James Taylor To Perform At Tanglewood July 3 & 4, Marking 50 Years Since His First Tanglewood Performance

James Taylor returns to Tanglewood with his All-Star Band for performances on Wednesday, July 3, and Thursday, July 4, 2024, at 8 p.m. 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. 

 

As a recording and touring artist, James 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. In 2015, he 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 and Roll and the prestigious Songwriters Halls of Fame and in February 2006, The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences selected him its MUSICARES Person of the Year. He 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 of 2015, James was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation's highest civilian honor and in December of 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 he 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 James has toured extensively in Europe, Canada and the US and this spring he will embark on a tour with stops in Tokyo, Manila, Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. 

 

Tanglewood—this country's preeminent summer music festival and the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra—is located in the Berkshire Hills between Stockbridge and Lenox, Mass.

 

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