endless
fret instruments, just beautifully played too, Wendy Weatherby on Cello,
Iain Anderson on Fiddle, Bram’s great friends from Holland Elly
Beurskens (guitar, Bass and vocals) and her husband Bruno van Hoekon
Dobro, mandolin and banjo, Bob Hallard on electric and bass guitars and
bass vocals and the splendid all round vocal talents of ‘mother and
daughter act’ Linda and Susan Adam.
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Then it was off to
Canada in July 2007, to perform at the Mariposa Folk Festival in Ontario
alongside Bram’s heroes from the sixties Gordon Lightfoot and Don
McLean. Performing to over
10,000 people Bram was well received. Subsequently Bram was
invited back and returned to Mariposa in 2009, appearing alongside Buffy
Sainte-Marie and The Proclaimers.
As a professional communicator,
Bram's unique delivery of festival workshops and sessions: "Getting
your Act Together" (Specially designed for the aspiring would be
performers), “Bram & Eggs” (The perfect morning after the night
before song session) and “Bramble Jam" have proved to be
extremely popular. This has
ensured that Bram's itinerary is more packed than ever.
Song Singer continued to receive
excellent reviews from the British Music Press the ensuing years of
2010, 2011 and 2012 were busy years for Bram with Festival and Folk Club
performances which included two more return visits to The English Folk
Club at The Rocajuna Den, Punta Prima in Spain and return visits to the
United States. 2012 saw Bram
invited to perform in the Netherlands and twice at the prestigious
Brussels Folk Club in the heart of the city. |
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January
2012 brought the release of Bram’s 10th Fellside Album;
‘Jokers & Rogues’ (FECD 260) again working alongside excellent
musicians. The superb
engineering skills of Fellside ‘Supremo’ and producer Paul Adams
along with his engineering support team of Richard Adams and Robert
Hallard were unsurpassed. It
was a milestone Bram is enormously proud of, bringing a large number of
excellent reviews and some very welcome BBC Radio 2 airplay!
The
subsequent promotion of ‘Jokers & Rogues’ during 2012 also gave
Bram the perfectly contrasting opportunity to perform some concerts with
the talented Andy Jones who created some excellent fiddle parts on the
new Album.
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The years 2013, 2014 and 2015 saw Bram continuing to
have healthy and consistent Gig lists with both return and first time
appearances at British Folk venues and indeed many overseas trips to the USA
and Europe.
2013 saw Bram appear for the first time at both The
Whittlesea Straw Bear Folk Festival in Cambridgeshire and The Marymass Festival
at Irvine in Scotland.
2014 included another return trip to the USA,
headlining a prestigious concert at The Music Village in Brusssels, performing
as a trio with Elly Beurskens and her husband Bruno van Hoek for a musical
fundraiser in aid of the Foundation for Alzheimer Research. The year was rounded off with a very
successful tour of Scotland.
2015 continued to be a healthy gig sheet year
performing both solo and with Andy Jones (Fiddle). It was also the year for the inception of
‘The Bram Taylor Band’; Bram collaborating with his good friends Dave Howard
and Nick Peake.
Bram was described by Mike Harding as ‘One of the
bedrock performers and stalwarts of the British Folk Club and Festival scene’. As a collector and interpreter of songs,
during his career now spanning in excess of 40 years, Bram has always chosen
material from a wide variety of sources, selecting songs with strong choruses
which both engage and give his audience an ideal opportunity to have a good
sing.
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He now looks forward to performing in 2016 when at the
beginning of the year, he will be performing with ‘The Bram Taylor Band’ at a
Fellside Records 40th Anniversary Concert as part of ‘The Roots 66’
Folk & Roots Festival at The Theatre by the Lake, Keswick. This is followed by appearances in Holland,
Spain and another trip to the US.
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