SINGER SONGWRITER BRIT TAYLOR RELEASES KENTUCKY BLUE, PRODUCED BY STURGILL SIMPSON AND DAVID FERGUSON

FOCUS TRACK "NO COWBOYS" REFLECTS TAYLOR'S JOURNEY IN A TOWN WITH A LOT OF HATS AND NO CATTLE 

Country singer songwriter Brit Taylor is releasing her sophomore album, Kentucky Blue, today.  Produced by Grammy winners Sturgill Simpson and David Ferguson, the ten original songs explore the breadth and depth of Taylor's captivating songwriting and arresting alto.  Available on all music streaming platforms, the album is being released on Cut a Shine records in partnership with Thirty Tigers.

Listed among the Most Anticipated Albums of 2023 by both Wide Open Country and Saving Country Music, Taylor has pre-released four songs from the album – “Cabin In The Woods,” the title song “Kentucky Blue,” Rich Little Girls” and “Ain’t A Hard Livin’ ” – previewing the lyrical and musical diversity of the album’s songs, all co-written by Taylor.  Honoring Taylor’s Appalachian roots while embracing the sounds of her heart, Kentucky Blue is an album that invites the listener to play it over and over, humming along with the tunes.

Listen here. 

“I moved to town to be a songwriter first and foremost,” Taylor said.  “I was a shy kid when I started on the Kentucky Opry, but once I got over my stage fright,  I started to love performing – but I only loved performing because I loved the song I was singing and the emotion it evoked in the audience.  It’s always been about the song, not the fame or the lights or the attention. Just the song.” 

But every song needs a voice.  Taylor’s down-home but surprisingly powerful voice is warm and relaxed in delivering her lyrics that are anything but.  Her songs of life, love, struggles and happiness are built on her unique life experiences, yet she delivers them by creating a universal appeal. 

Taylor finds the joy that follows loneliness in “Cabin in the Woods” and fearlessly puts a color to pure longing in the title song “Kentucky Blue.”  She sounds an anthem for women’s empowerment in “Rich Little Girls” and “If You Don’t Wanna Love Me.”  There are light-hearted songs sandwiched between the deeper philosophical dives in “Best We Can Do” and “Love’s Never Been That Good To Me” and the dose of risqué that every life needs in “For A Night.” 

The saltiness in what is perhaps Simpson’s favorite song on the album, “No Cowboys,” tells a part of Taylor’s gutsy journey.  While not naming the new Nashville, her lyrics definitely have an in-your-face “if the shoe fits, wear it” moment for the city that is sporting a lot of hat and no cattle -- “You’ll see wranglers and boots, 10-gallon Stetson hats too, shiny new Silverado’s, desperate to be desperadoes, but there’s no cowboys left in this town.”  The dejected ode to what once was has a fresh, yet familiar, Spanish cowboy feel with a California string section, Texas fiddle, electric guitar, and crying steel peppered with an accordion.  

With Simpson and Ferguson in the production chairs, Taylor at the mic with her lyrics in hand, Kentucky Blue becomes an album that is cohesive while offering a little bit of something for everybody.  It is Kentucky meets LA with a stop in Texas along the way, never losing that tinge of Appalachia tradition that Taylor grew up on. It is feisty, funky and pure country and makes the listeners laugh before leaving them teary-eyed. 

Recording at the legendary Cowboy Arms Hotel And Recording Spa (now known as Clement Recording Studio) was the perfect place to blend history with the future.  For Taylor, it was serendipity because it was the first studio she ever stepped foot into when she came to Nashville thirteen years earlier, where she was honored to meet Cowboy Jack Clement and where Simpson and Ferguson have made today’s albums that are the music of tomorrow.

Legendary producer and engineer Ferguson – whose credits span the spectrum from Johnny Cash to modern-day icons such as John Prine and Simpson – praises the new music, stating, “Let me say I’ve been lucky enough to work with some really great artists from Kentucky – Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers, to name two, and it seems there’s no end to the talent that comes out of Kentucky.  One of those is Brit Taylor. You should give her a chance. You won’t be sorry.”

Ferguson and Simpson – who simply declares “if I didn’t like the music I wouldn’t produce it” – asked Taylor for 25 of her best songs.  A prolific writer, she found herself weeding through hundreds of songs she’d written and finally sent them 30 songs.

