Brit Taylor photo by Sammy Hearn
Brit Taylor Takes Us Home With Her To Land of The Forgotten
Songwriter and country artist Brit Taylor released her third album Land of the Forgotten, on March 6, 2026, taking us inside a world close to her heart, since it was inspired by her home territory of Eastern Kentucky and her friends and neighbors there. She found herself reflecting on her Appalachian heritage after nearly twenty years in Nashville, and during a time when she was considering starting a family. At times very humorous, always detailed and textured, the songs on Land of the Forgotten have a haunting quality, like vivid stories shared by friends that stay with you long afterwards.
Working with her husband Adam Chaffins as producer, and co-writing with longtime collaborator Adam Wright, among others, Taylor was building on the explorations of her second album, Kentucky Blue, and completed the album before the birth of her first child. I spoke with Taylor, who is also a longtime professional songwriter on music row, about her modes of writing, her mindset when writing these poignant songs, choosing the album’s tracks, and the meaningful appearance of an owl on this album’s cover and on several of its tracks.
Americana Highways: I appreciate the realism in the songs on this album, and the texture of life that’s blended into them. Thanks for not trying to make life seem too pretty!
Brit Taylor: Thank you for saying that. There are a few songs on there where there’s really no “button up” at the end. As somebody who’s been a music row staff songwriter for years, one of the things you’re pressured to do is to button it up at the end, to have some kind of resolution lyrically, and musically. We didn’t do that on some of these songs. It was more like, “This is what it is. It’s not good, and it’s not bad. This is what the situation is.”
AH: I think that you bring a lot of warmth, musically, to that, which feels like an affirmation of life, even in its complexity. The music helps with that.
BT: Yes, for sure.
AH: One of the songs I was thinking about when you said that, about leaving things open, was “Around and Around.” It reflects the world, the way that it is, but leaves the continuation of the journey lying ahead. It’s reassuring in that way.
BT: Yes, and no matter what your personal experience is, while everyone is having a very different experience in this life, the emotions and the struggles that come with those different experiences are the same. We are not that different. We all want safety, and we all want love. We just have very different views on how we’re supposed to have those things, and how to get them.
AH: I think these songs feel like they are coming from a certain perspective, your perspective, but you try to leave things open for people, so they can fill in their own experiences.
BT: Yes, I really do try to do that. It’s something that’s really important to me, and it’s something that’s taken me years to figure out how to do. It’s funny, when I listen to some of my songs from my 20s, when I first got to town, I see how preachy they were. [Laughs] They say, “You should do this! You should do that!” But the older I get, and the wiser I get, the more I realize that I don’t really know anything, other than my own experience!
[Laughs] And to project my own experience onto other people isn’t wisdom at all. It’s taken me a long time to get there, and I’m still figuring it out.
AH: I can relate to that. You almost get more afraid to give advice to anyone, the older you get! You realize how badly things can go wrong and how little you know.
BT: Yes! Especially in the music business, that’s one of the things that people like to ask: “If you were talking to a young, aspiring artist, what advice would you give?” My advice to a young artist is: Don’t listen to anybody’s advice! Don’t ever be so hard-headed that you can’t hear folks, but take it all in, and listen, but then go sit in the woods by yourself, and see what feels right in your own body, and what feels right in your own heart, in your own soul. Make a decision based on that, and not on something that anyone is telling you. I tell everybody that, “Don’t listen to me, or anybody else. Listen to everybody, then follow your heart, your gut.”
AH: So much stuff in creative work is the case of one thing leads to another, so it’s hard to be proscriptive in how to follow a creative path anyway. You bump into someone, and that leads to a collaboration.
BT: For sure, some of the worst experiences I’ve had have led to some of the best ones. I can’t go back and say, “Don’t do that.” Because it’s led to all these other things. At the end of the day, I’m grateful for those experiences, too.
AH: Do you find that you have to get yourself in a particular headspace to write for yourself, and your own albums, versus writing songs for other people? Is there a difference for you?
BT: Sometimes. It depends on who the artist is, and how much I feel a connection to them, or to their music. As a writer, I have to figure out some kind of way to relate to what I’m doing. I do try to put on another hat if I’m working with a male artist. I’m trying to find a perspective I can relate to, and that this male artist can relate to. It’s really different with every situation that I walk into, and I try to follow the energy in the room.
AH: Do you also write at home, at random times, when things occur to you?
BT: Yes, and I feel like that’s how I get my best ideas. When the muse hits, I get my phone out, and my guitar, or whatever I have. Then I’ll write until the muse pauses, then I’ll wait, and I’ll go back to it. Sometimes I’ll write on my own, and sometimes I’ll think, “Gosh, I know exactly who I should write this with.” Then I’ll take it to that writer’s room.
AH: When a song doesn’t keep flowing, but there’s something there that works, is it more likely to become a co-write? I’ve heard that from some artists.
