Not surprisingly, singing has been a way of life for Taylor-Rae. Growing up in Edmonton, her dad encouraged her to sing along with a karaoke set in the family basement. “I didn’t seriously get into performing until the last six or seven years,” she says, “but it was clear from the start that I could sing. And my parents were very supportive and kept telling me I might have a shot at making a career of this.”
Years later, after moving to Vancouver to study Arts and Entertainment Management at Capilano University, Taylor-Rae picked up the guitar and started writing songs, eventually releasing Backseat Driver and performing multiple marquee gigs in summer 2019 including (but not limited to) opening for blues-rocker Colin James at Parkland Summerfest in Calgary and playing for a record-breaking crowd at BC’s Osoyoos Music In the Park.
Always writing and recording, Taylor-Rae has of late been trying on songs written by some of Nashville’s finest and searching outside her own catalog. In the fall of 2020, Taylor-Rae began working with veteran producer Dan Swinimer (David James, Madeline Merlo) and together they have found the sound that will bring Taylor-Rae’s voice to the forefront, with a style all her own. Her distinct vocal shines through. The first single “Hellbent” brings out the grittier, playful side of Taylor-Rae.
“I heard (the wildly sticky, guitar-boosted scorcher) ‘Hellbent’ and laughed because there’s a line in the chorus that says, ‘I’m a hurricane.’ And for years, whenever I came home to Edmonton, my family would say, ‘Here comes Hurricane Tay!’” she howls. “I knew I had to record that song.”
The new material, she admits, is leaning more towards modern country with that edge that makes it unequivocally Taylor-Rae.
“It’s been a reinvention of sorts, but I feel like my artistry has been amped up to the next level and I am feeling more myself than ever. I am just so excited to get more music out into the world.”
