Episode Notes Welcome to the September edition of The Art Parlor, brought to you by Friends in Art! In this episode, we speak with author and entertainer, Abbie Taylor. Join us as we explore her journey starting as a music therapist, with music entertainment and writing following in step. We also learn about her newly-published book, Living Vicariously in Wyoming: Stories. It was a pleasure having Abbie with us on the Art Parlor and we hope you enjoy the show! To learn more about her and stay up to date, visit her website at www.abbiejohnsontaylor.com. AI-Generated Transcript Opinions expressed on ACB Media are those of the respective program contributors and cannot be assumed to serve as endorsements of products or views by Friends in Art, the American Council of the Blind, their elected officials or staff. Friends in Art welcomes you to the Art Parlor, where visually impaired artists of all types will discuss their work. Pull up a chair, bring along your beverage of choice, and listen to thoughtful, stimulating conversations with visually impaired artists in all media and from all parts of the world. And now, here's your host, Ann Chiappetta. Good evening everyone, welcome to the Friends in Art Art Parlor, where artists and audiences thrive. You can find us on www.friendsinart.org. Tonight we are talking to Abbie Johnson-Taylor, and Abbie is a singer, a musician, a poet, and an author. Did I miss anything, Abbie? I don't think so, I think you covered it all. All right, and we're going to talk a little bit about your newest book, Living Vicariously in Wyoming, which is a great title, by the way, and all the other creative things you do in your life. Hopefully we can get it all in in the time that we're going to be talking to you. So, Abbie, first maybe you tell us a little bit about yourself, where you live, what you do, and then we'll go from there. Okay, well I'm in Sheridan, Wyoming, and I am, as you said, a writer, and I'm also a singer. I've published seven books, and there's two novels, two poetry collections, and a memoir, and then this new short story collection that just came out back in March. And when I'm not writing, I entertain monthly at two or three senior facilities in the community, plus at our local senior center, and then I also do the music for a local church the second Sunday of the month. And then in the fall, winter, and spring months, I sing with a group called the Hubcaps, which meets at the senior center and does most of our performances there. My goodness, you need a personal assistant to like help you out. Right, well, that's what I have my AMAZON ECHO devices for, and my iPhone. So, yeah, yeah, definitely. So, how long has it been for you, like, when did you get the bug, like this, you know, I know that, at least I think I remember you saying you came from a musical family, and can you talk a little bit about that? Well, my grandfather played the saxophone in a band, and so I think I must have inherited his musical genes. And then my younger brother did play drums for a while, and I think he still does, but I don't know that he does it on a regular basis as much as I do play the piano and guitar and sing. But yeah, I have, and when I went, my mother loved to tell this story about how I started playing music. They had purchased a used piano, upright piano, and they thought it would just be a toy. And I was about five years old, and I was digging around one day, and I don't really remember this, but my mother said she heard me playing "da-da-da-da," and so she immediately went to call a piano teacher. Oh, and so where did you go from there? Well, I took lessons, you know, off and on. At that time, we were living in Tucson, Arizona, and I, you know, took lessons from several teachers, and then we moved here to Wyoming, and I took lessons for another year or so, and then I finally gave up, and I then got interested in playing popular songs and then singing and using the piano to accompany myself. And I pretty much did that, you know, through my teen years. And then in college, when I decided to study music therapy, I had to get a guitar, because, you know, if you're working, like, in nursing homes, and of course the residence rooms don't have pianos, and so you need something portable that you can take, you know, and play when you're in those situations. So, and that's basically how my music career got off the ground. How long did it take for you to really learn the guitar and feel confident with the guitar? Well, I actually, I'm guessing maybe like one semester, because I just took a beginning guitar class, and that was really all I needed for what I was going to do. Just, you know, learn some basic stuff, you know, just to play, you know, a few chords here and there, nothing, nothing really fancy. So, yeah, about a semester. And then, you know, the piano kind of, I really don't remember how long it took to learn the piano. I