How My Dad’s Favorite Artist Became Mine Too
By: Cody Collins
Tags: Life Lessons, Parents, Music, Parenting, Children

Photo by Eric Nopanen on Unsplash

Growing up as a kid, I didn’t always get what I wanted. No kid did. And no kid should.

You hear “When you’re older you’ll understand” from your parents. And as a teenager, you think you already know all you need to know. You think “I understand well enough now, and my parents are just being unreasonable.” Now that I’m older, I realize that isn’t true. My parents truly did know what was best and the right thing for me.

And now that I’m older, I’m more aware of life. Yes, I do currently think I know almost all there is to know. Yet I also know as I get older, I’ll earn and experience more. It’s a weird feeling.

My dad is a big JT fan. No, not Justin Timberlake. The original JT, James Taylor.

And I never paid much attention to James Taylor as a kid. But since I graduated from college, his music has become so comfortable. There is something about his music that makes it as close to perfect as can be. I can relax to it, run to it, fall asleep to it, or work to it. Seriously, in this past month, I listened to his old albums for all these situations.

Maybe it was ignorance, maybe I had more important things to care about as a kid, but I was never really aware of my parents’ music taste until I went to college. And once I graduated and spent more time with my parents, as respected peers instead of parent and child, I have learned more about them. They’ve become some of my best friends. And as any friendship goes, you learn about their music tastes.

My dad still has a huge collection of vinyl albums from the many decades he has lived. It took until recently, the billionth time I looked through them, that I realized he had more albums from James Taylor than from any other artist.

Now, I probably already know more James Taylor songs than most people in their 20s. But upon seeing his albums, I realized I still know little about him compared to those who listened to him in his prime.

Upon seeing new records of his to listen to, I immediately had to play them. Luckily my dad keeps his records in good shape. So this past weekend, I jammed out to several “new” James Taylor albums. *New to me, but originally from the seventies.

And man, are those albums perfect. The music is great, what more can I say.

The distinct part of James Taylor’s music is the “vibe.” I don’t know how to describe it, other than the music seems to fit with my mentality towards life presently.

Which brings me to my point. My dad has more James Taylor albums than any other artist. So he must be a big fan of his music. And thus, he lives by similar “vibes.”

You have more in common with your parents than you think. I mean, you’re 50% one, and 50% the other. So enjoy their company while you can. Be best friends with them. Trust me they’re actually cool, and at one point, THEY WERE JUST LIKE YOU. After all, it’s the least you owe them for taking care of you for all those years, and all the years that will come.

If you aren’t familiar with James Taylor I recommend you start with his greatest hits album. You may recognize a song or two. If you do know his mainstream songs, give his older albums a try, they are great as well.