The Lake Cumberland Region in Somerset, Kentucky comes alive every summer - for nearly three decades - to host the area’s premiere music festival. The Master Musicians Festival reins in 3,000 – 6,000 attendees each. Their 28th year blew those numbers out of the water with a record breaking 7,500 attendees in 2021. The Master Musicians Festival features some of the most sought-after national acts to headline each year, not to mention its importance on highlighting the talents of regional and local acts.

Music festivals are such an immersive experience and that’s exactly what performer, Bee Taylor, capitalizes on. During her performances, she interacts with the audience and with each member of her band. She enters the stage dancing to her band and she exits in the same fashion. Bee is an invigorating sight to behold with colorful outfits and jewelry that accentuate her moves and stage presence. For her 2021 MMF performance, she wore a long flowing red dress that was adorned with cape-like sleeves and beautiful gold beading. In the film, you’ll notice that while dancing, Bee kicks off her gold sequined high heels. A last-minute thrift store find, the shoes started breaking down, so she just did away with them! 

Bee Taylor enjoys expanding on the live show experience by creating live performance films. This most recent project is an independent music documentary of her Master Musicians Festival performance. These films are an additional creative outlet meant to connect and inspire, especially young women looking for bold and brave role models. Bee uses performing arts as a healer in what she describes as a “spiritually isolating” time in the world. Music connects individuals to each other and to feelings within ourselves. Music is healing and therapeutic and that is obvious when you look upon the MMF crowd coming together to connect with the music, the lyrics, the band and each other. It’s hard not to get caught up in the moment which is evident in the instances of out of focus or jumpy frames in the video. Editor Tess Hill decided that it was important to show those flashes of vulnerability and excitement in the film.

The connection is not only contained to the audience and her musicians, however. The fellowship is strong among the other artists set to perform at Master Musicians Festival. The video takes you behind the scenes where jam sessions, dancing and comradery are flowing freely between Bee, her band members, members of Devon Gilfillian’s band, Brother Smith and The Local Honeys, to name a few. 

In addition to encompassing all of those elements in the video, Bee takes us on a visually stimulating and metaphorical timeline of what goes through her head as she prepares for a performance. There are snippets cut into the video of her in a field of rolling fog wearing her stage clothing and emanating through an interpretive and meditative dance.  

Bee Taylor is not only a lively performer; she is a multi-instrumentalist. For her MMF performance, she spends the first part of the show seated at a piano with a microphone between her legs as she opens with the cheeky and energetic fan favorite “10 Foot Pole.” Other times, she is standing at the piano, attacking the keys and then followed up by a lively sax solo from Jason Threm during “Dem Bugs.” Bee also plays what looks like a guitar, but is actually an electric seven string mandocello that she calls “Modine.” She can even be seen playing it with a bow nearing the end of the performance. Gypsy jazz influences are evident in her sound and the way she plays guitar – high on the neck like in “Flower” and “Down in the Den.” The Rhodes piano she plays is a 1975 model named “Jericho,” “’cause the walls are gonna come tumbling down.” Some interesting facts about the band: if you watch closely, you may notice the bandages on the broken finger of bassist Chase Graham; the saxophonist, Jason Threm, designed his stage outfit by hanging the suit on a tree branch and splattering it with black paint; and the drummer, Cody Brooks isn’t a drummer at all. Brooks is an artist and songwriter and created his drum kit from some odds and ends drum parts he found around the house. 

In addition to her fantastic original songs, she incorporates a couple of classic country covers. The first, is a song written by Wayne Carson, Johnny Christopher, and Mark James made famous with Willie Nelson’s Grammy Award-winning version – “Always on My Mind.” The film includes clips of Bee’s MMF performance along with clips of her seated in front of a picture window playing it on an upright piano, dressed in her festival stage outfit. She concludes her Master Musicians Festival set with a rollicking rendition of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.” The band sends her off as she makes her way to greet adoring fans and respond to media queries near the merchandise table filled with unique items - most of which are handmade.

Bee Taylor’s live shows are captivating and charismatic. Her blend of visual charm with lyrically driven Roots Rock and Southern Jazz makes for an alluring stage performance that won’t soon be forgotten. You can see a first watch of the Bee Taylor Master Musicians Festival performance below. The film will be available to all Friday, March 25th.

Directed by Bee Taylor

Filmed by Benjamin Stranger

Editing by Tess Hill

Starring Bee Taylor, Cody Brooks, Chase Graham, and Jason Threm

Featuring cameos by Devon Gilfillian, Joshua Blaylock, Ryan Connors, Jonathan Smalt, Daniel Stroud, Cody Lee Meece, Wes and Aaron Smith, Eric Phillippi, Don Rogers, and Kenny Williams

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