To be creative, you must feel deeply about your subjects and everything around you and that's probably not healthy.
James Michael Taylor was born and raised in California but has lived in Fort Worth, Tx since the 1980s. During that time he has written and recorded over 900 songs, check him out on alonetone, some of which have appeared in the soundtracks of movies and documentaries, including the The Vanishing with Jeff Bridges, Kiefer Sutherland, and. Sandra Bullock.
Most of that time he performed with Barbara, and his soulmate, Peggy, as the band Texas Water. Then in 2007, Peggy left him.
Since then, the bulk of his songwriting has been focused on processing the pain of her absence and it has produced some wonderful, but very personal, songs. Peggy's Gone is the most direct, with lines such as "If you're going to leave me, you need to have me put down." But many of the rest of his songs deal either directly or indirectly with her leaving.
Broke Piano is an almost 21 minute look at his world and the pain he still feels, as well as exploring the songs that pain inspired. The title comes from one of James Michael's songs about a piano with no damper, at the mercy of the world around it like he feels.
Watch this for an understanding of how creative people use their pain to create art and how they create art to deal with their pain. Then go over to alonetone and listen to Ghost Town and I Hear Her Voice.
