Most young adults tend to shy away from the musical interests of their parents, paving their own ground instead. Jewish Young Adults tend to follow this model as well, quickly categorizing their parents Streisand LPs to the “garage sale” bin. However, there is one artist that has transcended generational bounds and found an eager audience with JYAs: James Taylor.
Mr. Taylor emerged onto the folk-rock scene in the late 60’s, and truly made his mark in the early 70’s with his soothing voice and slow paced melodies. And, even though he is not Jewish, Mr. Taylor was an all time favorite for Jewish Adults, both in Europe and Stateside, and was in integral part of the larger folk-rock movement that included other Jewish Adult favorites like Paul Simon, Cat Stevens, and Carly Simon.
Even though he was in an out of the spotlight in the subsequent decades, JYAs adopted Mr. Taylor as one of their own. Today, the “Best of James Taylor” album is an integral part of the “I own it but never listen to it” collection of many a JYA across the globe, and is frequently used as default pre-booty mood music by males.
Interestingly, Mr. Taylor’s recent comeback over the past decade has not registered at all with JYAs, and they continue to prefer the tracks favored by their parents. Male JYA “Ari”, who admits to using the song “You’ve Got a Friend” to woo reluctant co-eds, was recently informed of Mr. Taylor’s latest album from 2008 and stated “Seriously? I thought he was like dead or something”.
