SAYLOR WHITE


Graven Image


SAYLOR WHITE

...was born in Kilgore, Texas,
the geographical center of the East Texas Oil Field, known as the "Oil City of the World." A war baby, Saylor never knew his real father.
His stepfather was an abusive alcoholic. It wasn't easy growing up in those oil fields with the heart of a poet and crude oil on his hands. He was always in trouble with "authority figures". He started writing his own music the first day he got a guitar. Told that he couldn't bring his guitar into his father's house, he chose to live in his car, a 1960 Ford Falcon for a year. Saylor's songs are like the "black gold" that spews from those oil fields. "Hard Men" from Saylor's first CD, That's Just The Way It Goes, is an autobiographical account of his formative years.

Drifting in the 1960's, Saylor played in various rock bands, one being "E. O. Doggett". They lived and toured in an old school bus, true-to-life Merry Pranksters. The music he wrote for the band had a heavy Beatles influence. Opening for artists such as Johnny Winter, The Music Machine, and Shiva's Head Band. At the age of 24, he signed his first recording contract.

Moving on to Houston, Saylor formed another band with his first wife, "The Front Porch Swing". In 1983 when Hurricane Alicia hit the port city of Houston, they co-wrote and released the comic "Alicia", a hit with local radio stations. Saylor also wrote the theme song for United Cerebral Palsy, playing benefits and telethons. Inevitably, the duties of marriage and attendance at college kept him from playing, but he continued to write, and won the Texas State Poetry Contest. After the birth of his son, Saylor spent his personal time coaching Little League ­ his first team was all minority ­ and pitching semi-pro baseball. At 37, Saylor found himself divorced, and dodging the IRS. Although he continued to write and perform solo in Texas, he spent most of his time raising his son. In 1990 he went to California to study Carl Jung's approach to the human psyche.

Returning to Texas The 1990's found Saylor playing at in Austin, where he was chosen as a featured guest at several songwriters showcases and appeared at venues such as Chicago House, the Outhouse, and Headliner's East, alongside performers Betty Elders, Jimmy LaFave, Bill Ward and Allen Damron. There he met Calvin Russell, whose 1991 cover of Saylor's "Crossroads" was released on the album, "Sounds of the Fourth World" by

New Rose Records a French record label. In 1993, New Rose released Saylor's CD, "That's Just the Way It Goes", recorded in Nashville. ­Music critics compared it to "a Shake Russell feel, only from a little more matured view. Smooth back home vocals entwined with a variety of accompaniments . . . that veer toward country, blues, rockin' blues, and lightjazz make for a pretty good listen." At age 16, Saylor's son, Kenyon, began playing with him. In 1997, Nanci Griffith and Lyle Lovett recorded and released Saylor's "Dress of Laces". In
1998, Saylor was chosen the Houston Music Council's Singer/Songwriter of the Year, and had various songs recorded on compilation albums.

Continues to write, now having a collection of over 2,000 songs and poems. His attendance at the 2001 and 2002 Kerrville Folk Festival, where he received numerous invitations to perform and co-write, was a rekindling of his spirit. Following that experience, Saylor returned to the recording studio, and in the summer of 2002 Saylor returned to play in Nashville. Saylor's most recent CD, "Graven Image", a collective lifetime experience, is now available from Last Call Records

 

Visit Saylor 's website ; http://www.saylorwhite.com





saylor white -graven image

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