BT: Yes, totally! It’s like the song wants another perspective, or wants some more energy. When I first started writing, I was more precious about things. But now I’m not afraid of the ideas stopping. I know there’s always going to be something that lands, and something for me. And there’s always something that you learn, with any song that you get. You’re always going to get better.
AH: Did you have a sense of where these songs might be going, in relation to each other, or was it more that these come from a certain period of writing?
BT: These come from a certain period of writing. Anytime I’m going to make a record, I’m not a big themed record person, not to say I won’t ever be. Actually, I’m kind of thinking of a theme for the next record, but who knows? But I like to just put in all of my favorite songs, ones that keep popping up, even if I wrote them twenty years ago. I put all these songs in a play-list, and I think I had about 20 or 25. And I’d keep repeating this play-list, in my car, or at the house. And I’d notice when I’d skip one. And I’d say, “Okay, that one is not for now.” And I’d remove it from the playlist. And if it popped up in my mind, and I thought about it, I’d put it back on there. And I did that for about a year, until it narrowed itself down to eleven songs that you find on the album.
AH: That’s an amazing way to do it! I haven’t heard of exactly that process before.
BT: It just kind of happened naturally. I noticed I was skipping a few, and I thought, “If I’m skipping these, that’s something to consider.” Like I was wanting to get to another song on the list.
AH: Also, alongside that instinct, it makes total sense to put your favorites on the album, because the way that you approach and perform them is going to be extra. You’ll have that extra energy and intention.
BT: Yes, and they all kind of naturally had that thing, and they all really naturally fit together.
AH: During that period of writing, did you find that were you looking back in your mind at your origins and your home places more often?
BT: Definitely. I always am, but I was doing it a lot more, and considering having a family. I just went through a really reflective time, I think, after Covid, and after the Kentucky Blue record. It’s just been a really reflective time, and there’s a lot of stuff going on in the world. I feel like we’re all having a shared experience right now of difficult stuff. The record is kind of stories about that, in a lighthearted way on some of them, like “Crazy Leaf.” It’s kind of about looking at your family, who might get on your nerves, but helps you find some grace and love for those folks.
AH: Anytime you’re giving a portrait of people, or a place, on this album, I feel like you’re giving both sides of the equation, of the story. That’s what feels real, and not abstract. The song “All For Sale” is like this, and I love that song. My family is from Western North Carolina, and this seemed like something that would happen right there, seeing a sign like that.
BT: For sure! And I thought about characters back home and what the imagery is looking like. Everybody in Kentucky drinks Pepsi, and my aunt would drink the caffeine-free Pepsi in those pale brown cans, so I said, “Sucking on a Pepsi and a cigarette.” I just saw those cans in my head. She never did any of these things, but that was a very real image, and I get to think of her anytime I sing it.
That’s a song that came really naturally, too. My husband was just jamming out on this old mandolin and thinking of melodies. Then I just blurted out, “There’s a sign at 70 and Chicken Road…” And our other co-writer, Adam, blurts out, “Two miles, turn left, it’s all gotta go!” And then I said, “Ohhh, I know what this song’s all about!” That’s an example of muses working together, because I don’t know how else things just fly out of your mouth like that. To me, it’s just a magical thing.
AH: I also wanted to ask you about the song “Bird of Prey,” which I enjoyed so much. It feels like a very old Folk tune, in a way, but it also feels recognizable as the atmosphere of the world right now.
BT: Yes, and I’m interested to see what people will think of that song, because it is a little out there, because it is very spiritual to me. It’s very honest, because I’ve had owls start showing up in my life at very random times, since 2017. They almost always come before a pretty significant change in my life, which makes a lot of sense, because an owl symbolizes death and rebirth, and it doesn’t have to mean a literal death, but it could be a persona, ego, situation, or relationship. For me, it has always been that. I’ll see them in broad daylight, they’ll fly over the car, I’ll see them on a fencepost. It’s weird!
I remember, before my 2020 record came out, I was out in the woods, thinking, “Do I still do this?” I was kind of praying. I needed a sign that I was doing the right thing. I had my yoga mat out, and was meditating. Then I heard a sound, and I looked up, and there was an owl just staring at me. It was the middle of the day. It just turned its head a full 360 and just looked at me. [Laughs] I ran! I ran back inside. It was too powerful. It really scared me, but I do feel like it was a divine thing to witness. I felt like it was a “keep going” kind of thing. Ever since the owls started coming along, it’s been a crazy, beautiful ride. I love seeing them. I feel like they’ve been a divine presence of protection since they started coming along.
AH: It’s funny because they don’t usually impose themselves on people. Even the little ones are so physically powerful, too.
BT: That’s why this album has a few owl references, like the one in “Land of the Forgotten,” and in “Bird of Prey,” and I really went with that on the album cover. Because I feel like that is what keeping me still making music. It’s that little sign to keep going.
Website: https://www.brittaylormusic.com/