VIENNA, VA. – James Taylor is nothing if not reliable.
Familiarity is the foundation of his show, not just with the music, but the man as well.
For nearly 60 years, Taylor’s music has provided the comfort of a well-worn quilt while simultaneously tapping into emotion – sadness, wistfulness, joy – and making us believe everything will be OK.
At Wolf Trap in northern Virginia on Aug. 30, the first of a three-night stand at one of several favorite spots he routinely plays, Taylor and his ace All-Star Band jumpstarted the fall leg of a 2026 tour that started in April and will wrap Sept. 26 in South Florida.
James Taylor’s dry humor was often center stage
Alternating between standing with his acoustic guitar, his right leg pumping to the rhythm of show-opener “Whenever You’re Ready,” and folding his lanky frame onto a stool for the subsequent “Rainy Day Man,” Taylor, 78, quickly told the sold-out crowd that the theme of his first block of songs was “recovery.”
“What could be more fun, really?” he asked with his typically droll sense of humor.
Taylor, who struggled with heroin dependence for nearly 20 years in the early part of his career, reminded that “recovery from addiction is a big part of my story.”
An unfailingly candid storyteller, Taylor throughout the two-hour show (including a 20-minute intermission that even he found superfluous – “I don’t know why we take [a break] when we just stand on the other side of the curtain,” he joked), shared insights into the craftsmanship of some of the most enduring songs in the music annals.
He explained the second verse of “That’s Why I’m Here” was written after the death of his friend, the comic-actor John Belushi (“The first verse is just filler … Hamburger Helper,” he quipped) and that “Millworker,” with its accents of penny whistle and fiddle, was penned for Stephen Schwartz’s 1978 Broadway flop, “Working” (“It wasn’t … it ran for three days,” Taylor said with a laugh).
James Taylor’s voice and songs are as potent as ever
Taylor has always been upfront about his political leanings and tossed in a couple of wisecracks that were met with rapturous applause from the crowd.
“I never thought I’d say this, but I (expletive) miss Richard Nixon,” he noted before “Line ‘Em Up.” A second act double shot of megahits written by “dear friend Carole King” – “You’ve Got a Friend” and “Up on the Roof” ‒ prompted a smile and the remark, “technically speaking we’re kind of ‘no kings’ people.”
Throughout the night, a large video screen behind a stage furnished with light stands that streamed atmospheric colors showed close-ups of Taylor’s pronounced profile and eyebrows that arched with every felt lyric.
His distinctive voice hasn’t lost its warmth or range, evidenced on his bluesy scatting throughout “Steamroller” and in the poignant delivery of “Fire and Rain,” a song that defines beauty in sadness and triggered a deserved ovation.
Taylor’s band is packed with A-list pros including Steve Gadd on drums, Walt Fowler on horns, Luis Conte on percussion, Michael Landau on guitar and Dorian Holley on backup vocals. As well, Taylor’s wife, Kim, and son, Henry, added to those heavenly backing vocals that were especially notable on the opening of “Carolina on My Mind” and the everlasting ode to unshakable bonds, “You’ve Got a Friend.”
Taylor doffed his signature pageboy cap for a humble bow following the soothing ballad. But for all of his music guaranteed to prod a melancholic moment, Taylor didn’t snub the buoyant offerings from his heady catalog.
“Your Smiling Face” brought the crowd to their feet and their hands to clapping, but it was his words before “Shower the People” that best espoused Taylor’s philosophy about life.
“Our chance to make the world a better place happens every time we encounter another human being,” Taylor said. And then he launched into another sonic pillow, decreasing our blood pressure once again.