(LENOX, Mass.) – James Taylor returns to Tanglewood with his All-Star Band for performances on Wednesday, July 3, and Thursday, July 4, 2024, at 8pm, in the Koussevitzky Music Shed.

This summer marks 50 years since Taylor first performed at Tanglewood on July 30, 1974. The two dates scheduled this July will bring the total number of Taylor’s appearances on the Shed stage to 51, making him one of the most frequent Tanglewood guest performers of all time. To celebrate Independence Day, the July 4 concert will be followed by a fireworks display over the Stockbridge Bowl.

Proceeds from the July 4 concert will be donated by Kim and James Taylor to support Tanglewood.

Tickets for James Taylor at Tanglewood go on sale January 29 at 10am at 888-266-1200 or online via the Tanglewood website.

For decades, Taylor has called the Berkshires home, in no small part due to his enduring relationship with Tanglewood and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

(Read an exclusive feature interview with James Taylor, originally published by Berkshire Living magazine and written by Seth Rogovoy.)

As a recording and touring artist, James Taylor has touched people with his warm baritone voice and distinctive style of guitar-playing for more than 50 years, while setting a precedent to which countless young musicians have aspired. Over the course of his celebrated songwriting and performing career, he has sold more than 100 million albums, earning gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards since the release of his self-titled debut album in 1968.

While mostly known as an album-oriented singer-songwriter, Taylor has released a remarkable string of hit singles or tracks that gained enough airplay to make them modern classics. Songs he wrote and recorded including “Fire and Rain” (inspired by his residency at Austen Riggs in Stockbridge), “Shower the People,” “Handyman,” “Mexico,” “Sweet Baby James,” and “Your Smiling Face.” Taylor has also enjoyed phenomenal success covering songs written by other artists, including Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend” and Marvin Gaye’s “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You),” both of which are so strongly identified with Taylor’s versions such that many people assume Taylor wrote them.

In 2015, Taylor released Before This World, the first-ever #1 album of his illustrious career. James has won multiple Grammy Awards, has been inducted into both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the prestigious Songwriters Hall of Fame. In February 2006, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences selected him its MUSICARES Person of the Year.

Taylor was also awarded the distinguished Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government and the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama in 2012. In November 2015, James was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation’s highest civilian honor, and in December 2016 he received the Kennedy Center Honors, which are presented annually to individuals who have enriched American culture by distinguished achievement in the performing arts.

In early 2020, Taylor released Break Shot, a deeply personal and authentic audio-only memoir detailing his first 21 years. He also released his newest album, American Standard, his 19th studio album, which earned him the 2021 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album and gave him the honor of being the first artist to have a Billboard Top 10 album in each of the past six decades. Over the past few years Taylor has toured extensively in Europe, Canada and the US. This spring Taylor will embark on a tour with stops in Tokyo, Manila, Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii.

Wednesday, July 3, 2024
Thursday, July 4, 2024*
8pm
Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood
Popular Artist Series
James Taylor and his All-Star Band

*Fireworks to follow the July 4 concert.

*Proceeds from the July 4 concert will be donated by Kim and James Taylor to support Tanglewood.