SUBMITTED PHOTO Taylor King is a Des Moines-based artist originally from Churdan who will be performing at 3:30 p.m. during Porch Fest.

Meet your PorchFest artist: Taylor King

By NICOLE HASEK nhasek@iowainformation.com

The streets of Jefferson will be filled with lawn chairs next weekend when Porch Fest comes to town on July 7, showcasing five musical acts on porches throughout Jefferson. 

Taylor King, a Des Moines-based artist who is originally from Churdan, will be performing a 45-minute set at 506 South Wilson at 3:30 p.m. 

“Whenever I can play close to home, play for my family and my immediate family, I always enjoy those kinds of things,” King said. “I like playing for people I know or have known my whole life, I like my hometown and my community”

King has been playing guitar professionally for five years and has been pursuing this for 10 years. His passion for guitar came when he was 13 and his dad gave him his grandma’s old guitar. 

“I just started toying around with it, and within the next few months my birthday came around and my parents surprised me with a little electric guitar, amp and a book,” King said. “I practiced until I got out of high school.”

King mostly stays within the Iowa entertainment scene, often performing at breweries and local events. In college, King was uncertain about pursuing a music career. He said it wasn’t until he was 25 that he was able to successfully network and find well paying jobs due to the support of other local musicians.

“I met with some people that were having some success around here, I picked their brains and figured out how to reach out to people and network,” King said. “I kind of learned how to display what I do and communicate with people and figure out how to get that across.”

King said he will be playing mostly covers of country, rock and indie artists. He often plays songs from the Beatles, Jason Isbell and Tyler Childers. He said he usually plays covers from the “B side” of albums to play songs that not everyone hears a lot instead of their top hits.

“I just want to give people something that’s a little bit fresh for them,” King said. “Maybe something they didn’t just hear a couple hours ago if they had the radio on.”

While he will be playing some original music, he enjoys playing mostly covers and accepting requests to focus the performance on what he thinks the audience would most enjoy.

When King writes original songs, he takes the feelings and experiences he has that he struggles to express and puts them into his music. He said songwriting is a “great opportunity to put something difficult into a concise, five-minute format.” Inspiration is also taken from his fiance, where she gives him 10 words to use and he creates a song from that, offering a more creative and fun way to write lyrics.

Jefferson’s Porch Fest will also feature music from Matt Terronez at 206 East Park at 1:30 p.m, Ducharme-Jones at 103 East Park at 2:30 p.m., Tanner Taylor at 300 South Chestnut at 4:30 p.m. and Heath Alan’s Deep Roots Band at the Thomas Jefferson Gardens at 5:30 p.m. 

Contact Us

Jefferson Bee & Herald
Address: 200 N. Wilson St.
Jefferson, IA 50129

Phone:(515) 386-4161