ARTIST FEATURE, "TAYLOR CARROLL, THE DISCOMFORT ZONE"

When Taylor Carroll was fourteen years old, a casual viewing of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Kindergarten Cop turned into the obsession of a consummate, physique athlete. Taylor immediately set upon a course to master the push-up, the sit-up, the curl by thousands of repetitions, each one a little better, each one a little stronger, and each one more confident than the previous. Purchasing workout magazines, reading relevant articles, and anally following instructions for muscle-building techniques, Taylor emerged, almost surprised, three years later, seeing, as it were for the first time, the transformation that ornate discipline and tedious routine built.

Scant resources at his disposal, Taylor has accomplished a similar feat by his success in music production. Building business from the ground up, Taylor has created his own contacts (often leading to dead ends), aligned with collaborators (who have often stiffed him), maintained extensive (and often confusing) networks, developed budgets (often working under budget), learned industry-level techniques (often while on the job), apprenticed himself to the greats (often for free), and submitted to strenuous weeks at a time in the studio (often alone). Taylor has constructed the environs of a boot camp, personally customized to reign in the slippage of weak resolve, to augment the superiority of rare skill sets, and to squeeze out of him every possible ounce of productive energy.

Taylor Carroll grew up in the Memphis music scene, drumming and playing guitar for acts like Cayerio, After Edmund, Air Five, Day of Fire, Our Hearts Hero, Pillar, and the Grammy & CMA award-winning Peasall Sisters. In addition, he has produced projects like Kassi Moe, The Wager, Brett Manning. Taylor brings to the production industry a rich, musical legacy, keen attention to production detail, and infectious enthusiasm. Each summer with artists like Toby Mac and the Newsboys, Taylor volunteers at Camp Electric, a music camp that teaches lyrical and instrumental craftsmanship to aspiring, young musicians.

However, what is rarely seen or appreciated of production geniuses is the behind-the-scenes rigidity this choice of career in the start-up phase demands. Money. Money is scarce. Taylor has gone two-week bouts at a time with one meal a day, consisting of a granola bar (two if he was lucky) and, perhaps, a protein shake if there was extra money in the coffers for it. Many times he has numbed hunger by glass after glass of water. Time. Time is money. The studio was Taylor’s cell to which he was tethered for days at a time, sleeping in cramped studio chairs, couches, floors in order to oversee, to guard, to protect his project.

And what about the payback? For all the work he has done, disappointments have been a normal part of the job. Countless artists have left Taylor midstream, leaving behind masters representing countless, fruitless hours, leaving behind unpaid debts to be counted against countless hours of scrupulous work, and leaving behind expensive studio costs supposed to have been paid with money gotten from finished projects. Record companies have connived to block Taylor out of the legally binding terms of artist contracts. Along with production experience, Taylor has developed a keen understanding of the fickleness of human behavior.

And how does he do it? What is his secret? Taylor’s edge is his commitment to discomfort. He described to me in original "Taylor-made" analogies that he does not just try to be better than the day before. Rather, he focuses straight ahead, steadily ticking off the benchmarks of progress, but never staying too long to recover from exhaustion, to relish in an old victory, to strike an equilibrium of deceptive comfort. The fickleness of fidelity, the sting of betrayal, and the lost honor of comradeship have been an emotional toil that has far outweighed the agony of sleep deprivation, hunger, or financial straits. Yet it has also contributed to the very steeling of Taylor’s bones, hardening his mental faculties into the likes of a war machine.

While Taylor is not a marginal guy, he definitely occupies a tight margin, a unique niche, a rare work ethic. If little sleep, little money, little food, and little comfort are the prerequisites for eliciting that clean production sound, that golden EP, that peerless album, then Taylor is first in line to give it up. Check out Taylor at taylorcarroll.com. You can also find Taylor at myspace.com/taylorcarrollmusic and singingsuccess.com. Check out Taylor's drumming for Pillar in the following video.

ARTIST FEATURE, "BRETT MANNING, LOVE JUSTICE"

Heartbroken. Homesick. Lost. Lovesick.  When Dante started his journey, he was standing in the shards of his shattered life, half the sands of his hourglass scattered in the wind, wondering how to put the pieces back together, how to get home. Mount Paradise (which at one point seemed doable) towered menacingly above him, posing its own sinister obstacles. Then he heard a familiar voice full of experience and empathy saying "Come with me. I've been through hell and back, and I can show you the way." To scale the peak, Dante is guided by the phantom spirit Virgil to witness unspeakable horrors in the circles of hell, to experience the purifying fires of purgatory, and to attain, as it were, new life.


When you listen to LOVE JUSTICE, Brett Manning's debut album, you hear that voice calling to you, the voice that belongs to your friend who has come to show you the way home. Truly. Brett's lyrics are an inventive roadmap through broken relationships, lost hopes, and unrequited loyalty from a guy who's found his way again and found himself stronger than before. And his voice, pure and true in every note, sends those lyrics straight to your heart. With twenty years of experience in music (most recently with his wildly successful vocal training company Singing Success and his product Mastering Mix), Brett guides his fellow musicians on LOVE JUSTICE with consummate artistry and skill. Personal vocal coach to Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, and Paramore's Hayley Williams, Brett Manning is a brilliant artist in his own right who at long last is taking centerstage.


And at centerstage Brett is right at home. His authentic talent shines in acoustic settings without the embellishment of production magic. Brett is one of those rare musicians who can make each member of a crowd of thousands feel like he's singing to that one alone. Whether he's wailing a power ballad or crooning a love song, Brett's honest, hard won skill and natural-born talent shine.


