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Ben Taylor Wraps One Album, Plans Another

Singer/songwriter Ben Taylor has completed work on his first solo album, "Another Run Around the Sun," due in late August or early September via his own Iris label. The 12-track set was produced by Kevin Bacon and Jonathan Quarmby and features such songs as "Nothing I Can Do," "Someday Soon," "Love" and "You Must've Fallen."

Taylor, who is the son of singer/songwriters James Taylor and Carly Simon, previously worked with Bacon and Quarmby in the late '90s on what was intended to be his debut for Sony imprint Work. However, the set was scrapped and has yet to see the light of day.

Taylor admits fans still ask him about the project, but, "I tell them they're not missing much. It was the first batch of songs I ever wrote. We chased our tails around in the studio a whole lot trying to make it stylistically different enough from my father's music. Ultimately, it turned out to be misconceived."

The artist is much more enthused about "Another Run," which, with the exception of drummer Larry Ciancia, finds him backed by a different cast of musicians than his usual namesake band. "We recorded it all to tape with double bass and a four-piece band," he says. "We kept it very, very simple and traditionalist in terms of the way we recorded it."

Taylor is looking to land an opening slot with an established artist for North American shows this fall, and is planning on playing solo acoustic shows on off-days.

Also on tap for this summer is a collaborative recording project in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., with his sister Sally, Simon and the artists David Saw, Carrie Tree, Rumor and Amity Fletcher, whom Taylor met over the past year while playing solo shows in London.

"While I was recording, I was wanting to get out and play songs for people live," Taylor says. "These were some of the other artists I was playing shows with. We just ended up coming back to my flat and writing and singing and hanging out all night long."

The idea is for each artist to contribute a song apiece to the as-yet-untitled album and also collaborate with one another. Taylor and his English mates will play a handful of shows together this summer, including July 21 at New York's Cutting Room. Taylor will also play solo dates at that venue on June 17 and July 1.

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