We caught up with the brilliant and insightful James Taylor, Jr. a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi James, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I have an ongoing project that I feel is meaningful to me as well as my community.

In late 2019, I began to work on an album titled “PRIDE”, a project about, inspired by, and dedicated to LGBTQIA+ history and the movement in the United States primarily. (This includes references to pre-Stonewall organizations.)

I laid down some piano and vocal tracks with producer Kevin Wesley Williams (WesMix at The Sound Shop Studio). As we were figuring out how to proceed, the entire world shut down. As things began to reopen, I went back into the studio, masked, with sanitizing sprays and wipes. I put down the backing vocals for what became “Pride (Stripped)” (with Phil Steuer on ebow). In June (and July) of 2020, I released “Pride (Stripped)” as a single with an accompanying music video.

As the title track, “Pride” is an anthem, a call to action, and a declaration. “We’re here. We’re Queer… We’ve got pride, and you can’t take that away.”

While this project will take much longer than I expected, its meaning is so strong to me. It is the one project I cannot quit. As a gay man and a queer person, not only does this speak to me, but it also speaks to the idea of community. I do not fit easily into any niche. I feel most LGBTQIA+ people don’t fit into any niche. We love and support our community but feel disconnected from it. I have felt that way, and (much like imposter syndrome) I still feel that way sometimes. However, I look out at my community during events like PRIDE, and I see myself among the throngs of diverse humans. I see the people who usually just go to work and back home. I see the campers with the clubbers, the drag artists with the leather daddies, and the seasoned members of the community with the baby queer folx finding their way.

PRIDE is meant to be an embodiment of that diversity, that community, and that history that connects us. From pre-Stonewall (The Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitas) to the people who paved the way (Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Harvey Milk) to fighting for our existence, the heartache and pain are there, but there is joy and hope there.

While I have yet to set a date, the next song from “PRIDE” is called “Boy In A Dress”. Just as I hope “Pride (Stripped)” touched hearts and souls, I hope that “Boy In A Dress” brings an element of fun into the GSRM community. (GSRM = Gender, Sexuality, and Romantic Minorities.)

To all those LGBTQIA+ folx who feel left out, I see you. You are a part of the community, and you are loved. Do not let anyone make you feel that you do not belong.

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?

My love of music began before I was born. According to my mom, I was quite the mover in the womb. When I was talking, I was singing, with “Over The Rainbow” being the first song I could sing all the way through. (The song still holds a very special place in my little queer heart.) I began performing on stage, in children’s groups, and at nursing homes by the time I was 4. While I did begin writing poetry at 6 years old, my melodic songwriting started at 12. My earlier writing stemmed mostly from my poetry and from emotions. As an example, “haze” from my “hi / jt” EP/album series stems from a poem and highlights my struggles with ADHD and other mental health issues (though I may not have realized that when I wrote it).

Since beginning the PRIDE project, I’ve really focused my career and my messages to, for, and around the LGBTQIA+ community. In recent years, there’s been a call for all of us to tell our own stories (primarily in film, television, and other scripted media). I hope that my music tells OUR story as a community and that these stories mean something all across the spectrum of GSR identities, across race and color, and across geographic location.

I have been singing my entire life, but I am also a classically trained vocalist (Eastern Michigan University). I started as a self-taught pianist, followed by functional piano lessons (EMU). I am also an autodidact on the ukulele and acoustic guitar.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part of what I do is connecting with people through music. I still struggle with making that post-performance connection. After leaving myself raw and vulnerable on stage, it can be difficult not to put the walls of casual conversation back up. The music, however, speaks for itself.

I was performing with a band called (the)fundamentalists, a queerwave band with a lot of songs with upbeat music and depressing themes. There was a person at one corner of the stage living their best life, dancing as if both no one and everyone was watching. It was beautiful. Then, we brought it down to perform my original song “When She’s Gone”. That person didn’t skip a beat. They sat down, listened, cried, and just absorbed the music. (I had a difficult time looking in that direction, as the song is pretty emotional already.) When we went back to that upbeat music with depressing lyrics, they went back to dancing. THAT is the power of music. It’s that and moments like it that make being a musician and a songwriter rewarding.

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

As with many queer kids in my age group, there was a lot of bullying. I’ve been hit and beaten up. I was chased through the streets of a small town by three teenage boys when I was 12. I had coins thrown at me almost every day of my senior year. Even as an adult, I had the “f” word spray-painted onto my car. That was technically a hate crime, as it is a crime motivated by prejudice. I never reported it out of fear of what could happen.

In 2002, my mom and I began packing up to move in with her boyfriend. The weekend we were to do the actual move, he died. If it hadn’t been for my dad, I would have been homeless at least twice. After ending a 6-year relationship, I had to leave our shared apartment after being let go from my previous job and trying to finish my degree. I also lost my car within a year due to my financial struggles.

Each moment is like a stair on my staircase through life; some are harder to reach than others.  

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jamestaylorjrmusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jtjrmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jamestaylorjrmusic
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamestaylorjrmusic/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jtjrmusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/jamestaylorjrmusic
• Other: https://linktr.ee/jtjrmusic

Image Credits
Debbie Lim, Martha Swartz, Luis Hirschlieb,