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Taylor Fights, Then Follows, Parents' Musical Path

Musician Ben Taylor's voice and name are probably quite familiar to many music lovers: He is the son of James Taylor and Carly Simon.

Taylor grew up between New York City and Martha's Vineyard. The island off Cape Cod still inspires much of his music. The song "Surround Me" was written while he was living in the desert Southwest and longed to return to the ocean.

The younger Taylor says he used to try hard not to sound like his famous father, with a rough-edge sound he called "neo-psychedelic-folk-funk."

But over time, Taylor realized that he was more comfortable following in his parents' musical footsteps.

Now, he says, to be compared to them is an "incredible compliment."

Taylor, who has had no formal musical training, talks about his initial nervousness about getting into music, the expectations people placed on him, and the songwriter's manual that his mother put together to help him assuage his fears.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.