| Fredericksburg Songwriters' Showcase | Franklin Taggart |
As many musicians do, Franklin Taggart accepted a strange combination of day jobs over the years. He's done construction, worked in a crisis center, taught conflict resolution to inner city school kids, sold church music, owned a consulting business and written a book on conflict in organizations. For the past several years he's taught beginning guitar to over 40 students each week. His songs emerge from the stories of the people he's met along the way.
He moved to the Washington, DC area from Nashville in 1998 where he's played as a side man for Mesa Blue Moon pop artist Dulcie Taylor, alt country singer and fiddler Liberty Dawne, and singer/songwriter Mary Sue Twohy, among others. In 2000, he was nominated for the best contemporary folk instrumentalist WAMMIE award from the Washington Area Music Association.
He completed his first solo CD in 2001. falling all the way features 14 of my original songs and the musical talents of some great players. Tom Espinola produced the record and played mandolin, cello and percussion. Dulcie Taylor added harmony vocals, harmonica and dulcimer, Ira Gitlin played banjo and bass while Liberty Dawne played fiddle. The song "i'll still love you" reached #8 on mp3.com's traditional country charts.
He says "I find it hard to categorize my music. The themes on the CD are pretty common: hope, love, perserverance, loss, grief, courage, challenge, faith, doubt, despair, commitment...I guess the thing that makes them unique is my perspective and style. I write and play as I interpret the things I see. That may come in the form of a country ballad, a bluegrass breakdown, the blues, or something more contemporary. I don't have the patience or discipline to be a virtuosic player, but people come to see me because I somehow make them feel a little better about their place in the world. that's all I really want to accomplish."
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