I have spent countless days at the Sound Stage with Brett between the hours of 9:00 P.M. and 3:00 A.M. during the recording of LOVE JUSTICE and dozens of hours outside the studio, getting a grasp on the many aspects of Brett's life and the singular, tragic story from which LOVE JUSTICE was born. LOVE JUSTICE traces for listeners a psychological journey, acquainting each hearer with the various, torturous stages of loss. Several tracks on the album are among my favorites. Here is a short synopsis:


LISTEN covers the initial response to unjust accusation (which is disbelief and the subsequent desire to self-defense). Vindication seems entirely to hinge upon the accuser’s willingness to hear Brett out.


WHAT I NEED is the characteristic period of confusion in which Brett feels out of touch with ordinary desires and processes of life. Formerly dependent behavior is exchanged for a time-orientation hyper-focused solely upon the present. Future concern escalates into an unbearable anxiety resulting in sleepless nights.


ANGER considers the chronic stress of unresolved tension in which Brett graduates to the raw emotion of anger. Anger and resentment, common, kindred emotions of the wronged and bereaved, express themselves as a protest against a cruel and unfair fate.


ALREADY MINE relents the former, dominating emotion of anger, only to express deep devotion to the offending party. Though at this point in the conflict it would seem easier to jettison the relationship altogether, Brett rallies himself to his original commitment to fidelity.


CONFLICTED is the relationship at a standstill: emotional limbo. Neither of the parties are content to move the "death" of the relationship forward, content to indefinitely speculate whether or not reconciliation is possible.


BEAUTIFUL US underscores the incompatibility of the relationship with the image both had for each other at the very beginning. Shame, guilt, and regret, often found to be intertwined and overlapping realities, are abated by the possibility of recovery.


ILLUSION. Brett attempts to master stress by gathering a great deal of knowledge and information about different aspects of his loss. Applying the most intricate, forensic processes, he analyzes his misfortune.


Many more musical experiences punctuate the album like Brett’s heartfelt cover of Collective Soul’s “Heaven Let Your Light Shine Down, syncopated with the percussion of Memphis-based drummer Taylor Carroll, interlaced with the stringed expertise of Ten-Finger Orchestra guitarist Paul Allen, and graced with the vocals of the legendary Wendy Moten.


In the end LOVE JUSTICE is a field guide for the heartbroken, for the bereaved, for the accused, for the cheated upon, for the used. Brett leaves us with a sober lesson: that it takes almost superhuman effort to persuade another human against his will and that falling in love with Justice is a far better love affair. Experienced. Honest. Authentic. Empathetic. Brett's voice will lead you through an artistic, soul-searching that you will want to revisit again and again.


You can contact Brett Manning through singingsuccess.com. Here is a clip of ILLUSION from LOVE JUSTICE.

ARTIST FEATURE, "LAUREN RECTOR, I AM ROCK."

Pensacola, Florida glories in its contradictions.  Most folks who live there range from decorated war veterans of the Eastern Theater to geriatric transplants from the North.  And downtown, the stucco, clay tile, and wrought-iron Spanish architecture rubs elbows with one-story cinderblock boxes painted in colors Crayola would name “Pepto-Bismol,” “Chlorine,” and “Dreamsicle.”  Dare to wander into a house of God on Sunday, and you might be surprised that He finds Himself claimed everywhere from the strait-laced temples of fundamentalism to the electrified whirlwinds of Brownsville.  But America loves a good contradiction.

Pensacola offers the world yet another happy contradiction in the work of Lauren Rector. Look at her, and you’ll see a serious rocker graced in leather, eyeliner, and taffeta.  Talk to her, and you’ll discover a thoughtful, experienced nineteen-year-old who gets along great with her mom.  Listen to her sing, and you’ll get lost in the amazing range and strength of tone that reminds you of the power ballads you used to sing along with in the car.

Having divorced parents as a toddler, you can only imagine the kind of childhood confusion that marked her early years. Punctuated with such life experiences as the total loss of her house once to a fire and the loss of another house to Katrina, (Lauren and her mother lived in a FEMA trailer for a year after), Lauren has been steeled by suffering. But Lauren was not left alone in her struggles. She found the Brownsville revival, where she fell in love with music and found a receptive worship leader who didn’t want all the kids shipped out to Sunday school and kept quiet with graham crackers.  He asked Lauren to sing, and from the first moment she began, her talent marked her even more than her hardships had.  She still carries both those marks, and
you can see them in her work.

Big crowds energize Lauren, and she owns them.  She’s gained singing strength and stage creds at fairs and festivals where her leadership skills began carving a wider place in the world for her.  In 2006 she placed in the finals for “Emerald Coast Idol.” In 2007 she rocked out a crowd of ten thousand teens at a youth conference.  She’s covered Pat Benatar, U2, Evanescence, and Flyleaf, and she can seriously rock the socks off anything a songwriter can pitch at her.

Lauren has moved into her own as a professional vocalist and songwriter, catching the attention of vocal training coach
extraordinaire Brett Manning of Singing Success (whose clientele include the talent of Taylor Swift, Keith Urban and Paramore’s Haley Williams), distinguished record producer Malcolm Springer (whose professional resume is a mile long list of Who’s Who in the music industry), and performance instructor Tom Jackson (who owns the niche field of Live Music Production).

In short, when you listen to Lauren you’re getting the best of raw, audacious talent guided by world-class professionals.  When asked to sum up her work, what is her reply? A no-nonsense "I am rock."  Utter honesty and stagecraft, innocence and maturity, strength and control, midnight black and baby pink: Lauren is an American contradiction that
works.  Just wait till you hear this girl sing!