When we do music, when we listen to music, it’s a universal connector, because we can identify with it. –Cassie Taylor
Cassie Taylor may be known for her blues, but she isn’t thinking, much less singing, about any of her own these days. The volume’s up, so this is for you all in the back if you haven’t been listening. We’re fresh out of earplugs.
After a 10-year-creative hiatus, Taylor is back. She’s bolder, more sensual, and open for the world to see and hear –whether they like it or not. But you’ll have a hard time disliking anything about this revamped, mouthy (in the best ways possible) blues singer. One who just so happens to be the daughter and former tourmate of the legendary trance blues icon, Otis Taylor.
She played bass for her father while he toured Europe in her teens and 20s. Later, she joined an all-female band, Girls with Guitars, and eventually sought to write and record her own music. Yet at the end of her twenties, Cassie Taylor hung up her instruments. Things no longer felt right.
Instead she settled into married life and started raising a child. Since then, she’s gotten divorced, come out of the closet as a queer woman, and charged back into music with a slightly different tune than before.
“It’s better to be lonesome [than] to lead yourself a lie…love with all of your heart; don’t stop ’til you find what you’re looking for.”
Taylor’s first new single, “Deadname,” tells the story of one human, struggling with their identity and coming to terms with that freeing discovery. There is a purpose through the pain. “You can’t lose if you choose to keep it real with the inner you” raps Cuee (Quis Wright), a Kansas hip-hop artist, on the soul-filled song. 100% of all streaming proceeds go to the trans community. Of that, 50% goes to Point of Pride, a life-saving and gender-affirming organization that provides healthcare to the trans community. The other 50% is sent to the artists featured on that track, Cuee and Dante Foley, both BIPOC transgender men.
Taylor and I met around 17 years ago in Memphis, while working in a small boutique. I’m from there and had returned during a brief hiatus from New York City. Taylor found herself in Memphis to work with the Blues Foundation, explore a new romantic relationship, model, and expand her musical opportunities.
We instantly connected over our eccentricities. I like to think of it as “creativity recognizes creativity.” Or, maybe as the kids say, “real recognizes real.” Taylor and I eventually went our separate ways but often stayed in touch, hanging out when she toured to New York City and gabbing, dancing, and drinking like old gal pals.
She was always someone I admired and enjoyed on a human level, in addition to being an artist, musician, woman, and creator. So, when I reached out to her about catching up, both on and off the record, she readily replied. Her management agreed (We keep it professional here! Thank you, Ilich, from Karpel Group), and we talked incessantly, like no time had passed. Frankly, she’s only gotten cooler and more confident with the years. This is reflected not only in her sound but the heart of the message behind the beats and even the words.
Here’s what I can share with you…and the rest, you’ll just have to find out or fill in for yourself.
Olivia Inkster/NKM: Ten years ago, you left the music world you’d worked in almost your entire life. Tell me about that.
When I walked away from music, three separate situations were insanely timed, and it just felt like it wasn’t what I was supposed to be doing. They were back-to-back-to-back. It’s a testament to being in alignment.
Because I wasn’t who I wanted to be, it wouldn’t have meant anything anyway. So, to be able to take a pause for almost a decade and come back to it, and feel like everything just opened up…is such a wonderful testament to the wonderful power of authenticity and working within your alignment. If I cry, I’m sorry!
Your fan base is typically white, male, and heterosexual. I’m curious as to how you’ve managed the reactions to not only your sound but also to your personal life being commented on now that you’ve re-entered the industry.
It’s been mixed, and I knew it would be. When I came out of the closet in 2022 I played at a concert shortly after, and I talked about my queer journey and experience. The owner/promoter emailed my agency and said, “She’ll never come back… she’s too gay!”
So, you were already “too gay” in 2022. Your single “Deadname” is a tribute to the trans community. What was the response after releasing it as your first official single since returning from a musical hiatus?
I knew going in this was going to be a mixed bag. I wrote the song in ’22, and at the time I was in contact with a record label to release an EP or a full-length album. That was the first song that I sent them. I was super jazzed! I was like, “This is the song! It’s a ballad! It’s about important issues I care about!” I got on the call with the CEO, and he said, “We’re not ready to have this conversation.”
So, I walked away from the project entirely. I thought, “Well, that’s shitty, and maybe I’ll never release any music ever again.” Instead I discovered the artist Cuee, who has ties to Kansas City. I reached out to him and said, “I’ve got this song, and I feel like you could contribute a lot to the narrative. Would you be interested?’” He flew back to Kansas City, and we cut those vocals in February of 2023. So, this has been a long time coming!
