Brit Taylor

Blending traditional country with bluegrass rooted in her Kentucky upbringing, Brit Taylor carves out a singular voice across her opening pair of albums, each shaped through partnerships with leading figures in contemporary roots music. Her opening effort, Real Me, arrived in 2020 and included multiple joint efforts with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, while Kentucky Blue from 2023 emerged under the co-production of fellow Kentuckian Sturgill Simpson, who guided her toward an individual territory suspended between the expansive textures of the Nashville sound and forward-leaning bluegrass.

Taylor first took the stage as a youngster in Hindman, a modest community in eastern Kentucky, performing alongside the Kentucky Opry Junior Pros, a troupe known for its flashy presentations. She soon gravitated toward tougher strains of country, drawing influence from artists ranging from Loretta Lynn to Patty Loveless. Though she began on piano, Taylor switched to guitar after a vocal coach advised that mastering the instrument would be necessary to pursue country singing. In 2007, at age seventeen, she relocated to Murfreesboro to enroll in the music business program at Middle Tennessee State University. Armed with her Recording Industry diploma, she assembled the group Triple Run.

Progress appeared steady: she secured a publishing agreement and settled with her husband on a farm beyond Nashville’s edge—until 2017 delivered a devastating stretch that unraveled the band, ended the marriage, voided the publishing deal, and cost her the house. She recovered by starting a house-cleaning service whose earnings financed the making of Real Me.

The album originated from an early partnership with Dan Auerbach, who urged the singer-songwriter to embrace the classic country approaches that had first drawn her to music. Alongside producer Dave Brainard, who had overseen Brandy Clark’s 12 Stories, Taylor finished Real Me, which contained five tracks co-written with Auerbach. Issued in 2020, the record earned favorable notices and sufficient attention to justify a deluxe edition the following year.

During 2022 she issued multiple singles drawn from the recordings she made with producers Sturgill Simpson and David Ferguson for her next project. Late that year came the holiday single “Lonely on Christmas,” tracked with Mike & The Moonpies. Shortly thereafter, the Simpson- and Ferguson-helmed Kentucky Blue appeared on Thirty Tigers in February 2023.