Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Henry Taylour. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Henry, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

My debut LP which I have been working on for the last couple of years is probably the most meaningful project I have worked on. That having been said, I hope that I will always feel this way about each project during the creation process, although that may not be the case. The album is titled ‘A Relentless Pursuit Of Happiness’, and I guess it aims to cover most broadly what I have learnt about people and life so far. More specifically, as usual the album probably became more autobiographical than I had initially intended, covering topics such as mental health, grief and the cross roads that we often come to as we grow up and have to make decisions. Although some of these topics feel personal, they are definitely not as individual as we often feel, and having people let me know that the subject matter has spoken to them or made them feel something is really humbling and rewarding. After all, life isn’t always easy, and few things are more valuable than finding happiness internally, and working out what this is for us might not be a one size fits all scenario.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a folk musician who has been releasing music since 2017. I started playing the spanish guitar at a young age, around six or seven, although much to my teacher’s displeasure, when `I was around 12, all I wanted to do was make as much noise as I could with an electric guitar. I played guitar in several bands when I was growing up, but in terms of writing music I was probably more of a ‘bedroom musician’. By this I mean that I would really quietly sing and play within the privacy of my room but I would stop if I heard anyone coming up the stairs! I think the first songs I wrote were very personal and maybe a little bit literal as is often the case, and after losing my mother (who was a big supporter of my music) when I was seventeen I found music to be a really important outlet to express some things that maybe I wasn’t that comfortable talking about at the time. The first song I ever played that I had written was at her funeral, and this possibly explains why i did not play another song in public for about 7 years! Of course even now, many years later, it remains a hugely pivotal time in my life, but there is so much to write about, and for me, music plays a key role in society in reflecting what goes on around us. I think for me, a really big moment was discovering open tunings on the guitar through listening to artists like The Tallest Man On Earth and Ben Howard. This really got me back into playing guitar, particularly finger picking acoustic guitar which felt like it gave me a new lease of life. Seeing John Smith play was definitely pretty inspiring and a big highlight. Of course there is so much music around us all which is amazing, but I guess for me, the lyrics have always been very important, and whereas I started writing songs which were more acoustic guitar driven, to reflect the way that they were written, my newer material has been written with more full arrangements in mind.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I think one of the most important things that I am in the process of learning is that in most creative pursuits you really have to put yourself out there. People are unlikely to just stumble across your work, so you have to actually be proactive which can feel like you are blowing your own trumpet. I think selling yourself is one of the hardest things to sell, and it does make me a little uncomfortable trying to convince people why they should listen to my music. I have emailed countless people and often people do not even reply, which can be tough to handle, especially if you feel like the music is personal.The very first time I submitted my music to a blog I got what I felt was some pretty savage feedback, which I probably didn’t take all that well! However, over time you do develop thicker skin and you have to realise with art that one man’s treasure is another man’s gold. You are unlikely to please everyone, but I have received more and more positive feedback over time which is a positive!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I think probably, it is reflecting on how an idea is formed and then witnessing the journey from that moment to the moment where it is a finished work. I also really enjoy how sometimes the idea morphs during the process, and sometimes it is quite different to how you imagined it would be in the start.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.henrytaylourmusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/henrytaylour/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HenryTaylourMusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@henrytaylour7301
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/henry-taylour

Image Credits

Sumy Sadurni
Nesta Wigan