was pretty small when I started, but, you know, I took lessons for years. But I only took, you know, guitar maybe for half, for a semester in college, and that was it. So, which do you prefer to play, or which do you play more often? I prefer to play the piano, but since, you know, the facilities where I go don't have a piano that's either, you know, available in the same room where I am, or it's out of tune, or whatever. I use the guitar, but I actually prefer the piano, because I can do more with it than I can with the guitar. Yeah, yeah. And do you read Braille music? No, I play, I do all my playing by ear, and nowadays it's easy when I learn, want to learn something new, I just have my A lady play it, and then I go find the words online, and, you know, I may have to hear it several times, and, you know, and, you know, go through it with the, with the lyrics, but it's really not that hard to do. That's amazing. Do you have perfect pitch? Yes, I do. Yeah, well, that makes it easier, doesn't it? It does make it easier, but it makes it annoying at parties, because when people hear you have perfect pitch, they say, "What's this note? What's that note?" And it can get annoying, to say the least. But otherwise, it works hands-in-handy. That's like, my kids, I would, I would tell them to drop a coin, and I would say I know what coin it was, and so that turned into a parlor trick with their friends, and at some point, I was like, "No, I don't want to tell you what coin that dropped on the floor." Oh, I know. Like, I'm sorry. You're not the only, you're not the only totally blind person I know that does it. I had a friend who was totally blind when I was in college, and whenever I dropped a coin, she would say, "Oh, you dropped a quarter." Well, that's really helpful, but can you tell me where it landed? No. Well, I could kind of tell you, maybe, like, maybe it's over there by your left foot, but I don't know how far it is. Right. Oh my goodness. All right. You were originally from Tucson, Arizona. Did you move to Wyoming? Well, I was actually born in New York City. Were you really? Yeah, yeah, and, but we were only there for about a year, and then my parents, we moved to Boulder, Colorado, and we stayed there for a few years, and then moved to Tucson, Arizona, where we lived for about eight years before deciding to move up here, and we moved up here because my grandfather had just passed away, and grandma needed someone to run the family's coin operating machine business, and so my dad felt obligated to do that because none of his other siblings were interested. So, we came up here, and I've been here ever since. I did go away to school in the 1980s, but then I came back, and I've been here ever since. Oh, I didn't know you were born in New York City. My goodness. Yeah, yeah, and unfortunately, I don't remember anything about living there. We were only there for about a year, I think. So, well, you know what? That's great that you didn't remember the bad things or the good things. Right, exactly. Life's late, right? Yes, yes. Abbie, you and I have known each other for how long now? A long time. I can't count that high. Ten years, I think, and we originally met through behind our eyes. Yes. Right? Yeah. So, I knew you first and foremost as a writer, and then as a musician. It's just interesting, you know, who knew you first as a musician, and who knew you first as a writer? I'm just telling you, I knew you first as a writer. And then, you know, when I really listened to your work, you know, as a vocalist and everything, you give a beautiful voice, and you have a gift. I just wanted to say that. Yeah. So, let's talk about your book, Living Vicariously in Wyoming. I already told you I loved the title, and I didn't really, kind of, you know, when I first heard the title, I was like, "Oh, this should be interesting." Then after I read the book, I was like, "Oh, it makes total sense now!" So, I was like, "Yeah, it's the perfect title!" And I like that in books. A little bit of intriguing, like, question. It makes you open the book and read it, to find out why you chose that title. So, I really liked it. I guess my first question would be, like, where did these stories originate? Were they prompts? Were they things that you sent off to other publishers? Were any of them just, you wake up in the middle of the night, and you had to write that down? >> Well, these stories had, you know, a variety of different inspirations. I know that the last one in the book, Welcome to Wyoming, it was actually a dream I had that I was the one who was trying, getting back and ended up in the situation that she is in, in the story. And other stories were just inspired by some by real-life events. There's one where a college student identifies with a character in a play, and my parents, were into community theater. And I did have some acting experience in high school and college, a
