Melvern Taylor

Melvern Taylor writes songs and plays the ukulele. He is backed up by his Fabulous Meltones. Together they make records and play shows.Once upon a time, people like the Everly Brothers, Carole King and Sam Cooke made pop songs?timeless, accessible and instantly familiar music. Melvern Taylor and The Fabulous Meltones craft brilliant songs that remind us that ?pop? isn't a dirty word. Taylor's dreamy voice is a singular wonder. He grew up in Andover, Mass.

Taylor's dreamy voice is a singular wonder. He grew up in Andover, Mass., secretly listening to his older siblings' Beatles and Stones records. ?They had an acoustic guitar I wasn't supposed to touch, too,? says Taylor. ?One rainy Saturday when I was in seventh grade, I sat in my room with their guitar and an Eagles songbook.? Taylor taught himself to play guitar from the book, but the problems with having such a narrow repertoire quickly became apparent?especially when he played with others. ?They'd say ?Hey, do you know ?Iron Man?'? says Taylor with a chuckle, ?and I'd say, ?No. Do you know ?Witchy Woman?'?

Taylor spent the bulk of the 1990s fronting the '70s-influenced pop-rock band band Mudfoot along with guitarist Dave Livingston and drummer/engineer Bob Nash. Following the demise of Mudfoot, Taylor enlisted Livingston and Nash along with upright bassist Johnny Grant to back Taylor at the CD release show for his first solo offering, ?Handsome Bastard.? The CD got the attention of former Portsmouth record store owner Kevin Guyer, who released Taylor's next offering, ?The Spider and the Barfly? on his own label, Broken White Records, in 1998. However, it was 2003's pop gem ?Fabuloso? that changed everything.

?When the ukulele came into the picture,? says Taylor excitedly, ?I thought, ?Oh my God! This is the best instrument in the world!' It just suits me.? The band played live and in-the-round in the studio to record ?Good Time Flavor,? which will be released in the next few months by Mill Town Records (www.milltownrecords.com). ?It was an experiment,? Taylor says of the band's live-in-the-round approach, and the experiment was a success. Taylor's silky singing and The ?Meltones deft backing are carrying the pop music torch quite nicely, thank you.