40 years after helping launch respective careers, Taylor and King to embark on reunion tour

Taylor, King announce US dates for reunion tour

BOSTON — In the four decades since James Taylor and Carole King helped launch each other’s storied careers, the notion of someday recapturing that magic never completely faded.

“Every time we would run into each other at a benefit or at an event … we’d say we have to get the band back together, get that band back together and do some touring before the chance slips away,” Taylor said in a recent interview.

On Monday, Taylor and King announced dates for the U.S. leg of their much-anticipated “Troubadour Reunion” tour. The tour, marking the 40th anniversary of the pair’s breakthrough shows, will launch May 7 in Portland, Ore.

As previously announced, the tour will begin overseas in Melbourne, Australia, on March 26.

“In a sense we started our solo careers sharing a band, sharing a stage, we did a show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles that really sort of broke both of us out of the box and established our careers,” Taylor said.

King played on Taylor’s 1970 “Sweet Baby James” album and Taylor on King’s 1971 “Tapestry” album.

“We started performing, originally she was in my band, and then I increasingly encouraged her to sing her own songs,” said Taylor. “She was used to being a writer, and to having other people do her tunes.”

King, in fact, had already written 22 Top 40 hits, including Aretha Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman.”

“Tapestry,” released in 1971, sold more than 25 million copies worldwide and made King the first woman to win four Grammys in a single year.

Taylor, 61, has won five Grammys during his career. Both Taylor and King, 67, are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

The idea for a reunion tour had been brewing for years, Taylor said.

“Finally, two years ago we played at a sort of anniversary celebration for (the Troubadour), with the original band and that was so great we decided to take it on the road.”

The tour will reunite not only Taylor and King, but key members of their original band, including guitarist Danny Kortchmar, drummer Russ Kunkel and bassist Lee Sklar.

While the shows will be at larger venues such as the Hollywood Bowl or Madison Square Garden, the performers hope to recapture at least some of the intimacy of those early Troubadour days, in part by staging the concerts in the round. Taylor said he and King will remain on the stage together throughout the show.

“I think we’ll do two sets, both of us will be on stage the whole time, either singing backup for each or playing behind the other. We’ll sort of skip back and forth, do a song of hers, a song of mine, but we’ll stay on the stage,” he said.

“It’s just going to be a blast.”

On the Net:

www.jamestaylor.com

www.caroleking.com