Cited as one of today's top performing songwriters, Eric Taylor will be coming to Ballard for a special concert at Egan's Ballard Jam on Saturday, June 11, followed by a songwriting master class the next day.

Taylor has been making a name for himself since the early 1970s, when he was an integral part of the Houston songwriting scene that included Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle, and Guy Clark.

He currently touring in promotion of his latest CD, Hollywood Pocketknife, which has garnered critical acclaim around the world and was nominated for FolkWax Album Of The Year.

Over the years, Taylor's reputation and song catalogue have grown and Taylor has had a profound effect on the evolution and development of well-known Texas artists like Nanci Griffith, Lyle Lovett, and Robert Earl Keen

"Eric Taylor was one of my heroes and teachers when I started playing around Houston in the early 1970s," says Keen, "He's the real deal."

Now, local songwriters and musicians will have the chance to find a teacher in Taylor as he will be sharing his songwriting process and tips at Egan's Ballard Jam House on Sunday, June 12, at 1 p.m.

"Nancy Dillon suggested the songwriting class after hearing about me doing a class at the Kerrville Folk Festival. She invited me to come up and do one, and I did. I do not ever consider myself a teacher," Taylor said, finding a few minutes of free time while recording a live in-the-studio project with Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, Susan Lindfors Taylor, and others.

Taylor's approach to the classes, which he has known conducted at several occasions, is different from what one might expect.

"I'm not instructive in my design towards the class. I don't go in there with the rules of songwriting. I spend time talking about how I go through the process of writing," said Taylor. "What I've found, is people in the class tend to ask me about a certain song that I wrote, as in, how did you do that? And I talk about the process."

The process, in short, start with an interesting character or situation which he then develops into a story.

"I'm a storyteller. My songs start with the stories first. I find an interesting character, I find an interesting situation...one that interests me. My job is to make them interesting to the listener," he said.

Asked how he envisions people listening to his music when it's not live, Taylor said, "I have a friend, Michael Perry, a well established and often published writer, also a musician, who tells me that he listens to my music as he writes. I would imagine that people listen to it any way they want to. It's up to them."

Taylor started touring the Northwest region in 2005 and has played the Northwest every year since then.

"I like the Seattle crowd fine. I like the venues, the venues like me," he said. "I come back and play them."

Taylor will perform at Egan's Ballard Jam on Saturday, June 11, at 9:00 p.m. Tickets are $15.
His songwriting class will take place on Sunday, June 12, at 1:00 p.m. The class fee is $40 and reservation should be made by emailing Nancy Dillon at nkdillon@concentric.net.

For more information about Egan's Ballard Jam House, visit www.ballardjamhouse.com.