I recall Taylor’s distinctive baritone as he sang Fire and Rain and the simple beauty of the acoustic accompaniment. It struck a chord. 

Many years later when I speak to Taylor, who is in Montana and about to go skiing with his youngest sons, I tell him about my father’s quiet appreciation of his lyrics. 

“That’s great to hear. There’s nothing quite like knowing you made a connection with someone,” Taylor replies. 

“There’s also something about making music happen in real time in a room full of people. Something happens and it’s very difficult to define but it’s very strong.

“For me it’s a spiritual thing. Music has always been an escape, particularly when it’s at a live concert. With a live audience, you’re doing something in common with thousands of people. It feels like you’re making a real connection. It’s strong, you know. It keeps me coming back time and time again.”

Taylor signed with The Beatles’ Apple Records in 1968. He has sold more than 100 million albums, earned 40 gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards and five Grammy Awards. His Greatest Hits album earned him the prestigious Diamond Award for sales in excess of 10 million units in the US.

His music embodies the art of songwriting in its most personal and universal forms, and songs like Carolina In My Mind, You’ve Got A Friend, Something In The Way She Moves and Country Road have had a profound influence on both songwriters and music lovers.

In 2011 Taylor was honoured with a Carnegie Hall Perspectives series and awarded the National Medal of Arts by then-president Barack Obama. In 2012 he was awarded the distinguished Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government and in November, 2015, Taylor was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honour.

In December it was announced that Taylor was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors, presented annually to individuals who have enriched American culture by distinguished achievement in the performing arts.

Taylor is an intensely political man and campaigned strongly for Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton in the US presidential race. To say he is disappointed about Republican Donald Trump winning is an understatement. 

“I feel as though I’ve been going through a grieving process, there’s no question about it. It’s as if there’s been a death in the family,” he says.

“I’m very sensitive to and connected with my country. I remember feeling fooled and misled about the first war in Iraq and how politicians were encouraging people’s worst instincts – their fear and their dread and their hatred towards one another, you know, drawing on that and fanning those flames.

“I think we’re in for a very rough ride. It really is quite a disaster and I just can’t forgive the people who have made this happen. But I’ll go to work and see what I can do to fight back. I’m not going to give up.”

Taylor’s political views have, to date at least, rarely found their way into his lyrics. 

”Some songs have had an environmental message but mostly I write from a very personal point of view,” he explains. 

“I keep coming back to the same themes over and over again, of longing for home or the tug between the road and home, of the tug of war that exists between wanderlust and the desire to put down roots with home and family.

“I find a lot of my songs are recovery songs, talking about life beyond addiction and songs of gratitude. I’ve written a number of songs about my father and our relationship, about my feelings towards him and what it must have been like for him.

“I write songs about love, both positive and negative. I don’t often get out of myself, you know.”

It’s been seven years since Taylor last performed in Australia, touring with Carole King and he says he has been “lobbying to get back there”. 

“There’s nothing like travelling with the music and connecting with audiences on the other side of the world.” 

.