Feb 4, 2006 4:29 pm US/Eastern
James Taylor Tribute To Start Grammy Week
LOS ANGELES (AP) ―
Even after 30-plus years and dozens of hits, James Taylor admits he remains mystified by the music business.
"I try to focus on the heart of what I do — write, record and perform," he told The Associated Press. "I've never been much of a businessman. I've had a lot of help from people who've kept their eye on the other aspects of it."
All eyes will be on Taylor, 57, when he is honored as MusiCares Person of the Year by the Recording Academy on Monday night to kick off Grammy week.
"It's going to be like some kind of torture," he said, jokingly.
Taylor was selected as MusiCares Person of the Year for his accomplishments as a musician and for his philanthropic efforts. He has served as a board member of the Natural Resources Defense Council and supported juvenile diabetes research.
MusiCares, established by the Recording Academy, provides assistance to musicians in times of need. The two groups have pledged $1 million for those in the music industry affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The dinner and tribute concert at the Los Angeles Convention Center will feature "a lot of faces from the past," Taylor said.
The scheduled performers include: Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Bonnie Raitt, Carole King, Jackson Browne, David Crosby, the Dixie Chicks, Randy Newman, Dr. John, Alison Krauss, Taj Mahal and India.Arie.
"I'm beginning to warm to the prospect of it," Taylor said. "I've always liked the idea of other people singing my songs."
He will cap the evening by performing with his own band. His wife, Kim, will be there, too.
The couple's 4-year-old twins, Rufus and Henry, like music, just not when Taylor plays.
"They hate it when I take out the guitar," he said. "They associate it with my getting in a car and leaving. They like to have me around."
Hold tight, kids. Daddy is going to hit the road for a guitar-and-piano tour of 3,000-seat theaters in the Southeast and Midwest in March, April and May.
"It's been a while since I really scaled down," Taylor said. "It's nice to get back to that again."
Taylor's catalog of pop classics includes: "You've Got a Friend," "Fire and Rain," and "Carolina in My Mind."
Besides writing new songs, he has another project in mind.
"I've always thought it would be a good idea to make an instructional CD or DVD that explains my simple guitar technique and makes it available to people," he said.
Taylor launched his career in the '60s, when the business was "a very cottage industry — people doing it who sort of loved it and were deeply absorbed in it."
Nowadays, he said, "If you're successful, it ends up being sold to a larger and larger corporate superstructure. That's a challenge as much for record company people as it is for artists to negotiate an increasingly corporate world."
And it can create an awkward relationship between people making art and those who are selling it, Taylor said.
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