Taylor Autry
Taylor Autry singing into a microphone with a harmonica on a rack, sunglasses and a cap, a red Nord keyboard in front of him and a green Colorado hillside behind, on the stage at the Mishawaka Amphitheatre.

Taylor Autry

Keys and vocals for the night you’re short a player, and for the record that needs a real piano part.

Soul, R&B, folk, country and rock. Within two hours of Fort Collins, or anywhere by remote session.

Check a date

Three ways to hire me

Fill-in and sub
Your regular player is out and the date is still on. Send the set list and any charts or recordings. I learn it properly, show up early, and play it the way your band plays it, not the way I would have arranged it.
Remote sessions
Send a rough mix, a tempo map, and notes on the feel. You get clean, edited takes back as separate stems, named the way your engineer wants them, with a revision pass included.
Live and rehearsal
Regular gigs, one-off shows, and rehearsal-room work where the point is to get the arrangement tight. Reliable transport, my own rig, and a habit of being the least stressful person in the room.

On stage

  • Playing keys at the front of a stage while the rest of the band performs behind.
  • Hands on the keys in blue stage light, a singer with a guitar behind.
  • At a two-tier keyboard rig on stage, lit green, a Nord Electro over a Yamaha stage piano.
  • Full band on a lit stage with horns, keys at the left.
  • Playing keys on a club stage during the 2017 tour.
  • Heart of the City under red curtains and the Continental Club sign, a Nord Electro at the left of the stage.
  • On an outdoor festival stage: at the keys on the left, laughing, while Paco Estrada tunes and Brandon Callies grins over his bass.
  • A daylight festival stage under a lighting truss, a Nord Electro at the front left, the band spread across the stage.
  • Heart of the City, five men in black around a dark table, in black and white.
Darwin's, Austin; One2One Bar, Austin; Curtain Club, Dallas; Austin Music Live; Knuckleheads Saloon, Kansas City; Continental Club, Houston; Deep Ellum Arts Festival, Dallas; Haute Spot, Cedar Park; Heart of the City in 2017, photograph by James Villa.

The 2017 label tour

In August 2017 I went out on a Hand Drawn Records package tour and played double duty: two sets a night, with Brandon Callies & the American Revival and with Heart of the City, alongside Silas Nello. Dallas, Tulsa, Kansas City, Madison, Chicago, Des Moines and the Twin Cities, taking in Knuckleheads Saloon, the Robinia Courtyard and an in-store at Mill City Sound.

The run also put us on live morning television twice: Fox 4 in Dallas and Fox 7 in Austin. Playing two bands a night for two weeks is the clearest evidence I can give you that I learn material properly and hold up under a schedule.

Opening for Blue October

A red Nord keyboard on a stand inside a van, a handwritten chart and pen resting on it, a queue of people visible through the window. From the crowd at Bayou Music Center: a purple-lit stage with keys at the far left, drums, Paco Estrada at centre and Brandon Callies on bass.

When the opener for Blue October’s night at Bayou Music Center in Houston cancelled, Paco Estrada got the call, a couple of days out. He put a band together on the spot: Andrew Pederson on drums, Brandon Callies on bass, and me on keys. There was no time to rehearse, and the set was new material he was showing Matt Noveskey that night, songs none of us had played live. I learned my parts in the van outside while the line formed.

Blue October went on to record one of those songs, “Everything We Lost in the Fire”, written by Paco Estrada, Justin Furstenfeld and Matt Noveskey. They released it in 2024 and it reached the top 40 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart. I played it on a stage before they cut it.

Hear it before you book it

Music videos from Heart of the City, the Dallas and Austin soul band I co-founded and played keys and sang with. They open on YouTube; nothing from it loads here until you click.

On record

Credits you can look up.

Dancing With The Devil
Paco Estrada at Orb Studios in Austin, Halloween 2015: a studio session cut in a single take in front of a live audience; vinyl LP on Reckless Love, 2016. Keys, with Matt Noveskey on bass, and executive producer. Listen on Bandcamp, or buy the vinyl from Hand Drawn.
Heart of the City
Heart of the City’s debut, Hand Drawn Records, 2018; recorded at Orb Recording Studios and AudioStyles. Founding member, keys. On the second record I co-wrote and played organ and Rhodes; the first song out from it is “Everybody Knows”. Listen on Apple Music, Spotify or Bandcamp; vinyl from Hand Drawn.
The Saint, and the Sinner
The American Revival, Independent Ear, 2019. Keys, as a member of the band. Listen on Apple Music.