“There are a lot of ways to achieve your dreams in Nashville,” Taylor said.  “Some just move here and hope, some are ‘song hounds’ searching for the best songs to record, and others just hit Broadway and sing until they’re blue in the face, always hoping someone will walk in and change their lives.  Then there are the folks who write songs, record them and hit the road to start building a fan base or hope to go viral on some social media app.  Others just write song after song after song after song, honing their craft.”

Taylor has done it all. She sang on Broadway seven nights a week, made demos and cold called on record label execs (one who politely listened to her music before rejecting her with a “so this is mountain music.”  She still regrets not telling him to shove it right then). But, for her, it was always about the magic of the lyrics.  She kept writing and writing more, singing along the way.

While college was teaching Taylor about the music business, Nashville hit songwriters like Mark Stephen Jones were teaching her how to write a song.  Her classes were Tuesday and Thursday so she could schedule co-writes Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Her commitment paid off. Taylor signed her first publishing deal five years after moving to town and shortly after earning her college degree. 

It was an exciting time for a young Taylor, but playing by the rules nearly broke her.  Fortunately, her life changed, even while she fought it.  A contentious divorce, a publishing deal that wanted what she couldn’t give, the death of her dog and the fight to keep her mini-farm not only pushed her over the edge, it pushed her into today. 

After quitting her deal and turning off the radio so she could hear her inner voice, she began a deep dig to find her “real me”.  Calling on a host of friends and industry veterans cultivated over a decade, she co-wrote with legends such as Dan Auerbach and released her first album and its deluxe edition.  Collaborations followed with Dee White, Mike and The Moonpies and others, all leading to today.   

The release of Kentucky Blue represents 15 years of learning how to craft a good song, how to get the melody and form just right and how to get the phrasing to fit within the music.  It’s studying the greats like Harlan Howard and writing with the greats like Pat McLaughlin and Marcus Hummon.  It is 15 years of learning the rules just so you can finally figure out how to cleverly break them.  Taylor, who has a black belt in karate, was definitely earning her black belt in classic country.  It is why industry executive Jody Williams says her  “music is as honest as Loretta Lynn’s.”

Today, she is confident in penning lyrics that talk about life in a way that makes  the listener feel less alone. Her songs are fully textured, and her raw honesty embraces complexity.  It is both a gift and a talent, honed by years of dedicated work and some tough living. And it has paid off with Kentucky Blue.  She has a new publishing deal with Reservoir/One Riot and a booking deal with Wasserman Music, where she is represented by a team headed by Johnathan Levine, who also books artists including Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, Margo Price, and Kacey Musgraves. 

Taylor, who still finds her heart in writing songs for herself and others, has spent recent months touring in support of Blackberry Smoke and Kelsey Waldon, opening for Dwight Yoakam, Alabama and Ian Noe and performing her own headliner gigs. 

The power of Taylor’s music has always been that it is refreshingly simple yet surprisingly complex, empathetic yet empowering.  Always remaining true to herself, she continues to tells stories which manage – whether they are dramatic, humorous or heartfelt – to be as authentic as she is.


Kentucky Blue 
Vocals:    Brit Taylor
Producers:   Sturgill Simpson and David Ferguson
Recorded at Cowboy Arms Hotel And Recording Spa (now known as Clement Recording Studio)
Distribution:  Cut A Shine Records in collaboration with Thirty Tigers


Track List:
Cabin In The Woods – Written by Brit Taylor and Jason White
Anything But You – Written by  Brit Taylor, Adam Wright
Kentucky Blue – Written by Kimberly Kelly, Brit Taylor and Adam Wright
Rich Little Girls – Written by Kimberly Kelly, Brit Taylor, Adam Wright 
No Cowboys – Written by Nick Autry, Adam Chaffins and Brit Taylor 
If You Don’t Wanna Love Me – Written by Adam Chaffins, Adam Landry and Brit Taylor
Ain’t A Hard Livin’ – Written by Pat McLaughlin and Brit Taylor 
Love’s Never Been That Good To Me – Written by Jerry Salley and Brit Taylor
For A Night – Written by Cliff Audretch, Pat McLaughlin and Brit Taylor 
Best We Can Do – Written by Pat McLaughlin and Brit Taylor


