Gileah Taylor is starting to make some waves having opened for Over the Rhine, played festival stages with Jeff Tweedy and Roseanne Cash, and been a live guest on NPR’s Echoes. Her song ‘Going Home‘ was featured in the Netflix original series 13 Reasons Why.
Her new record ‘Slow Parade’ was produced by Nashville brothers Gideon Klein and Gabe Klein, and features a string quartet led by Gideon on cello. ‘Slow Parade‘ is a concept album drawing on the life expereinces of the North Florida indie-folk songwriter, and finds Gileah Taylor moving through life’s journey from idealized childhoods to choosing happiness as an adult. Even the album title has a special meaning for Gileah Taylor who’s father, a songwriter and preacher, wrote an interpretive paraphrase of the Book of Ecclesiastes, which Gileah typed out from his handwritten manuscript – one thought really stuck with her: “The end of the book is about getting used to the process of aging. You hit a certain point in life where previous pleasures can feel like a burden, like romance or adventure. You might not recognize it at first, but aging is upon you. He wrote that it gnaws at you mentally, while the answer is as clear as the funeral procession passing under your window. Your aging body is calling you, not to join the marchers, but to be the guest of honor in the funeral procession. The term ‘slow parade’ wasn’t in there, but the vivid imagery and ancient wisdom of those words stuck with me for years.”
Gileah Taylor shared some thoughts about ‘Roll Over Me‘ with Americana UK: “‘Roll Over Me’ came from a moment I had when I visited Scotland. It was my second day riding a bicycle across the John Muir Way, which is a 130 mile plus trail that goes from Helensburgh in the west to Dunbar in the east. I saw the blue sky up above, and the green hills all around, and the most beautiful low-hanging clouds in between the sky and the hills. A couple of years later I came across a picture I took that day, and immediately started singing about it. My favourite lyric from the song is “I’m finding my way while every living thing does the same.” I’m often tempted to look at somebody else who looks successful and think ‘Well, they’ve certainly got it all figured out, but the older I get, the more I realize that hardly anyone truly does have it all figured out. Most of us are just trying to find our way in this world. And that’s okay!
In ‘Roll Over Me,’ I talk about using nearly all of my senses – feeling the wind, watching the rain or the lightning, reaching for a hand to hold, listening to a song being sung. All of these things help to calm and ground me. My journey is of course very specific to me. I’m just here to sing about it. While you’re on your journey, wherever you are, you might like to sing along. And I hope we both find our way in this world.”
