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{"id":35475,"date":"2020-09-15T12:30:12","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T16:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/?p=35475"},"modified":"2020-09-14T17:22:04","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T21:22:04","slug":"playing-toronto-dione-taylor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/playing-toronto-dione-taylor\/","title":{"rendered":"Dione Taylor Returns with Eclectic “Prairie Blues” Sound on Spirits in the Water"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\" — Photo Credit: CRILAPHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
When Dione Taylor appeared on the Canadian music scene in 2004, the young artist was part of an exciting class of singers and musicians making jazz relevant for a new generation.\u00a0Open Your Eyes<\/em> not only put the Regina, Saskatchewan singer-songwriter on the Canadian map, it took her to the White House to perform during Black Music Month in George W. Bush\u2019s administration. A Gemini nomination followed for her take on Oscar Peterson\u2019s \u201cHymn to Freedom<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since then, Taylor has expanded her sound beyond jazz. \u00a0The 2015 album Born Free<\/a><\/em> illustrated a genre mash up she coined, \u201cPrairie Blues\u201d – folk, roots and Americana spun in the Canadian blender. Now she\u2019s back with *Spirits in the Water<\/em>, a haunting string of tracks that touch on injustice and tragedy, as well as sacrifice, resilience and triumph in the face of brutality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n*
*Taylor spoke to Audio Femme about stories only the water knows and finding her voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n*
\n<\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AF: \u00a0<em>Can you describe the concept for the album?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DT: When I first began to write songs for <em>Spirits in the Water, <\/em>I became fascinated by the concept of water. I read stories about African American slaves who were coerced from their homes, forced to get on boats and then sent to travel by water to a \u201cPromised Land.\u201d There were a few mothers who instinctively knew that trouble and heartache were patiently waiting on the other side for them. Rather than living a life of servitude they took their children and threw them overboard. Some mothers even tried to throw themselves overboard. They chose death over slavery. There\u2019s an unspoken freedom in death. Then I thought, if the ocean could speak, what stories would we hear when we listen to the water? What stories of happiness, hardship, murder, grief, love and pain are buried in the muddy waters?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AF: <em>Did this pandemic and worldwide protests affect the way you approached the sound or production of the songs? Or even your feelings about the album and making art in general?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DT: The album was already complete before COVID hit. You\u2019ll find that thematically the songs are just as relevant today as they were when they were written years ago. For example, my song \u201cHow Many Times\u201d is a peaceful protest against inequality and injustices against BIPOC, women, children [and] pretty much anyone who feels isolated and ostracized right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AF: <em>Do you consider <\/em>Spirits in the Water<em> a protest album?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DT: There are two songs on <em>Spirits in the Water<\/em> that are protest songs: \u201cHow Many Times\u201d and \u201cAin\u2019t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around.\u201d Although [that’s] originally a freedom song written for the civil rights movement lyrically it\u2019s as relevant today as it was in the 1960s. I added more lyrics to reflect what\u2019s happening today in 2020 with Black racial profiling and women\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AF: <em>Many think of you as a jazz artist. But this album is blues, rock, country… Have those sounds always been of interest to you? Was jazz a detour or is this a detour?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DT: I\u2019m an artist, so that allows me the freedom to explore whatever sounds and vibrations out in the universe. I happened to launch my career as a jazz artist but I\u2019m inspired by many styles and genres of music. When I began writing for myself I knew that I needed to incorporate my love of gospel, blues and roots music because those were the styles of music that I heard growing up as a P.K. in Regina, Saskatchewan. I didn\u2019t hear anything or anyone who sounded like me so I created my own style\/genre called \u201cPrairie Blues.\u201d I like to say that it\u2019s a dynamic blend of folk, roots and Americana but it\u2019s 100% Canadian because it\u2019s mine! I hope that my music will inspire others to write as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AF: <em>Does music today feel different as opposed to when you began in 2004?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DT: For me, releasing music is about self-expression. I feel extremely lucky and blessed because I have an emotional musical outlet in which I can tap into when I need to, especially right now when life is so full of uncertainty. I feel like my fans – old and new – and I are on this crazy journey together through life. When I\u2019m on the road, it makes me so happy when I see and hear from people who were at my first CD release party and are still excited and proud to see me doing me. From jazz to blues and everything in between, it\u2019s all Dione Taylor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Follow Dione Taylor on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dione.taylor\">Facebook<\/a> for ongoing updates.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Dione Taylor appeared on the Canadian music scene in 2004, the young artist was part of an exciting class of singers and musicians making jazz relevant for a new generation.\u00a0Open Your Eyes not only put the Regina, Saskatchewan singer-songwriter on the Canadian map, it took her to the White House to perform during Black […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":35476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10488],"tags":[10945,2522],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Dione-Angel-3-scaled-1-e1600107204188.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35475"}],"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\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35475"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35496,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35475\/revisions\/35496"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}