2018 AGS Magazine

the creation of a work of art. Each instrument has
its own voice or tone and is much like an artist
brush that provides a distinctly unique stroke. He
believes fundamentally that creators of music will
search for the best tone and that digital resources
will play heavily in the future of music creation.
It is just as interesting to talk with Livingston
about the merger of form and function in the
handcrafted guitar world. You can hear the
sincerity in his voice when he says “I absolutely
love playing these guitars. I love being around
these guitars. I love drinking in the craftmanship
and the finesse and the incredible beauty of their
work. I love the craftmanship and the preciousness,
but my guitars must go to work with me.”
This is a constant for Livingston Taylor just as it
is for the truly great guitar makers -- the guitar is
a tool and no matter how beautiful it is, function
and reliability will always come first. You can hear
the joy in his voice when he says “I feel the same
when I get a beautiful set of Snap-On wrenches
that high-quality mechanics use in my hands or
work on a beautiful German lathe. Great tools are
really, really swell.”
We talked about how an interest in the arts can
be nurtured in our next generations. In Livingston’s
always interesting perspective, business
factors are as important as cultural and social
influences. Livingston believes that the Internet
has stripped the music business of not just the
revenue streams that once supported the music
industry, but also the gatekeepers who just a
generation ago provided an environment where
young musicians could pursue their dreams. As
with any business, when revenue shrinks, the corporate
disposable income necessary for important
business activities like research, development,
and marketing is greatly compromised. In many
respects, beyond the pureness of art for art’s sake,
an artist does create a commercial product and
delivering that product to market requires support
just like any product.
In his words, “One of the things the Internet did
was eviscerate the revenue streams that allowed
gatekeepers to concentrate talent. For example,
Berry Gordy could afford to hire, employ,
hone, shape, work, and develop the songwriters,
engineers, and even record cover designers that
allowed the great pop music of the 1960s through
the 1990s to exist.” Livingston used art again as
an example to make the point that all the talent
in the world can be lost without the necessary
support. “You don’t get the Sistine Chapel. It’s not
enough to have Michaelangelo. He’s good, but
without the architect who designed the Sistine
Chapel and the building materials that allow us to
see it today, it doesn’t exist.”
There can be no question about the importance
of “wealth concentrating talent” as a practical
matter. The Internet, for all the amazing contributions
it has made to our lives, is not perfect. In
the case of music, when everything is free, nothing
has value, and it is that very value that allows
talent to exist. For Livingston, the business side of
the conversation regarding our next generations
is just a part of the story. Nurturing a professional
interest in the arts also requires preparing the
individual for the challenge, and most importantly,
in Livingston’s words, “the burden of celebrity.”
The Taylor family is respected and acknowledged
as a classic American musical family from
its generation. Livingston views the talents of
the Taylor siblings as a combination of nurture
and nature. In respect to the natural talent, he
states simply “The ingredients were there.” On
nurturing, he acknowledges “Our parents were
very encouraging of musical talent and musical
exploration, but that is not enough. You have to
know what it means to be a celebrity. You have to
be able handle celebrity.” Illustrating the point,
he commented “My brother James is not only a
great musician. He is a terrific guitar player first
and foremost. The underpinning of his career is
his great guitar playing. He is also acknowledged
as an outstanding person – a person who is willing
to take on the burden of celebrity.”
He cautions, “Celebrity kills people. If you
don’t think celebrity is difficult, when you get to
heaven ask any number of the people there who
went to places for relief that were hugely dangerous.”
Livingston has profound respect for those
who survive celebrity, especially the isolation.
His respect is obvious when he talks about Bruce
Springsteen who he recently saw on Broadway
and talked with briefly. “To see the isolation that
Bruce has taken on just to be Bruce Springsteen
is unbelievable. It is unbelievable that he can take
that burden, place it on his shoulders, and carry
it to the people. To stand on a stage in Fenway
Park in front of 35,000 people and just play, well,
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