Jayne County
& Am Taylor

Soon the world will get its first full extended listen to Jayne County & Am Taylor, an exciting new musical collaboration between the two eponymous performers, spanning generations of music history and multitudes of styles, while also creating the first openly Trans musical duo. Following up an initial 2020 single, a new high-profile guest spot on a forthcoming Trans-focused covers compilation, plus an upcoming full-length debut, will serve as the burgeoning duo’s official introduction.

The collaboration—conceived at the outset of the pandemic and just finally realized now—marks the joining of two very unique, yet compatible talents. County, is considered the first Trans punk rocker, with an artistic pedigree that goes on for days; Taylor, her counterpart, represents the next generation of Trans artistry, and provides much of the required compositional, technical and recording know-how. It’s proving to be an ideal working relationship.

“I’ve always got tunes in my head; they’re always there,” explains County. “I just kind of picked them out of the sky. I started taking some of these songs out of my head and telling Am about them, and all of a sudden they were the songs that we were working on”

“I’ve always got tunes in my head; they’re always there,” explains County. “I just kind of picked them out of the sky. I started taking some of these songs out of my head and telling Am about them, and all of a sudden they were the songs that we were working on, after being stuck there for years.”

From the start, the creative spark was apparent. Every fateful union has a meeting place, and in this case the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club in Atlanta is where it all began, courtesy of mutual friend Jen Belgard, who introduced County to Taylor. County had recently done some secret shows there, which had left a lasting impression on Taylor.

“Those shows were crazy,” Taylor recalls. “She crawled down on her hands and knees and did, ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog,’ by The Stooges. She was crawling under people’s feet. It was insane.”

The two exchanged numbers and began writing music together soon thereafter. Energized by their new musical collaboration, County and Taylor officially launched their new musical project by releasing their first single, “I Don’t Fit in Anywhere” in 2020 on Cleopatra Records. The single debuted on Iggy Pop’s radio show, “Iggy Confidential,” on BBC Radio 6.

But the momentum, at least publicly, was soon paused, as the single dropped just on the heels of the pandemic, when much of the world suddenly came to a halt. Nonetheless, the duo continued to incubate their songwriting collaboration over that span, meeting at County’s home during the lockdown. The fruits of those efforts will now comprise their debut album, due out later in the year.

Am in the studio with Jayne
I Don't Fit In Anywhere Music Video
Film Festival Nominations

Legends like Elvis Costello and The Police literally got their start opening for Jayne County when she toured in Europe.

Next up, County and Taylor will be featured on Red Hot Record’s upcoming Transa compilation, an album with a Trans-centric focus of song collaborators from an array of artists, both Trans and non-Trans. The track, “Surrender Your Gender,” is an original song by County, featuring Laura Jane Grace (Against Me!) on co-lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) on lead guitar, Kathi Wilcox (Bikini KillThe Julie Ruin) on bass, and Jay Dee Dougherty (Patti Smith Group) on drums, joined by County on co-lead vocals and Taylor on backup vocals.

“It’s kind of a tongue-in-cheek song. Singing, ‘surrender your gender,’ to me is kind of like toying with people about being transgender, or trying out being Trans; having fun with your gender,” says County. “You’ve got some people saying that there are just two genders—just male and female—but the truth is, there’s all this stuff in between male and female, and the idea really upsets some people.”

The provocative recording also marks another fateful union in the Jayne County & Am Taylor story: Originally anticipated to be a cover of Jayne’s song performed by Laura Jane Grace and others, when County and Taylor later joined as guest performers, it inadvertently created the first Trans trio musical collaboration. And the tune also happens to kick ass.

“I love how the song has big, in-your-face drums, and is such a fresh take on one of Jayne’s songs, with none other than Laura Jane Grace,” says Taylor. “Laura just really lays out an anthemic narrative in the song, with a killer bombastic beat.”

