Concert Review: Ben Taylor @ Borders

Ben Taylor featuring Sonya Kitchell and David Saw
Friday, December 1, 2006
Ann Arbor-Downtown Borders

Ann Arbor's 107one, local radio station, has a feature on their station called Studio A2, where they have national artists perform and get interviewed. Last year they started doing Studio A2 ON THE ROAD at the downtown borders. This was an interesting event, since it was technically just a live radio interview, that just happened to be at Borders.

For those of you who don't know, Ben Taylor is the son of James Talyor and Carly Simon. I first saw Ben when he was on tour with his mom as the opening act. He immediately blew me away with his great acoustic guitar lines, brilliant lyrics, and his voice sounds exactly like his father! After seeing him that one time, I became addicted to his album "Another Run Around The Sun" and was hoping he would come back to the Ann Arbor area. A year later, he finally returned! Unfortunately I couldn't go to his concert at the Ark, but 107one set up this great in-store appearance.


The set up was incredibly simple, just 3 stools, the sound equipment, and a backdrop. I was really impressed with how good everything sounded eventhough the venue isn't suited for this kind of performance.

Finally, between the cookbooks and coffee shop, Ben, Sonya, and David appeared from behind the backdrop and were introduced by the local radio personality. Sonya Kitchell performed her song "No Matter What" first, which had a great guitar line, lyrics, and featured her voice really well. David Saw accompanied her on guitar, and Ben provided back-up vocals.

I was completely floored to find out during the radio that Sonya was only 17 years-old! She says that "[I] was born, and started singing." She was raised in a very creative household, since her parents are both visual aritist, and they have always been supportive of her music career and her dreams.

After the brief interview with Sonya, Ben played a new song called "Wicked Way," which was a really witty song that immediately had the crowd laughing and clapping at his lyrics. The song will hopefully be on his next album, which “About...0%” has been recorded, according to Ben.

Once the song was over, Ben talked about growing up as the son of James Taylor and Carly Simon. Their advice to him was to always remember that "music is blue collar; don't be fooled that everything is glamorous." He took this to heart, understanding that his parents came from a time when it was much easier to be successful in the music bussiness, and that the industry has changed a lot since they started.

Sonya played one more song live on the air for the radio audience, which had a very sophisiticated melody, and wonderful lyrics. David and Ben both played guitar, and their strumming/picking styles blended very well together. Unfortunately, the song hasn’t been recorded yet, and probably won’t be any time soon, since she’s touring in Europe in the spring, and will be unable to get any recording done until the fall of 2007.


Ben played one more song for the in-store audience, which is one of my favorite songs off of Another Run Around the Sun, called “Ghost”. Ben apologized to the audience, since he had flown from Dublin the night before and on top of that he was pretty sick, so he was afraid he sounded terrible. But honestly, I thought he sounded great!

Over all, I thought the morning was really fun, and this intimate setting made me enjoy it all the more. I hope that next time Ben comes through town I’ll be able to see a full concert of his!