Who I’ve played with

  1. The Traveling Ones 2016–present Keys, vocals Current project. Soulful folk, country and blues from a husband-and-wife duo, based in Fort Collins.
  2. Paco Estrada 2014–present Keys, vocals Billboard-charting Dallas singer-songwriter, the voice of SouthFM, with co-writes for Nothing More and Blue October. His keys player since 2014, and still am. Played keys in the band he pulled together to open for Blue October at Bayou Music Center in Houston.
  3. Heart of the City 2017–2023 Keys, vocals, writing Founding member. Dallas and Austin soul, fronted by Paco Estrada, with Brandon Callies on bass and vocals. Keys on the 2018 debut on Hand Drawn Records, and co-writer, organ and Rhodes on the second record, cut just before I left Texas for Colorado.
  4. Brandon Callies & the American Revival 2016–2018 Keys, vocals Brandon Callies’ own band out of Austin: roots rock, outlaw country and rhythm and blues. Keys on The Saint, and the Sinner (2019).
  5. American Gypsy 2015–2016 Keys, vocals Austin outfit mixing outlaw country, rock, and rhythm and blues.
  6. Chelle Murray 2016–2018 Keys, vocals
  7. SouthFM 2016 Keys, vocals Shows at Curtain Club in Dallas with Paco Estrada’s alt-rock band, once signed to MCA, including the night they played Swallowing the Pill front to back.
  8. Orb Recording Studios 2015–2017 Keys, session and album work Album and session work in Austin with Matt Noveskey, bassist and producer of Blue October, including Paco Estrada’s live LP Dancing With The Devil.

“Taylor Autry rose to be the driving force, his intricate work on the keys …”

The Music Enthusiast on Heart of the City at the Box Garden at Legacy Hall, August 2018. Read the review

The same blog wrote up other nights I played:

Where I’ve played

A selection, not a complete list.

Colorado
Mishawaka Amphitheatre
Austin
Saxon Pub, Threadgill's, Hole in the Wall, Stay Gold, The ABGB, Mohawk, One2One Bar, Darwin's, Cosmic Coffee, El Mercado
Dallas and Fort Worth
Curtain Club, Longhorn Ballroom, Trees, Legacy Hall, Hudson's
Houston
Bayou Music Center, Continental Club
On the road
Knuckleheads Saloon in Kansas City, Robinia Courtyard in Madison, Mill City Sound in Minneapolis
Festivals and broadcast
SXSW, Rodeo Austin, Deep Ellum Arts Festival, Fox 4 Good Day in Dallas, Fox 7 Good Day in Austin

How a booking goes

  1. Send the details

    Dates, room or studio, set length, the style, and whether there are charts or references. The form on this site is the fastest way.

  2. Get a straight answer

    Within a day: yes or no, a quote, and anything I would need from you. I do not hold a date without confirming it.

  3. I do the homework

    Charts written or corrected, parts learned from your recordings, gear sorted for the room. You should not have to think about me before downbeat.

  4. Play the gig

    Early load-in, tuned and ready, eyes on the leader. Afterwards, a quick debrief if you want one. I would rather hear it than guess.

What I bring

Enough to cover a club or a session without borrowing anything. Ask if the room needs something specific.

  • Looking down on a two-tier keyboard rig: a red Nord above a Yamaha stage piano, with a Radial Key-Largo mixer, sustain, expression and volume pedals on the floor. The rig, from the bench
  • A home studio: the same two keyboards on a stand beside a desk with a laptop, a wide monitor showing a recording session, studio monitors, a controller keyboard and an acoustic guitar. At home, where the remote work happens

A two-tier rig: a Nord Electro for organ, electric pianos and clavinet, over a Yamaha MOXF8 for acoustic piano, pads and anything the arrangement needs underneath. Weighted action on the bottom board, so a real piano part is a real piano part. Both run into a Radial Key-Largo, so your engineer gets a balanced stereo pair or two direct feeds and I keep my own mix on stage. Sustain, expression and a volume pedal on the floor, and my own stand and cabling.

For remote work I track in Logic at home on the same two boards, and send back edited stems named however your engineer wants them.

Check a date

Tell me when and where, what the music is, and what you need from me. I answer within a day, and I do not hold dates I have not confirmed.

Send the details