Taylor Ashton

Doors 6PM/Show 7PM

Taylor Ashton is a shape-shifting songwriter with the heart of a novelist and the timing of a stand-up comic. Whether it’s just his warm baritone over solo clawhammer banjo or his agile falsetto soaring over an electric, horn-laced six-piece band, his live shows unfold like a play: vulnerable, funny, and slyly profound. Laughter often gives way to a hush. Ashton’s sound evokes the intimacy of Nick Drake, the soul of Bill Withers, the tender playfulness of Harry Nilsson, and the searching spirit of Joni Mitchell.  Like his heroes, he thrives in the liminal space where heart-on-sleeve meets tongue-in-cheek, with a groovy brand of folk-rock in which surprising pairings of familiar ingredients add up to a greater sum that is tricky to define, but easy to love.

Originally from Vancouver BC, Ashton started touring in his teens as frontman of the band Fish & Bird, who became Canadian folk festival favorites over four albums. Eventually, he relocated to Brooklyn to launch his solo career. His vibrant debut The Romantic (2020) was followed by the stark Stranger to the Feeling (2023).  The latter was recorded on a New York-to-LA road trip, mostly in the living rooms of friends across the States who became featured guests on the album, including members of Vulfpeck and Big Thief.  Over the years, he’s toured and recorded with artists like Aoife O’Donovan, The Wood Brothers, Madison Cunningham, Courtney Hartman, and his wife Rachael Price (of Lake Street Dive).  Taylor Ashton’s original music has been featured everywhere from the Tonight Show to the New York Times, and he has established himself as a staple of Brooklyn’s quirky folk scene.

2026 heralds the arrival of a new LP, produced and largely co-written by Benjamin Lazar Davis (Cuddle Magic, Okkervil River, Maya Hawke).  The new music marks a bold evolution in both sound and subject matter. Davis’ influence brings flavors of jagged experimental pop and classical harmony to these new songs: a set of atmospheric short stories about fidelity, friendship, destiny, and self-deception. Crystalline photographic details mingle with stark confessions and cosmic longing. Whether his focus is trained on a nebula of cream in a diner coffee cup, a misheard piece of advice, or the infinite quest to stop fooling oneself, Ashton finds the mythic in the mundane and the sacred in a sideways glance.

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Host or Publisher Swallow Hill Music