Meet Justin Taylor

 

We were lucky to catch up with Justin Taylor recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Justin , appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

It’s been said before many times but I think it’s true the older I get and the more my career brings me to new phases and challenges, it’s really just about learning from all of your failures or mistakes. I’ve made enough mistakes and messed up enough to know now how to recognize when it’s about to happen or in some cases complete avoid it entirely before I ever get to that place where I may end up disappointed or proven wrong in the outcome. Just gotta keep trying and keep working hard. It’s never gonna be easy, but it’s always gonna be worth it. That’s how I stay resilient and tough, knowing it’s all worth it

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Contrary to popular belief, Justin Taylor was not born with a guitar in his hand, but it sure was close.

Before he could walk, Justin was always seen with his favorite toy, a guitar. By the time he was in middle school, Justin was beginning to make his presence known in the Southern Maryland music scene. Entertaining students and faculty, Justin appeared in school assemblies and even started a band with members of the middle school faculty.

As a high school student, Justin began to appear at local clubs for open mic nights. He garnered the attention of local musicians and became a popular performer at local venues. He was even invited to join the Charles County all county orchestra to perform a crowd pleasing rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze.

At the age of thirteen, Justin began performing professionally as the featured guitarist for the Ken Smith band out of Northern Virginia. Justin joined his grandfather as a band member.

Opportunities followed as a member of Come Back Iris and the Sara Gray Band. As a member of Sara Gray’s band, he appeared at many major events including WMZQ Fest.

Upon graduation from high school, Justin was invited to become a member of the Sam Grow Band. Touring with this professional group, based in Nashville, gave Justin the experience he would need to hone his skills as a musician and learn about the rigors and rewards of a professional touring musician. With Sam, Justin Taylor toured throughout the eastern and mid-western United States. This gave him the opportunity to open for many national acts.

After a two year stint, Justin Taylor embarked on a solo career and started the Justin Taylor Band.

Justin Taylor is sought after as a guest guitarist for many acts and can often be seen appearing with other artists during his frequent visits to music city.

As an emerging singer-songwriter Justin Taylor released his first EP as a solo artist in early 2020 and continues to produce. Record and release projects under his solo work as well as collaboratively with other artists.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

– learning how to be a member of the team before being the team owner
– listening to those who came before you, and what they have to offer
– build YOUR circle, continue to reach out to new peers, grow as a person, and don’t be afraid to ask for help or knowledge

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I’m a very inspired person musically, I am currently enjoying the studio process and co writing more than I ever have in my life. Being a musician is more fun now than ever, so I always welcome people to reach out to me so we can write, record, play live, and make the world a little better one song at a time

Send me a email or a dm it’s actually me lol

Contact Info:

Image Credits

My own mostly but watermark photo from Scott Homebrew

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