KEEPERS OF THE LIGHT explores the history and culture of lighthouses, the people who keep them, and the unique challenges they face. It features interviews with Jeremy D’Entremont, Lighthouse Historian for the American Lighthouse Foundation; Kristina Hook, Wampanoag Tribal Elder; Richard Skidmore, Gay Head Lighthouse Keeper; Isaac Taylor, Musician and Songwriter; and Martha Vanderhoop, Granddaughter of Keeper Charles Vanderhoop. The film is produced by Liz Witham and Ken Wentworth and is available for purchase at all major video stores nationwide. It will also be distributed by American Public Television (APT) to stations across the country starting in mid-May.
By the time James Taylor emerged as a superstar with 1970’s “Fire and Rain,” his reputation as a singer/songwriter with a keen ability to delineate life’s more harrowing experiences was well established. But even as he sold millions of albums and took the alluring Carly Simon as a wife, Taylor was in danger of succumbing to self-destruction.
Luckily for us, he managed to find his footing before all was lost. The follow-up LP to “Walking Man,” ’Gorilla,’ finds the singer reverting to more of his folk-pop roots as he teams up with session musicians who were familiar from his earlier work – namely, Russ Titelman and Leland “Sklar” Waronker. Their laid-back SoCal groove helps to bolster the acoustic harmonies and folkish instrumentation of this fine set. It’s a high point of Taylor’s second half of the decade, one which would continue to thrive even when his next album, ’In The Pocket,’ proved a bit of a letdown.