Dulcie Taylor

Dulcie Taylor might never have embraced guitar and dulcimer had her childhood passion for the ukulele survived intact. At age ten the instrument met an abrupt end when a drunken teenager sat on it, crushing it flat, yet the mishap proved fortuitous. Her mother replaced the ruined ukulele with a guitar the following Christmas, and Taylor transferred her earlier zeal to the larger instrument. She eventually emerged as an acclaimed, prize-winning vocalist and composer whose warm, roots-inflected melodies carry literate, quietly affecting lyrics.

Born and raised in South Carolina, Taylor grew up immersed in music through formal lessons and the example of several relatives. One aunt performed as a radio singer in their small community while another taught piano; a sister favored the Beatles and Bob Dylan; her mother’s broad collection ranged from Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald to Elvis Presley; and still another family member delighted in show tunes. Among the pieces that stayed with her was Glenn Miller’s “Moonlight Serenade,” which her mother ensured was played after every film at the theater the family operated.

Determined to earn a living through music, Taylor relocated from South Carolina to Los Angeles. There she opened shows for Bonnie Raitt, Jerry Lee Lewis, Asleep at the Wheel, Vern Gosdin, and Eddy Raven. By 2000 she had moved to Washington, D.C., where her independently issued debut album, Other Side of the Bed, received a Wammie from the Washington Area Music Association. That same year five of her compositions earned prizes in the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest. In 2001 she reached the finals of the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at North Carolina’s Merlefest and appeared at both the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest awards ceremony and Merlefest itself.

Taylor subsequently recorded for Mesa/Bluemoon Recordings, releasing Diamond & Glass in 2002, Mirrors & Windows in 2004, Free of this Sorrow in 2012, and Only Worn One Time in 2014. She also served on the board of directors for the Poetry Series at Washington, D.C.’s Folger Shakespeare Library. The 2015 album Wind Over Stone brought wider online attention to the tracks “When the Cherokee Roamed” and “Not Here, Not Today,” which together surpassed 800,000 streams. Two years later came The Better Part of Me, a set of personal and topical songs.