Contemporary Christian singer, songwriter and acoustic guitarist Tom Taylor leans heavily on resolute faith in his tenth independently produced, full-length, solo album, Heart on My Sleeve, released November 2021. Taylor’s reliance on the cross since experiencing an above-ground-pool baptism in 2007 informs his body of work, from his 2008 self-titled debut through 2017’s I Will Trust.
Heart on My Sleeve chronicles the four and the half years since I Will Trust—a period that has riddled Taylor with a divorce, the resulting separation from his two sons, an uncertain move across the U.S., and then a failed hard drive containing the master copy of Heart on My Sleeve—all events capable of breaking a man. This rough-wrought faith is in evidence by the end of the latest album.
“I was able to transfer the album data from the hard drive, but in regard to the marriage, was unable to save it in an attempted reconciliation,” says Taylor.
The whole album is framed around the solo acoustic guitar music that can be heard in any of Taylor’s live performances, be they hyping faith for local Sunday sermons, prison performances or prime-time television appearances on Atlanta Live!
In the studio, Taylor and his team are able to mix in a full band (or whatever form of accompaniment he wants) to the dominant strums—and sometimes proper finger-picking—of his acoustic guitar and typically pleasant vocals, including an interesting variety of lead guitars, organ fills, a bowed upright bass, bold crash cymbal use with interesting tambourine and floor tom/snare rim combinations and some initially questionable but somehow agreeable-in-hindsight experimentation with effects that make Jesus power ballads such as “Our God Most High,” roadhouse hallelujahs such as “Warrior” and a co-write with his son Liam (which even hints of Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust”) in “The Law of the Spirit of Life.”
Taylor pulls out some metal on “I Will Give My Life,” throwing in a distorted guitar pedal that’s obviously experimental and seems out of place for that song’s topic; to each their own. The song works after applying some open mindedness. He closes in on a Honky Chateau-era Elton John in “Sometimes a Hero,” written in tribute to his late father. Sometimes, it’s just Taylor song-birding to his strums, but definitely all about Jesus and his guiding comfort.
Taylor’s lapse into comparative darkness stands out in “Wilderness.” He thoroughly praises Jesus for being his rock, but the lyrics wind up with a Lord, I wanna get out of this land message, unheard in the album to that point.
“Lift Me From This Place,” the best song on the collection, unexpectedly reminds of 311’s “I’ll Be Here for a While,” featuring picking and vocals countered with uplifting ’80s-style synth.
The artist seriously seeks escape in the hands of the Lord on Heart on My Sleeve, but they may have not yet reached down, as the last two songs—the tearing “Look at Me, Now” and “I’ll Be Here for You”—tell of a faithful man succumbing to a very real loneliness and, imaginably, the arrest of that marital reconciliation. And, Taylor only mentions Jesus once in each of those songs, which in no way equals the quota set by the rest of them.
Overall, Heart on My Sleeve maintains a warmth and optimism likened to Michael W. Smith’s whole career arc, and that’s a pretty sweet direction to be facing for a genuine Christian artist.
Find Tom Taylor’s Heart On My Sleeve at tomtaylorministries.net.