From February 2023 to July 2024, what’s been the process in finally getting the video and message out?
Immediately following (the recording of the vocals), I went through my first queer break-up. I did nothing but cry and throw up for two whole months. I did nothing with it. My divorce was finalized; I moved; Life was really crazy. Flash forward to April (of this year), and I felt like this song should just be released. So, I called Cuee to ask when he’d be back in KC. He said, “Oh, next week!” This entire thing took two years, and then it took three weeks!
Do you ever feel like you were being prepared for the right moment and the right people to enter your life?
Hurry up and wait, and then it’s off to the races! The Karpel Group came on board. Everything aligned. I spent a lot of time meditating after my ex and I broke up, and it’s like, when things are right, they’re effortless, and you don’t have to swim upstream.
During my formative time in music, I felt so much like I was swimming upstream not only in my music but in my identity as a queer, biracial person in the entertainment industry. At 28 I felt like I was aging out of music and would never have a successful career.
What’s something you’re now owning? Fighting for?
The sentiment seems to be, “Shut up and sing.” During 2020, I had an ego death, because I had to come to terms with all of the constructs that I was part of and how those fit into our society. Like I have an insane amount of privilege simply by passing in a white-looking body. At the time, I also had the privilege of being in a heteronormative relationship, so I started to deconstruct those things. People did not expect me to speak on those subjects. It caused a lot of problems. I lost a lot of fans in 2020 because I was very vocal about the election and so on. The response to what I was saying was, “Just shut up, and sing!” They obviously weren’t listening to my lyrics, not any of them.
Taylor served on the board of directors for The Blues Foundation, a non-profit based in Memphis, TN, for two terms. She immediately wrote an open letter to the Board of Directors, because they “hadn’t made a single post on the Blues Foundation’s website publicly acknowledging Pride.” A friend on the board immediately called Taylor and thanked her, addressing the “blind spot” the foundation seemed to maintain regarding the LGBTQ community within their artists, staffers, and listeners.
Why did that feel so personal for you when the foundation failed to openly acknowledge the LGBTQ community?
Let’s look at the plethora of very iconic blues women who were queer, who were lesbian. In a historical framework, it’s so important to validate and acknowledge that, because it is part of the struggle. Also, part of the Blues Foundation’s mission is to continue to support and facilitate blues music for future generations. This is a huge deterrent for young blues artists to become part of a genre that is not accepting publicly and enthusiastically of the LGBTQ community. A significant amount of young people who love and fall in love with this genre of music won’t see themselves in it.
What advice did your father, Otis Taylor, give you? As a parent and/or a musician?
People from an outside perspective think I have some sort of prolific relationship with my dad. The man changed my diapers. People ask me all of the time what it’s like “to have Otis Taylor as a dad.” To be honest, I don’t know anything different. Or, a lens of what’s normal and what’s not. What’s “regular Dad advice?”
And what exactly is “Otis Taylor advice?” (We laughed together at this.)
Rather than a single moment of advice, what I continue to take away from him is that he’s always done it his own way regardless of how much harder it was. I remember him on the phone, lying on the concrete floor, for eight hours a day, flipping through directories of festivals and calling them. That was just his job. That’s what I saw growing up. His determination to live authentically and do the music that he wanted to do regardless of whether it was accepted or not. That was the big takeaway. So, I am really my father’s daughter.
I was thinking that this whole time! You’re repeating history in that sense but updating it as well. Did you ever feel the need to play by “the man’s rules?” Whoever that might have been in your life?
I was involved in a project called Girls with Guitars, which definitely capitalized on the sexualization of female musicians. I have a lot to say about some of the things that happened on the backend that I believe were detrimental to the sexual empowerment of the artists involved. One thousand percent, it was short skirts, it was looking good. There were a lot of things that went unchecked in terms of the behavior of fans, promoters, and executives to keep the peace.
Looking back at those moments in your life how do you feel?
Do I regret some of those things? Absolutely. But when you’re a young artist, and you’re in it, and it’s your full-time thing, the dream is to become successful. Unfortunately, sexual harassment and sexual assault become very prolific and undocumented as a result. I don’t think that’s exclusive to music. I think that’s a common thing of being a woman.
You said a mouthful there. Sadly, I know my experiences in the media. That’s the normal occurrence, and it’s never okay. The normalization of sexual harassment and assault is what makes it necessary to speak about it and bring it to the forefront of conversations. Speaking of controversy again, we have “Deadname” out. How do you follow that? Do you keep taking it up a notch?
