
Break Shot: My First 21 Years
Words + Music, Vol. 2
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.00 for first 30 days
Buy for $9.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
James Taylor
-
By:
-
James Taylor
"I’m James Taylor and I’m a professional autobiographer", says the celebrated folk singer at the start of this tender audio memoir. Through decades of music by one of the best-selling musicians of all time, who created classics like "Fire and Rain" and "Carolina in My Mind", James Taylor has doled out his history in the poetry of his work. Taylor says his early life is, "the source of many of my songs", and Break Shot is a tour of his first 21 years in rich, new detail. Praised by Forbes magazine as going "beyond the spoken word", Break Shot combines storytelling, music and performance to create a one-of-a-kind listening experience. Longtime fans will savor a crop of musical gems, including an unreleased recording of the beloved hymn "Jerusalem", selections from his newest release American Standard, as well as new original scoring by Taylor specially recorded for Break Shot and more from the Grammy Award-winning artist.
Recorded in his home studio, The Barn in western Massachusetts, Taylor tells the deeply personal story of his youth, which is entwined with the story of his family. What started as an idyllic tight unit soon became a family sent to different emotional corners - like a break shot in the game of pool, he says, when you slam the cue ball into the fifteen other balls and they all go flying off. By the time Taylor released his breakout second album in 1970, Sweet Baby James, he had seen the disintegration of his parents’ marriage and his family crumble in the aftermath. He had committed himself twice to a psychiatric hospital, battled depression, a heroin addiction, suffered a relapse, and traveled far away from the wood smoke and moonshine of the North Carolina landscapes in which he came of age. Despite it all, he was also on the cusp of super-stardom and on his way to bringing light and joy to millions. He was 21.
Journey with James Taylor to a time before he became a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors and both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Arts - and a beloved voice to millions.
©2019 James Taylor (P)2020 AO Media LLCListeners also enjoyed...
























He sings out a song which is soft but it's clear...
Like so many of us, James Taylor got me through some stuff. Growing up, the singer-songwriter had always been a fixture in my family's home, but it wasn't until I was in high school that Taylor became something of a mythic figure to me. As a shy, sensitive teenager on the precipice of adulthood, his stripped down and plainspoken lyrics—filled with country roads and highways calling—became a road map to navigate my own growing pains, and his unwavering voice and seemingly homespun guitar never failed to make me feel less alone. Of course, what I'm describing is true for generations of fans, but it also hints at what makes Taylor's story—especially that of his own formative years—so remarkable. Taylor was only 21 years old when his breakout album Sweet Baby James was released in 1970. And with Break Shot, he tells of the circumstances—personal, familial, cultural—that delivered him to that point with the same thoughtfulness and poignancy that he's brought to a lifetime of crafting songs. The result is a portrait of a once-in-a-lifetime artist as a young man, told in his timeless and singular voice; an elder statesmen of pop music looking back at how he found his way. I was thankful to have his music in my younger days, but even more so now, after listening to the story behind his own.

People who viewed this also viewed...


















Break Shot Thoughts
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This honest look at his most formidable years is both heartbreaking and encouraging. To hear him tell the story is all the more powerful.
It is a beautiful mix of story and song and not to be missed by any music fan.
Even more love for JT now!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
loved it!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Break shot
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
JTfan
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Thank you James Taylor
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Incredible Gift
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I’m from Chapel Hill, NC where many of these formative, yet painful years unfolded. We’ve always been proud of how his story hangs in the air around here. But this experience rooted those stories in the landscape, gave them real shape, and let us hear the man himself walk with us at his own easy pace. Deepest thanks.
Classic James Taylor
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Hearing him share his triumphs and tragedies, It is own words and his own voice, is powerful.
interesting insights
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I want more!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.