There’s a unique dynamic to County and Taylor’s songwriting collaboration that the pair have embraced: County typically hums a melody that comes to her in bursts of creativity, while Taylor picks out the notes to fully form an arrangement. Amid the process, Taylor’s sensibilities as a songwriter, producer and engineer meet with County’s colorful ideas and vast influences from ’60s music, inspiring a colorful sonic palette. Taylor, who’s also fluent in indie, dream pop and shoegaze, culls from a wide range of influences, including Ennio Morricone soundtracks and surf guitar, wrapping it all in a modern punk/garage rock package.

Jayne is a protégé of Andy Warhol and inspiration to David Bowie, Patti Smith and Lou Reed, among others.
Jayne with Andy Warhol and the cast of his play, Pork which she starred in,
Jayne with David Johansen of New York Dolls

 

“Jayne has this punk rock/proto-punk thing going from her past, so we have that as the meat and potatoes,” explains Taylor. “But somehow there’s also surf rock and James Bond guitar.”

As a lyricist, County has a wealth of experience to draw from. Born in Dallas, GA, she moved to New York City and was both a regular at the Stonewall Inn and an active participant in the Stonewall Riots, as well as a protégé of Andy Warhol and inspiration to David Bowie, Patti Smith and Lou Reed, among others. The seminal proto-punk singer-songwriter and visual artist is best known as the vocalist in her bands Queen Elizabeth, Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys, and Wayne County and the Electric Chairs, releasing many records on several labels.

County was also a regular at Max’s Kansas City (where she was the house DJ) and CBGB’s in New York, making her a fixture of the early punk scene. At one point, her band Queen Elizabeth featured Marky Ramone on drums; she also cut a demo with Tommy Ramone, back in her days with Bowie’s Main Man Records label. Legends like Elvis Costello and The Police literally got their start opening for Jayne County when she toured in Europe.

Over the years, County shared the stage countless times with the likes of KISS, The Ramones, Iggy and the Stooges and Alice Cooper, as told in her autobiography, Man Enough to Be a Woman. And all the while, County’s work has always protested the societal norms, by which she has never been constrained.

“I’m always ahead of myself and doing things in my attitudes and songwriting that make me a pioneer,” County reflects. “As a Trans person, I went out and played regular, straight rock ‘n’ roll clubs, with a rock ‘n’ roll band, trying a lot of things on stage that upset a lot of people. I’ve had guns drawn on us while doing performances. In Rhode Island, somebody started shooting from the audience, because I was singing a song called, ‘Storm the Gates of Heaven.’”

Taylor, an established artist in her own right, brings a very different, yet stylistically connected, background to the collaboration. An Atlanta-based singer, songwriter, and guitarist for various bands, and former touring guitarist for Brother Grey, Taylor has performed alongside the Georgia Satellites, Fuel, Royal Bliss, Electric Six, Girl In A Coma, and Hunter Valentine, among many others.

Most recently, Taylor released a 7-inch record with singles, “Driving On The Edge of Night” and “Bright Yellow Sun,” both of which also debuted on Iggy Pop’s radio show, “Iggy Confidential,” on BBC Radio 6. Pop called Taylor, “Stylish, shrewd, and rockin’.” The release was featured in Alternative Press’ “Releases for Your Radar,” and “Bright Yellow Sun” was featured in Guitar World magazine. She draws from a dynamic songwriting repertoire. “I love ethereal soundscapes from music scores, especially the ’60s Spaghetti Westerns,” says Taylor. “The sounds in those freaking movies are so weird. There’s also a song where we’ve got a little bit of Queens of the Stone Age and really epic, weird jazzy guitar chord choices.”

Another new Jayne County & Am Taylor single, “Houston Is Hot Tonight,” (an Iggy Pop cover) is already out now, as featured on the Streetwalkin’ Mofos compilation created by film producer/director Danny Garcia. The duo’s full-length debut LP is well underway, due out soon.

From here, anything is possible, as long as the ideas keep flowing. And by the sound of things, that’s not likely to end anytime soon.

“I definitely want to get all the songs that are in my head out, and put them out as music, so the people can hear it,” says County. “Because basically, if an idea of a song is in my head for years and years and years, then I know it’s gonna make a good song. And it always does.”

