PROFILES

Paul Taylor

His music: As sideman for roots rocker Amy LaVere, Paul Taylor has played drums on the set of “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and on the stage of London’s Royal Albert Hall. The self-taught, second-generation Memphis musician began forging his own path years earlier, playing bass in bands like DDT and Big Ass Truck and backing up a staggering array of local artists ranging from the late guitar genius Shawn Lane to experimental music maven Shelby Bryant. Left to his own devices, Taylor is a creative powerhouse whose debut solo album, the masterful Open Closed, evoked comparisons to Big Star and the Beatles.


In $5 Cover: Taylor makes sweet music with Amy LaVere, his real-life girlfriend, after she kicks two-timer Nick out of the band; later, he commandeers Nick’s spot in her bed.


In $5 Cover Amplified: Taylor, a musician whose innate talents allow him to create melodies and rhythms from any household object, ponders the spiritual aspects of music and quantifies its importance as an escapist tool.


On Memphis music: “I grew up in the Memphis music scene, so I’m real proud to have gotten to see some of the history happen firsthand.”


Latest news: Taylor’s second solo effort, Share It, was just released.


--Andria Lisle


Paul Taylor on MySpace



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$5 Cover Amplified Summary:

Intimate, thoughtful, always entertaining and often formally daring, the 12 documentaries that comprise the anthology "$5 Cover Amplified" reveal a modern Memphis music scene that is as creative, passionate and vibrant as in the city's commercial heyday, when Elvis, Isaac Hayes and Al Green demonstrated that visionary art and popular culture could be inseparable as the 'A' and 'B' sides of a vinyl record.

Produced as a complement to Craig Brewer's episodic MTV drama series/ new media experiment, "$5 Cover," the "Amplified" series of documentary portraits chronicles the rousing art, uncertain careers and sometimes problematic home lives of a diverse, distinctive and often eccentric group of Memphis music-makers.

Mesmerizing Valerie June croons confessional lyrics from beneath a Medusan tangle of dreadlocks that's as thick as her family ties and her musical roots. The puckish Tommy Chong-meets-Pippi Longstocking "clown prince of rap," Muck Sticky, proves to be as dedicated to the welfare of his mother and sister as to his own pursuit of happiness. Punk rock pioneer Jack Oblivian, who plays to sell-out nightclub crowds in Europe, makes ends meet in Memphis by cleaning houses. "Crunk" hip-hop artist Al Kapone is shown to be a tough but loving father, bringing new urgency to the concept of rapper as "role model." Troubadour of heartbreak Harlan T. Bobo is portrayed impressionistically, through stop-motion animation, allegorical fantasy and other conceits.

Whatever the focus or style, the direction of Alan Spearman, an award-winning photographer/filmmaker with The Commercial Appeal, ensures that each segment is as visually assured as it is musically irresistible. "$5 Cover Amplified" was co-produced by Spearman, Andria Lisle and John Hubbell, and edited by Eileen Meyer; their familiarity with the Memphis "scene" ensures unprecedented authenticity as well as access.

John Beifuss- The Commercial Appeal