ACCLAIMED CANADIAN SONGWRITER JULIAN TAYLOR KICKS OFF UK TOUR WITH SOLD OUT LONDON SHOW LAST NIGHT
With support from Award-Winning Songwriter, Multi-Instrumentalist and Collaborator, Michele Stodart (The Magic Numbers)
Tour continues in Shipley on Sunday
Julian Taylor performing at The Water Rats in London to a sold-out crowd last night, April 16
LONDON, U.K. – Acclaimed Canadian singer-songwriter Julian Taylor has returned to the UK for a series of special live performances, kicking off the tour last night with a sold-out show at The Water Rats in London. Taylor will bring his powerful voice, heartfelt storytelling, and celebrated catalogue to cities such as Shipley (sold-out), Barnoldswick, Liverpool, North Yorkshire and Lincolnshire as he continues the run.
Performing songs from his 2020 breakthrough solo album, The Ridge – which earned Taylor his first Juno Award nominations (Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year and Contemporary Roots Album of the Year), Canadian Folk Music Award (Solo Artist), five Native American Music Award nominations, and a Polaris Music Prize nomination – along with the acclaimed 2022 follow up, Beyond The Reservoir, which AmericanaUK praised for its “strong message of hope for the future.” This tour builds on an already-busy schedule for Taylor, which kicked off in January with sold-out dates across Ontario.
Speaking to the London audience last night, Taylor shared, “It feels like coming home, it really does.”
The shows follow the release of ANTHOLOGY VOL. 2 earlier this year, the second in his reflective, wide-ranging career-spanning collections that traces the evolution of an artist who’s never confined himself to a single lane. Featuring songs recorded over the span of 25 years, the album captures Taylor’s enduring commitment to storytelling, live musicianship, and emotional honesty.
One standout from the album includes ‘Hunger’, a traditional-style folk song with a Celtic feel, written by Graeme Williamson, and shared with Taylor by Canadian Songwriting Hall of Fame inductee, Frank Davies, with whom he decided to donate a portion of the song’s sales to the Band Aid Charitable Trust.
This version, which expands the original acoustic arrangement into a full-band performance, deepens Taylor’s ties with the U.K. Recorded live in a studio in England with the longtime friends who comprise his U.K. band – Rae Husbandes, Siân Monaghan; and Michele Stodart, who once again will also be joining him to open the remaining shows.
Other tracks from the album include early-career material with his band Staggered Crossing, to recent collaborations with the likes of Jim James (My Morning Jacket), on ‘Don’t Let ‘Em’.
JULIAN TAYLOR’S UPCOMING UK TOUR DATES:
19 April 2026 – The Live Room – Shipley, UK
20 April 2026 – Barnoldswick Music & Arts Centre – Barnoldswick, UK
22 April 2026 – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic – Liverpool, UK
23 April 2026 – Selby Town Hall – North Yorkshire, UK
24 April 2026 – Kirton in Lindsey – Lincolnshire, UK
ABOUT JULIAN TAYLOR:
After more than 25 years of music-making – from the formative alt-rock of Staggered Crossing, to the genre-blending Julian Taylor Band, to his acclaimed solo career – Julian Taylor has built an unimpeachable reputation as a truly independent artist and entrepreneur. His albums, The Ridge and Beyond the Reservoir, earned him career-defining recognition, including Solo Artist of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards, multiple JUNO Award nominations, and a Polaris Music Prize nomination.
Blending folk, Americana, soul, and rock with intensely personal songwriting, Taylor’s music has been described as timeless, universal, and deeply human. He continues to cement his place as one of Canada’s most compelling voices – a songwriter whose work resonates like a long, reassuring embrace.
