Pathways - CD

Track Listing:
1. Weighing Down
2. Love Letters
3. Sixth Line Road
4. Pathways (featuring Allison Russell)
5. Running Away
6. See This Thing Through
7. Ain't Live Strange
8. Into The Waves

Pathways candidly captures Julian's approach to handling his own lingering burdens. Its eight concise tracks find Taylor looking further inward than ever before. "When you feel heavy, you’ve got to get things off your chest," says Taylor. "Pathways reflects the way I was feeling while I was writing it and making it... I’m trying to work through a lot of the pain I’ve caused myself and others."

The beautiful ballad "Weighing Down" addresses the idea that all of us are our own worst enemies, being so hard on ourselves. It seeks to lighten our load with uplifting encouragement. It was inspired by feelings of regret, and being overwhelmed by the constant pressures that we face in this world. 

"Love Letters" - A classic, accordion-fueled waltz co-written by Taylor and his friend, seasoned folksinger Tyler Ellis, it's about how people throughout history have poured their hearts out in letters to those they cherish. "We were trying to write a song about unrequited love," says Taylor. "We wanted to use examples of famous relationships from the past, where that love is reciprocal -- received and given back in kind." 

The slinky, slow-burn, funky blues of "Sixth Line Road" – featuring tasty electric guitar and harmonica licks – was inspired by the NHL's refusal to allow Black hockey player Herb Carnegie to play in the league back in the day. That served as a launching pad for this timeless song about Black people's struggle with everyday racism and discrimination.

 "Pathways" might be the greatest expression yet of Taylor's purpose, both as a songwriter and a human being. Against a timeless, soulful melody; subtle horns, and Allison Russell's s harmonies, Taylor captures the search for meaning and connection in our fleeting lives. It’s Taylor's personal equivalent to John Lennon's "Imagine." 

On "Running Away," a real change of pace in Taylor's solo work, you can feel the palpable sense of excitement as he tears through a Muddy Waters-style blues-rock shuffle, about the effort to transcend one's own pain. Colin Linden's masterful lead-guitar riffing crackles with energy.  

Taylor had spent more than 20 years pursuing his musical career before his solo breakthrough with The Ridge in 2020; the quiet, moody "See This Thing Through" documents his lifelong commitment to chasing that dream.

The gentle country shuffle of "Ain’t Live Strange" – featuring sneaky, snaky electric guitar riffs – explores the idea of going back in time, or at least wanting to go back and fix things before they become too broken.

Taylor wrote "Into the Waves," about a feeling of loneliness and heartache, during  his tenure as the frontperson of his old band Staggered Crossing. It never got past the demo stage then, but means a lot to Taylor now, because his friend and the band's guitar player Bruce Adamson, sadly, took his own life a few years ago. It features some sweet interplay between a reverbed, tremoloed electric guitar and a mournful pedal steel.

Pathways was co-produced by Taylor and Colin Linden (Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Bruce Cockburn, Blackie and The Rodeo Kings). It was recorded at Jukasa Studios on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, and Linden’s own Pinhead Recorders in Nashville. "Musically, this record is less busy," says Taylor. "Colin helped me take it to a different space. It’s a bluesier record, and that’s certainly part of his pedigree." 

It’s another benchmark album by Taylor, the always-searching, always-striving, career singer-songwriter, who continues to connect with his audience by creating new yet familiar pathways we can all walk together — and hopefully come out better for taking the journey.