Sweet Baby James

Updated on Oct 03, 2024

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Released February 1970 Artist James Taylor Label Warner Bros. Records Awards Grammy Hall of Fame		Length 31:51 Release date February 1970 Producer Peter Asher

Recorded December 1969 at Sunset Sound, Los Angeles Genre Rock, folk, country, blues Sweet Baby James(1970) James Taylor and the Original Flying Machine(1971) Similar Mud Slide Slim and the Blue, Walking Man, One Man Dog, In the Pocket, The Best of James Taylor

Sweet Baby James is the second album by American singer-songwriter James Taylor, and his first release on Warner Bros. Records. Released in February 1970, the album includes one of Taylor's earliest successful singles: "Fire and Rain", which reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album itself also managed to reach #3 on the Billboard Album Charts. Sweet Baby James made Taylor one of the main forces of the ascendant singer-songwriter movement. The album was nominated to a Grammy Award for Album of the Year, in 1971. The album was listed at #103 on Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Background

The album, produced by Peter Asher, was recorded at Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, between 8 and 17 December 1969 at a cost of only $7,600 out of a budget of $20,000. Taylor was "essentially homeless" at the time the album was recorded, either staying in Asher's home or crashing on a couch at the house of guitarist Danny Kortchmar or anyone else who would have him.

The song "Suite for 20 G" was so named because Taylor was promised $20,000 once the album was delivered. With one more song needed, he strung together three unfinished songs into a "suite", and completed the album.

The album produced two charting singles, "Fire and Rain (song)" backed by "Anywhere Like Heaven" which reached the #3 spot on 31 October 1970. "Country Roads" backed by "Sunny Skies" reached #37 on 20 March 1971. An additional single, "Sweet Baby James" backed by "Suite for 20G" did not chart.