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<\/a>Maria Taylor has a long history of creating music – she played in her first band when she was just fifteen, and spent most of the ensuing decades as a cornerstone of famed Omaha label \u00a0Saddle Creek, releasing records both as a solo act and\u00a0as part of duo\u00a0Azure Ray (alongside\u00a0Orenda Fink). Last December, she put out In the Next Life,\u00a0<\/em>her sixth solo record, this time on her own label, Flower Moon Records. The album sees vocal accompaniment from longtime collaborators like Conor Oberst, Joshua Radin, Macey Taylor, and others.<\/p>\n In the past three years, Taylor has taken time away from music to focus on\u00a0family; she got married in 2013 and has two young children, slowing her prolific musical output somewhat. The result is that Next Life<\/em>\u00a0is an album full of appreciation and love for family as well as a personal reflection of a life spent\u00a0seeking out higher fulfillment. The tracks are delicate and intimate, the type of warm and glistening folk music that resonates deeply. She reflects on the past (“Pretty Scars”), promises made to her children (“A Good Life”), perseverance (“There’s Only Now”)\u00a0and living life to the fullest (“If Only”), with wisdom, grace, and gratitude.<\/p>\n Taylor has been touring to showcase her latest album, and we chatted with her briefly about how it’s all been going.<\/p>\n I see that you recently released In the Next Life<\/em> and are touring for it. How has the reception\u00a0around it been so far? Was it what you expected it might be? <\/strong><\/p>\n It seems to be well received. I never\u00a0really have any expectations when I release a record, but it’s always nice to feel like your fans are\u00a0on the same page as you. We are all growing up together.<\/p>\n What inspired you to create this album?<\/strong><\/p>\n I had taken three\u00a0years off since having two\u00a0kids. I adore being\u00a0a mom, but writing and playing music has been such a part of me for my whole life. I really felt like I\u00a0needed to write this record to remember my identity other than just being a mom. It was also\u00a0important for me to show my kids this side of me, for them to see what I love and what makes me\u00a0happy.<\/p>\n What has it been like setting up your own label and releasing music through it? I imagine there’s a\u00a0certain sense of elation and pride behind doing so.<\/strong><\/p>\n It’s been a really gratifying experience. I couldn’t\u00a0do it without my husband. He’s the label head. It’s a ton of work, but it’s been a fun process, and\u00a0we’ve even released my friend Louis Schefano’s record on the label.<\/p>\n You’ve toured alongside many notable acts and have some fantastic features on In the Next\u00a0Life<\/em>. Are there any past joint performances that shine particularly brightly in your memory?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Hmm. I think that the time I played with Bright Eyes at The Town Hall in New York was one of my most\u00a0memorable performances. He played seven shows in a row and had guests each night. I was on stage\u00a0playing two\u00a0of my songs with his amazing band plus Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings, Nick Zinner, and\u00a0Ben Gibbard. I remember looking around and thinking, ” Oh my god, what the hell is happening?!”<\/p>\n Who would be an artist or band that you’d love to play with (living or deceased)?<\/strong><\/p>\n I’d love to play\u00a0with Carole King.<\/p>\n When playing live or writing an album, it is difficult to keep your solo work separate from the work\u00a0you do with Azure Ray? \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n In Azure Ray we always wrote individually, so the writing process is the\u00a0same. When I’m playing live I usually don’t play any of my Azure Ray songs. I have so many newer\u00a0solo songs that I want to play, it’s hard enough to narrow that down to a set.<\/p>\n Your musical history is quite prolific at this point. What do you have in mind for next moves?<\/strong><\/p>\n I’ll\u00a0always write music\u2014as long as i’m breathing! But my kids are my first priority now. Their needs will\u00a0dictate what I do with my time from now on.[\/fusion_builder_column][\/fusion_builder_row][\/fusion_builder_container]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”] Maria Taylor has a long history of creating music – she played in her first band when she was just fifteen, and spent most of the ensuing decades as a cornerstone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":17614,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[573,305],"tags":[2369,5690,5696,477,5689,3214],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/20160903_N3A2786_hi-res-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17612"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17612"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20972,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17612\/revisions\/20972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}