Joel Alan Taylor

Joel Alan Taylor is a self-taught guitarist, songwriter, and writer from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who began writing music in 2012 with a friend in a Philadelphia rehab. The first song written was inspired by the classic recklessness of a junkie. The songwriting continues to become more accessible as Taylor has become more grounded.

Recent songs revolve around traveling, women, struggle, and witty existential pondering.
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"[Joel] Taylor mixes elements of Jimi Hendrix and Seattle grunge into whatever he does," and "his honesty as an artist is undeniable. "
- Marc Scortino,
Block Island Music Festival

Taylor spent two years developing his music on a quiet New England island and headed across the country for San Francisco in late 2014. An acoustic studio record, "FTM", was produced and recorded shortly afterwards with SF recording engineer Bozho Lasich (Travis Hayes, Maya Hall, James Taugher). The latest project, released this past July and also created with Lasich, is an ambitious, guitar-heavy 4-track EP named "Taylor".
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For much of his first two years in San Francisco, Taylor had been equally immersed in his band, The Cooper Taylor Project, a collaboration with fellow San Francisco songwriter Ethan Cooper that started in October of 2015.
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With The Cooper Taylor Project now in the rear view mirror, due to Cooper's departure from San Francisco, Joel Taylor has started a new band of his own, dubbed Taylor and the Pretty Noises. With Cole Bailey, a young and talented drummer from Marin, and Sebastian Strugholtz, an experienced jazz-influenced bassist, The Pretty Noises allow Taylor to stretch his creative legs and turn up.