“I discovered open tunings on the electric because of The Rolling Stones and Keith Richards. It opened up a whole new palette”: Meet Julian Taylor, the Canadian musical encyclopedia who plays a custom Tele called the ‘Barncaster’

Toronto based singer-songwriter and guitarist Julian Taylor has been making high-quality music for many years, his sound bringing in R&B, folk, country and soul influences.

But it’s only really been since 2020’s The Ridge, an album that also focused on pan-Canadian roots music in part, that his momentum has gathered. Since then we’ve had Beyond The Reservoir in 2022 and now Pathways, another excellently crafted set of songs.

“Bob Dylan was a huge influence,” he says immediately. “Also Richie Havens’ style on the acoustic; when I saw that Woodstock video I was blown away, it was super-cool. James Taylor was an influence, too, when it came to fingerpicking, and Robert Johnson was a big one. And then my grandmother bought me an electric guitar – and it was blues music I was listening to then, guys like Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee.

“Yeah, it’s long!” he laughs. “I spend a lot of time researching music and the reason I got into music in the first place was because I’m a fan. My favourite thing in the world is to be side- or backstage watching people I admire on stage because I’m lucky enough to be put on the bill. So I talk to a lot of people and I guess I’ve been an encyclopaedia of music knowledge for the last 30 years.”

“There are still a lot of instruments on there and it’s the first time the guitar takes a more instrumental lead role, which is great. So it’s not as busy and he tried to coach me to edit myself and take a ‘less is more’ approach. It was difficult at first, but as time was trucking along I became used to it and it became a more comfortable space to be in. It was a lovely lesson to learn.”