Upcoming Kentucky Blue Tour Dates:

February 4 – Nashville, TN, The Basement
February 9 – Indianapolis, IN, Dukes Indy
February 10 – Lexington, KY, The Burl
February 17 – Douglas, GA, Martin Centre Theater (in support of Blackberry Smoke)
February 18 – Montgomery, AL, Montgomery Performing Arts Centre (in support of Blackberry Smoke)
February 23 – Decatur, GA, Eddie’s Attic
February 24 – Birmingham, AL, Dave’s Pub
February 25 – Tupelo, MS, Blue Canoe
February 26 – Chattanooga, TN, Cherry Street Tavern

Festivals:
June 1 – Schellraiser Festival, McGill, NV
June 3 – Railbird Music Festival, Lexington, KY

About Brit Taylor
With the release of her sophomore album, Kentucky Blue, singer-songwriter Brit Taylor is striding positively into her future. The Kentucky native – with her captivating lyrics and arresting vocal – is stepping boldly ahead with one foot firmly grounded in her Appalachian roots and the other plowing through new ground.  It is rewarding, but it hasn’t been easy.

Kentucky Blue, produced by Grammy winners Sturgill Simpson and David Ferguson and released in 2023, is a happy, upbeat record that is feisty, funky and pure country and reflective of her life today.  It follows Taylor's 2021 debut album Real Me and its complement, Real Me Deluxe, which chronicled her self-reflective journey from the depths of despair to honest self-awareness.  The highly acclaimed Real Me opened as the highest-ranking debut album on the AMA/CDX Radio Chart at No. 37 and garnered positive reviews from American Songwriter, Rolling Stone, NPR’s World Cafe and others.  The 2022 AMERICANAFEST featured her at an official artist showcase, and she headlined The Burl’s 2022 official after-party for Kentucky Rising, an all-star concert in to raise money for East Kentucky flood victims.  Taylor’s list of recent live performances includes opening for Dwight Yoakam, Ian Noe, Alabama and Robert Earl Keen and touring in support of both Kelsey Waldon and Blackberry Smoke.  PBS featured her on “The Caverns Sessions”, a musical series from deep within a subterranean amphitheater in Tennessee's Cumberland Mountains.  She has released new music with Dee White, Mike and the Moonpies and others.

Born where the famed Country Music Highway 23 slices through Kentucky, life was good for the young singer who spent her childhood years on the Kentucky Opry.  Because she started singing before she could read or write, songwriting came later.  It took the end of a teenage puppy love to lure her to put pen to paper and words to her emotions.  Her first lyrics were born, and her love for songwriting was unleashed.  High school graduation was followed by a move to Nashville, a college degree, a music deal, marriage, and a mini-farm. And then it all went bad.  A husband gone AWOL, a band that dissolved, a beloved dog that died, a music deal gone sour and a bank that wanted her home made for a winter of despair.  After a brief wallow in self-pity, Taylor went to work, determined to be true to herself and to make music her way.  Tired and broken-hearted by the “new Nashville,” she walked away from her song writing deal.  Declaring she’d rather “clean toilets than write shitty songs any longer,” Taylor cleaned houses to pay the bills, successfully turning her side hustle into a bona fide small business.  At the same time, she served as “general contractor” for her self-financed Real Me, pulling together a cast of professionals to co-write and play with her, all while recording on her own newly created record label, Cut A Shine Records.


Life is good again. She signed a collaborative deal between Cut A Shine Records and Thirty Tigers and a publishing deal with Reservoir and One Riot.  She has a booking deal with Wasserman Music.  She has a new love and marriage and two new miniature donkeys and a rescue dog added to her zoo of one cat, two dogs, five goats and a bunch of chickens.  Today, Taylor is bravely standing out as her own self. It isn’t an easy path to navigate, but Brit learned that the best GPS is her inner self.

She remains true to the honesty of her lyrics and the timelessness of her sound.  The power of her lyrics and her music is that they are refreshingly simple yet surprisingly complex.  Always true to herself, Brit Taylor continues to tells stories which manage – whether they are dramatic, humorous or heartfelt – to be downright honest.  It is who she is.