American Standard

It's been 5 years since we've gotten new music from James Taylor, but last week the singer songwriter announced that his 19th studio album, "American Standard", will drop on February 28th, 2020, via Fantasy Records.

The record features reimagined versions of timeless songs from throughout the 20th century, making them characteristically James Taylor. "American Standard" will have fresh perspectives on classics like Oklahoma!'s "The Surrey With The Fringe On Top", Bing Crosby's "Pennies From Heaven", Audrey Hepburn's "Moon River", and many more.

"I’ve always had songs I grew up with that I remember really well, that were part of the family record collection, and I had a sense of how to approach, so it was a natural to put 'American Standard' together”, Taylor says. “I know most of these songs from the original cast recordings of the famous Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals, including 'My Fair Lady', 'Oklahoma', 'Carousel', 'Showboat' and others".

“In terms of how they were performed and recorded before, we paid attention to the chords and melody, but we were interested in doing something new, and in bringing something new to it, we’ve reinterpreted the songs, that’s what makes it worth doing”.

It takes an extraordinary artist to re-imagine some of the most beloved songs of the 20th century and make them completely their own. And that's precisely what James Taylor has accomplished with "American Standard". Unlike most who have tackled similar material, "American Standard's" beautifully simple, stripped down arrangements are based on James' skilful acoustic guitar work rather than piano and the affect is mesmerizing.