There will be a new song dropping called “Take Me For a Ride.” It chronicles my true story of the sapphic romance of the summer of ’23. I fell so hard for this bad biker chick, and we spent the whole summer just riding around on her Harley Davidson, watching the stars in the back of her truck.
Is there a relationship status update on this romance of 2023?
We just got totally busted, because we went to an event together for Pride, and we ran into a bunch of people. “Ya know, on again, off again,” everyone was saying. Yep, that’s pretty much what’s up. For all intents and purposes, she will be in the next music video. The chemistry is so good. We’re in production for the music video in collaboration with Playboy. I can’t say enough good things about Playboy, and how it’s dramatically changed my opinion of sexuality, empowerment, and the platform it’s given me.
How did this come about, you might ask? Well, Taylor had modeled for a friend’s company, which just so happened to design and sell leather fetish gear. When she shared some of those photos on her social media in conjunction with a buzzed haircut (Taylor called it “empowered energy”), guess who slid into her DMs? Besides the usual suspects, none other than Playboy, asking her if she’d be interested in becoming a Playboy bunny. After recently breaking up with her girlfriend, finalizing her divorce, hyper-conscious of her age and at what she describes as the “lowest she’d ever been,” Taylor responded with, “Fuck yes!”
I know that Playboy was in touch with you about this interview, clearly comfortable supporting queer representation and most importantly, your music. Is this what drew you to the “new and evolved Playboy?” This type of inclusion of LGBTQ communities AND the arts?
They’ve been super supportive of “Deadname,” and their history of supporting the LQBTQ community, their history of being pro-choice…I am so ecstatic to be a part of that brand. Especially with their creator platform, they are encouraging women to be autonomous in their sexuality.
That goes together perfectly with the idea that all of these constructs were made to keep us down. Sexuality and expression have been used to weaponize us and also to keep us in their safe spaces. Playboy has gone through such a huge change in how they operate. I think that having queer visibility and the music angle is super exciting for them. We’re all so jazzed. They kept telling me, “We’re here for you. Go, girl!”
You took a 10-year break from the music business. What did that teach you?
When I left music at the age of 28, I felt like I had an expiration date. But 28 is so young! To step away from it to repair my mental health, to understand who the fuck I was, and then come back, as a person who is very steep in their identity now, that’s so badass. I’m so excited about it, because there is a platform for me, and there are people who care. I don’t need to be 28 years old, rail thin, and moldable.
With age, comes what?
Age has brought me the desire to be myself. It has brought me perspective and a sense of ownership in my sexual and gender identities. The Playboy thing happened, and I was the ugly kid. I was raised in Boulder, Colorado, where everyone is 5’7″, blonde and blue-eyed, and every woman looked like she came off the cover of Woman’s Health. I was a biracial kid, and I’m six feet tall. You know that, you’ve stood next to me. (Side note: I’m 5’2″, and even with platformed boots, Cassie towered over me with the longest legs, which everyone coveted!) To be the tallest one there [in school], with a giant red afro, and to always feel so unattractive..for me, to look back now, I want to be able to hug that little child so hard because they had no idea.
So, what do you consider this era?
I feel so fortunate to be in the body that I am in now. I have never felt sexier in my entire life! I’m in my cougar era. For me to feel hot and confident enough to go after these smokin’ hot, 20-something biker chicks…it doesn’t get better than that!
Famous last words?
Who you are is who you’re supposed to be, and everyone else has already been done. Women don’t have an expiration date, and I think this idea that we do is unhealthy. That’s designed to keep us small and in check, so they can exploit us when we’re young and our knowledge of the world is small. We are smarter than we used to be, and now, we’re not putting up with anybody’s shit anymore. Women are just getting better with age.
These days, Cassie Taylor is louder and sexier than ever before, and she has much to say (loudly)and plenty to belt on key while you can’t help but groove. She’s not only been liberated but empowered by sharing her truth and getting uncomfortably honest.
You don’t have to dance alone to whatever beat you’re hearing. Our constructs don’t define us. My friend and musician, Cassie Taylor, would agree with me telling you to be angry, feel grief, and express joy. But, at the end of each night, just be you. There’s a community waiting for that person. Authenticity isn’t just about being true to yourself—it’s also about creating an environment where others can do the same. The mic’s on, and we don’t have to live silently any longer.
Things mentioned…
Cassie Taylor Music/ Cassie Taylor IG
DEADNAME (Find You) Offical Lyric Video (youtube.com)
Take Me For a Ride
Dante Foley IG
Cuee IG
Point of Pride | Life-changing healthcare access for trans folks
Playboy
–Olivia Inkster
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