Carole King & James Taylor Contest

In November of 1970 James Taylor and Carole King first performed together at the Troubadour on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California. Taylor had just released his debut album for the Beatles’ newly formed Apple Records and King was finding her way as a first time solo performer even though by then she was a famous songwriter with a string of hits for other artists. When they returned to the club for a two-week co-headlining run in 1971 their lives were somewhat different. That summer Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” was topping the charts and King’s landmark Tapestry was on its way to making her a music superstar. Thirty-six years later, in November 2007, James Taylor, Carole King and members of their renowned original band “The Section” (featuring guitarist Danny Kortchmar, bassist Leland Sklar and drummer Russell Kunkel) returned to the Troubadour for a three-night, six-show run to celebrate the venue’s 50th anniversary. Those historic shows are documented in Live at the Troubadour, a special 2-disc CD/DVD available May 4th from Hear Music/Concord Music Group. This remarkable recording, culled from these unforgettable shows, features 15 songs and 75 minutes of pristine video and audio including stunning performances of the pair’s most beloved hits such as Carole King’s “So Far Away,” “It’s Too Late,” and “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” as well as James Taylor’s “Carolina in My Mind,” “Sweet Baby James,” and “Fire and Rain,” to name just a few.

The return to the intimate Troubadour--the fertile ground that served as the unofficial home to a some of the era’s defining musicians such as the Eagles, Elton John, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt and Joni Mitchell--rekindled King’s and Taylor’s love for making music together. Variety enthused at the time, “Taylor and King reminded us about the intensity of the song, that the artistically-rich and commercially-viable are not mutually exclusive and how one tiny club continues to be a birthing room for some of this city's most memorable music.” The experience was deeply felt by everyone, the musicians on stage, and the fans in attendance as well as the project’s technical crew: audio producer Peter Asher (an instrumental figure throughout Taylor’s career) and Emmy-winning video director, Martyn Atkins. Live at the Troubadour is captured in sterling 5.1 stereo and state-of-the-art high definition video.