“I’ve always got tunes in my head; they’re always there,” explains County. “I just kind of picked them out of the sky. I started taking some of these songs out of my head and telling Am about them, and all of a sudden they were the songs that we were working on”

Am in the studio with Jayne
I Don't Fit In Anywhere Music Video
Film Festival Nominations

Legends like Elvis Costello and The Police literally got their start opening for Jayne County when she toured in Europe.

Jayne with Andy Warhol and the cast of his play, Pork which she starred in,
Jayne is a protégé of Andy Warhol and inspiration to David Bowie, Patti Smith and Lou Reed, among others.
Jayne with David Johansen of New York Dolls

Am Taylor Featured
On 
Iggy Pop’s BBC Radio 6 Show

Am Taylor featured on Iggy Pop’s BBC Radio 6 show “Iggy Confidential”.
Both Am Taylor and Jayne County’s track “I Don’t Fit In Anywhere as well as Am’s other releases “Driving On The Edge Of Night” and “Bright Yellow Sun were featured. Big thank you to Iggy Pop for the shout out.
Click on each clip below to listen.

Iggy playing “Driving On The Edge Of Night”

[click image to play clip]

Iggy playing “Bright Yellow Sun”

[click image to play clip]

Iggy playing “I Don’t Fit In Anywhere”

[click image to play clip]

Debut Singles
Vinyl Release

Am Taylor who is most recently known from her collaborative work with punk legend Jayne County has released a new 7” record of the first two singles “Driving On The Edge of Night” and “Bright Yellow Sun”. The two songs found favor with Iggy Pop and debuted on his radio show “Iggy Confidential” on BBC Radio 6.

The A side “Bright Yellow Sun” blends intimate lyricism with ambient space-rock. Towering riffs and mythological metaphors combine to take the listener on an otherworldly journey in the song, but its genesis was far more terrestrial.

The B side is the first single from Am where sleek dream-pop meets airy Americana. “Driving on the Edge of Night” conveys a wistful reawakening, bolstered by refined indie-rock cadence and the right dose of pop sensibility.

Lately Taylor has been working with Jayne County on a forthcoming album to follow up their last collaborative release on Cleopatra Records called “I Don’t Fit In Anywhere”. Am has a dynamic songwriting repertoire from the grit of garage and punk rock in her work with Jayne to her solo work which is rooted as a singer songwriter that expands into an otherworldly experience that plays with aspects of dream pop and ethereal soundscapes usually found in theatrical scores.

With a colorful career Am is excited for the new horizon, most notably an upcoming album with Jayne County.

View on Bandcamp

Debut Singles Vinyl

view on bandcamp

Stylish, Shrewd, and Rockin
~ Iggy Pop

Bright Yellow Sun owes as much to desert jams as it does ’90s alternative and ’60s psychedelia, with rich overdriven tones and spacey Lydian moods that culminate in a technicolor chorus and ethereal wigouts. Suffice to say, it’s really speaking our language.
~ Guitar World Magazine

Surrounded by echoing progressions and relaxing ambiance, Am Taylor shares “Bright Yellow Sun” as their second solo track. Utilizing psych reverb and catchy riffs, the vocalist sings of rebirth in front of a full rock backtrack.
~ AltPress

Driving On The
Edge Of Night

The first single from Am Taylor where sleek dream-pop meets airy Americana. “Driving on the Edge of Night” conveys a wistful reawakening, bolstered by refined indie-rock cadence and the right dose of pop sensibility.

I Don’t Fit In Anywhere

 

Jayne County & Am Taylor – “I Don’t Fit In Anywhere”
New single and collab with the legendary Jayne County available everywhere on Cleopatra Records

Bright Yellow Sun

 

Bright Yellow Sun blends intimate lyricism with ambient space-rock. Towering riffs and mythological metaphors combine to take the listener on an otherworldly journey in the song, but its genesis was far more terrestrial.

 

Houston is Hot Tonight

Jayne County & Am Taylor team up with The Streetwalkin’ Mofos featuring Film Producer & Director Danny Garcia