August 13
Ben Taylor
The Slowdown, 729 North 14th St.
8 p.m., $13 in advance/$15 day-of-show, onepercentproductions.com
Ben Taylor’s way with a low-key, tuneful and whipsmart acoustic pop song may just be encoded in the singer and songwriter’s DNA. Taylor is the son of James Taylor and Carly Simon, but its a fact that he’s more or less let’s pass without mentioning. Taylor has quietly released four albums of music, favoring a vocal style that sounds naturally smooth than the overly-sentimental, stylizing hush of Taylor’s soft-pop father. It’s when Ben Taylor gives a slight soulful groove to his acoustic pop that he really shines, like on 2012’s “Oh Brother”. Even without the family pedigree and the Taylor name, Ben Taylor would be well on his way to distinguishing himself in a crowded field of adult-alternative songwriters. He’s cooly confident in material that’s more in line with top-notch names like Josh Ritter or Ray LaMontagne than pop rock peddlers like Jason Mraz.