Biography

Chip Taylor's Yonkers, NY Tells Tale Of Bastard Brothers, Golfing FBI Dad, Horses And Girls

Chip Taylor has waited his whole life to release Yonkers, NY.

Because it s the story of how his whole life began.

Out September 29 on Train Wreck Records, Taylor's newest album is a heartfelt and endearing window into the life of a young man learning about music, horses, girls, -- and family. Set in the small bedroom community just north of the Bronx that's the album's namesake, 'Yonkers, NY' finds the gifted storyteller chronicling his upbringing in a style that ranges from poignant and affecting to wry, and occasionally truly hilarious.

Raised by a father that worked as a golf pro (although he managed to convince his youngest son for years that he was also an FBI agent) along with his two brothers, actor Jon Voight and renowned scientist Dr. Barry Voight, on the album Taylor assumes the character of young Jamie -- as Taylor was known back then -- and the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of a young man finding his way, occasionally beset by fate, and on the standout track Bastard Brothers, some particularly wily siblings.

A prodigious and prolific talent, Taylor's status as one of the most notable songwriters in American music is secure, and he's won major praise in recent years for a series of acclaimed recordings and collaborations. Says the NY Times: if you only know him as the as the guy who wrote Wild Thing and Angel of the Morning - you don t know him! Chip Taylor is making some of the most distinctive acoustic music around today.

With songs performed by Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Jimi Hendrix and Willie Nelson among countless others, Taylor has penned dozens of classics, from the aforementioned "Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning" to Janis Joplin signature "Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)" and the Hollies hit "I Can't Let Go." On 'Yonkers,NY,' Taylor tells the story of the path that lead him there, through an eleven song cycle that spans his childhood and adolescence, filled with warmth and humor, enlivened with spoken reminiscences, and packaged with a book of lyrics and vintage photos of the people and places that are their subjects.

Yonkers, NY will be released in a deluxe package with a 35-page book designed by Andy Taray. The book is filled with photographs of Taylor's family and, of course, Yonkers itself, and also contains lyrics to all the songs, as well as Taylor's commentary on them. The album will contain two discs, one of which will have the full cycle, including Taylor's spoken material, in which he tells stories and shares memories of this period of his life, the second of which will contain edited versions, with just the songs.