Adam Howard

You know, I always think when I go through your sheet music and see that a wonderful song like Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight starts with an E minor ninth chord. and then goes to a major seventh chord. Those weren't the C, A minor, F, G progressions of pop music at the time. Did you study music? How was it that the language of music came to be the language you speak so naturally?

And the cello never did it. You sold the cello at that point and pawned it on 46 Train.

And the cello never did it. You sold the cello at that point and pawned it on 46 Train.

And the cello never did it. You sold the cello at that point and pawned it on 46 Train.

And you started to compose just the way kids do, teenagers do on the guitar. You just chord to chord and idea to idea. What was the first song you ever wrote that you thought was a good song?

And you started to compose just the way kids do, teenagers do on the guitar. You just chord to chord and idea to idea. What was the first song you ever wrote that you thought was a good song?

And you started to compose just the way kids do, teenagers do on the guitar. You just chord to chord and idea to idea. What was the first song you ever wrote that you thought was a good song?

Would you please? I don't think this is ever here. James Taylor's first song. Has this been widely covered, James?

Would you please? I don't think this is ever here. James Taylor's first song. Has this been widely covered, James?

Would you please? I don't think this is ever here. James Taylor's first song. Has this been widely covered, James?

But you know, the strange thing is, James, I never heard that, it sounds like a James Taylor song. You know, I mean. Yeah, it does. You know, I mean, not the oompa part, maybe so much at the beginning, but the way that the bass line goes down and all of that. And it's on the minor. And it's on the minor, exactly, yeah. And that... Yeah, it does.

But you know, the strange thing is, James, I never heard that, it sounds like a James Taylor song. You know, I mean. Yeah, it does. You know, I mean, not the oompa part, maybe so much at the beginning, but the way that the bass line goes down and all of that. And it's on the minor. And it's on the minor, exactly, yeah. And that... Yeah, it does.

But you know, the strange thing is, James, I never heard that, it sounds like a James Taylor song. You know, I mean. Yeah, it does. You know, I mean, not the oompa part, maybe so much at the beginning, but the way that the bass line goes down and all of that. And it's on the minor. And it's on the minor, exactly, yeah. And that... Yeah, it does.

It had a certain... It hints at things you will write, if not... Everybody, I think everybody here knows that you went off to London eventually and you recorded that first record. How old were you when you did that, James?

It had a certain... It hints at things you will write, if not... Everybody, I think everybody here knows that you went off to London eventually and you recorded that first record. How old were you when you did that, James?

It had a certain... It hints at things you will write, if not... Everybody, I think everybody here knows that you went off to London eventually and you recorded that first record. How old were you when you did that, James?

Well, speaking of that, one of the things that was so potent about your music when, as a very young man, people first started paying attention to it, was that it seemed to be so amazingly emotionally accessible. It seemed to sum up so many of the longings of a generation, so many people, a song like Rainy Day Man or...

Well, speaking of that, one of the things that was so potent about your music when, as a very young man, people first started paying attention to it, was that it seemed to be so amazingly emotionally accessible. It seemed to sum up so many of the longings of a generation, so many people, a song like Rainy Day Man or...

Well, speaking of that, one of the things that was so potent about your music when, as a very young man, people first started paying attention to it, was that it seemed to be so amazingly emotionally accessible. It seemed to sum up so many of the longings of a generation, so many people, a song like Rainy Day Man or...

Something's Wrong, and then more famously in the next go-round and the next group of songs, Fire and Rain and those things. Was it strange and difficult to see your own experience turning into songs and then becoming these kinds of universal vehicles for other people's feelings? Very strange indeed.