''Never Die Young'' is the twelfth studio album by singer-songwriter

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, havi ...

released in 1988, three years after his previous effort, ''

That's Why I'm Here ''That's Why I'm Here'' is the eleventh studio album by singer-songwriter James Taylor released in 1985, four years after his previous effort, '' Dad Loves His Work''. The album contains a version of Buddy Holly's "Everyday", as well as the par ...

''. The album reached No. 25 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and eventually was certified

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. It features the title track, which peaked at No. 80 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming the only charting single from the album. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said of the title track that the "lyrics are, as always, a dazzling string of pearls that mesmerize your heart while the musical feel covers you like a warm breeze." ''

'' said of "Baby Boom Baby" that "Taylor again defines the agonizingly beautiful attainment of everything and really nothing at all, life's passage and passing." ''

'' said of "Sweet Potato Pie" that it contains "smooth yet deceptively deep material."

Track listing

All songs were written by

, except where noted. #"Never Die Young" – 4:24 #"T-Bone" (

Bill Payne William H. Payne (born March 12, 1949) is an American pianist who, with Lowell George, co-founded the American rock band Little Feat. He is considered by many other rock pianists, including Elton John, to be one of the finest American piano roc ...

, Taylor) – 3:47 #"Baby Boom Baby" (Taylor, Zachary Wiesner) – 4:59 #"Runaway Boy" – 4:18 #"Valentine's Day" – 2:35 #"Sun on the Moon" – 4:09 #"Sweet Potato Pie" – 3:30 #"Home by Another Way" (Timothy Mayer, Taylor) – 3:50 #"Letter in the Mail" – 4:41 #"First of May" – 4:01

Personnel

* James Taylor – lead vocals, guitars *

Don Grolnick Don Grolnick (September 23, 1947 – June 1, 1996) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and record producer. He was a member of the groups Steps Ahead and Dreams, both with Michael Brecker, and played often with the Brecker Brothers. As a sessi ...

– keyboards *

Clifford Carter Clifford Carter (born August 10, 1952) is an American keyboardist, musical director, composer and arranger. He has sometimes been credited as "Cliff Carter". Carter is known for his performances with such artists as James Taylor,Bruce Springstee ...

– synthesizer programming * Robbie Kilgore – synthesizer programming *

– synthesizers (2, 4) * Bob Mann – guitars * Jeff Mironov – additional guitars (2, 6) *

Dan Dugmore Dan Dugmore is an American session musician known primarily for playing the pedal steel guitar Born in 1949, Dugmore was raised in Pasadena, California. Influenced by the Flying Burrito Brothers, he learned to play steel guitar after Flying B ...

–

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

Leland Sklar Leland Bruce Sklar (born May 28, 1947) is an American bassist and session musician. Sklar rose to prominence as a member of James Taylor's backing band, which coaleced into a group in its own right, The Section. This group of musicians so frequ ...

– bass guitar (1-4, 6-10) *

Jay Leonhart Jay Leonhart (born December 6, 1940) is a double bassist, singer, and songwriter who has worked in jazz and popular music. He has performed with Judy Garland, Bucky Pizzarelli, Carly Simon, Frank Sinatra, and Sting. Leonhart is noted for his cl ...

–

acoustic bass The acoustic bass guitar (sometimes shortened to acoustic bass or initialized ABG) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually larger than a steel-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar a ...

(5) *

Carlos Vega Carlos Vega (December 7, 1956 – April 7, 1998) was a Cuban-born Los Angeles-based session drummer best known for his performances with James Taylor. As a part of the L.A. studio scene from the late 1970s through the 1990s, Vega contributed to ...

– drums, percussion * "Cafe" Edison A. da Silva – percussion (10) *

Michael Brecker Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of M ...

– tenor saxophone (2, 3) *

Mark O'Connor Mark O'Connor (born August 5, 1961) is an American fiddle player and composer whose music combines bluegrass, country, jazz and classical. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he has won six Country Music Association Musician Of The Year awards ...

– violin (4, 5) *

Greg "Fingers" Taylor Greg "Fingers" Taylor (born June 3, 1952) is an American harmonica player, best known for his work with Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band. Career Greg Taylor was born in Wichita, Kansas, June 3, 1952 where he attended Wichita North High School. ...

–

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

(8) *

Rosemary Butler Rosemary Ann Butler (born April 6, 1947) is an American singer. She began her career playing bass guitar and singing in an all-female band named the Ladybirds while attending Fullerton Union High School in Fullerton, California. The band appeared ...

– backing vocals *

Arnold McCuller Arnold McCuller (born August 26, 1950) is an American vocalist, songwriter, and record producer, born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He was active as a solo artist and session musician, but is perhaps best known for his work as a touring back-u ...

– backing vocals * Lani Groves – additional backing vocals (1, 6, 10) *

David Lasley David Eldon Lasley (August 20, 1947 – December 9, 2021) was an American recording artist, singer, musician and songwriter. He was best known as a touring background singer for James Taylor, as a session singer on recordings by artists including ...

– additional backing vocals (1, 6, 10)

Production

* Producer – Don Grolnick * Production Coordinator – Peter Stiglin * Recorded and Mixed by James Farber * Assistant Engineer – Don Rodenbach * Recorded and Mixed at The Power Station (New York, NY). * Guitar and Piano Technician – Edd Kolakowski * Digital Editing – Rhonda Schoen * Mastered by

Greg Calbi Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey. Biography Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. He graduated in 1966 from Bisho ...

at Sterling Sound (New York, NY). * Wolf Photos – Jim Brandenburg * J.T. Photos – Rudy Molacek * Art Direction –

Marc Balet Marc Balet is an American creative and art director, architect, and the former art director of '' Interview Magazine''. He graduated from RISD in Providence, Rhode Island with a degree in architecture. In 1975 he was awarded a Prix de Rome in a ...

References

{{Authority control 1988 albums James Taylor albums Columbia Records albums