FitzGerald's (Berwyn)
photo/ L to R: Demetria, Tim, Brenda, Larry, Edna, Eddie Taylor, Jr.
Eddie Taylor's Musical Children Honor their Father's Centennial on Father's Day for Blues CD Release Party
When: Sunday, June 18
Time: 7 p.m.
Where: FitzGerald's (Berwyn)
Address: 6615 Roosevelt Rd Berwyn, IL
Tickets $20 GA
ABOUT
Guitarist and singer Eddie Taylor Sr, 1923-1985, was a founding father in the postwar Great Migration generation which brought blues music from the cotton fields of the South to the streets of Chicago. We invite you to spend Father’s Day evening, June 18, 2023, with his musical children—Larry, Brenda, Tim, Edna, and Demetria—as they release their new family album on Nola-Blue Records, Generations of Blues. The CD release show will be from 7 to 11 p.m at Fitzgerald’s Nightclub at 6615 W. Roosevelt Rd. Berwyn, IL.
During the celebration, just in time for Juneteenth weekend and Black Music Month, the Taylors will also be honoring their mother, singer and songwriter Vera Burns Hill Taylor, 1943-1999. Some of her songs, including those written for Eddie Sr., are sung by her children on the CD. Vocals and guitar by the late Eddie Taylor, Jr., who died in 2019, are recorded, along with the bass and guitar skills of Sleepy Riley and Killer Ray Allison-- blues masters no longer with us. The live band on June 18, in addition to Taylor family members, features today’s West and South Side musicians.
Each of the Taylor musicians has left their mark in today’s blues scene. Vocalist-drummer Larry was named an Esteemed Artist by the city of Chicago in 2020-21 for his work in bringing blues back on the West Side. He and vocalist Brenda have CDs on Wolf Records. Tim has drummed on several dozen studio recordings. Demetria, vocalist, has two records on Delmark and last year received a Koko Taylor “Queen of the Blues” Award from Jus Blues Foundation.
Larry Taylor, who gathered the family to produce the album at Chicago’s Joyride Studio in 2015 and 2017 sessions, said, “All of us are doing our own musical things, but I’m glad we can come together to honor our dad’s 100th birthday.”
Sallie Bengtson, head of Nola-Blue, said the label is now raising funds for a vinyl version of the Taylors’ Generations of Blues album to be released late in 2023. The award-winning label has produced heritage artists including Benny Turner, Freddie King’s bass-playing brother; Houston, TX singer Trudy Lynn, and the late Cash McCall.
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