A forgotten 1978 folk album by British singer-songwriter Allan Taylor is getting its first Spotify release after Ed Sheeran discovered it in a New York second-hand record store and praised it on Instagram.
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Ed Sheeran was browsing a second-hand record store in Williamsburg, New York, when he came across a copy of ‘The Traveller’, a 1978 LP by English folk singer-songwriter Allan Taylor. In April, Sheeran posted about the find on Instagram, writing: “Been buying random vinyl at record stores, coming across some gems. Allan Taylor – The Traveller I found in a record store in Williamsburg, and I love it. Can’t find it anywhere online, so feels like a special vinyl in the collection.”
The post came as a surprise to Taylor, who had not expected any renewed attention for an album he recorded nearly five decades ago. Taylor, now 80, said he found the gesture gratifying. “I find it flattering that someone of his stature has seen something in what I do as being interesting,” he said.
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Taylor spent 60 years on the folk scene, touring internationally and signing major record deals. He performed at the Royal Albert Hall alongside Fairport Convention and spent time with Bob Marley in New York during the 1970s. His song “It’s Good To See You,” from ‘The Traveller’, has covers more than 100 times by artists including US country singer Don Williams, Greek singer Nana Mouskouri, and German folk veteran Hannes Wader.
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Despite that body of work, mainstream commercial success never arrived. Taylor reflects on the contrast between his career and Sheeran’s with a rueful observation: “Everything I did wrong, he did right.”
Taylor left Brighton at age 21 in 1966, abandoning a telephone engineering apprenticeship to travel Europe. He signed contracts with major US labels without legal representation and lost money as a result. At the height of his career, vocal cord nodules forced him into three months of silence, which disrupted his progress.
Taylor’s early years involved sleeping in vans, playing bars with no fixed income, and relying on strangers for accommodation. On one occasion in Stockholm, with nowhere to stay and freezing temperatures outside, he walked into a bar and began playing guitar until someone offered him a place to sleep.
His involvement in the Greenwich Village folk scene in New York came around the same period. Island Records founder Chris Blackwell asked Taylor to oversee Bob Marley and the Wailers during a two-week visit to the city, ensuring the band made it to their scheduled performances.
Taylor later became the frontman of a band called Cajun Moon, signing another deal under financial pressure. That contract ended when the vocal cord nodules developed.
After recovering, Taylor wrote ‘The Traveller’. The title track carried the line: “Running for the money / Running for the fame / Lost where he was going / And forgot his name.”
The album did not chart, but it won Best Folk Album at the Montreux Jazz Festival awards. Taylor subsequently received more performance bookings across Europe, and by the 1980s had developed a sound that drew comparisons to Leonard Cohen and Johnny Cash.
Currently, his highest Spotify listener counts come from Warsaw, Bonn, and Berlin.
Before Sheeran’s post, ‘The Traveller’ had only been accessible unofficially on YouTube. Following the Instagram endorsement, the album was made available on Spotify for the first time.
Taylor had been scheduled to conclude his career with farewell concerts at folk clubs this summer, but back surgery and the resulting health complications forced him to cancel the performances.
The two artists have since spoken at length over the phone. Taylor described Sheeran as “remarkably down-to-earth, friendly and very interesting as a songwriter.” Sheeran told Taylor he wants to visit him for a cup of tea.
Taylor sees the interest from a younger generation as something tied to a wider curiosity about a fading era. “There’s not many of us left who can remember what happened or what we did and what it was like,” he told BBC. “And I think young people are interested. I think that’s why Ed is interested.”
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