It's probably not big news there's another member of Minneapolis' prominent musical family the Petersons launching a music career. Also, it's going to snow this winter.
What's interesting about Jeanne Taylor is that she's launching her music career in a way that none of the other Petersons have really done before, working strictly and unabashedly in the slick pop music world with a Top 40-credentialed Los Angeles producer and ambitions to land her own radio hit. Not only is that unique within the Peterson clan, it's a rarity in the Twin Cities on the whole.
"There really isn't a pop music scene here, which I hope to change," said Taylor, who celebrates the release of her debut EP, "Jeanne," with a performance Saturday at Bunker's in Minneapolis (9 p.m., $7).
The youngest daughter of "St." Paul Peterson — ex-keyboardist for the Time, co-leader of the Family and lately Peter Frampton's bassist — Taylor swapped her first and middle names for her stage name, because, she said, "Taylor Jeanne sounded too country." Also, it honors her late grandmother, beloved jazz pianist Jeanne Arland Peterson.
Now 21, Taylor and her older sister, Kelly, flirted with a Disney recording career at ages 10 and 13, but their parents balked at moving to Los Angeles. "They didn't want to discourage us from singing, but they wanted us to have a more normal childhood," she explained.
Come adulthood, Taylor has embraced L.A. She has spent the past two summers there writing and recording and plans to move there after she graduates from the University of Minnesota next semester. Her primary accomplice has been Khris Riddick-Tynes, who helped write and record Ariana Grande's debut album. She also worked with her dad's pal, Family/fDeluxe guitarist Oliver Leiber. St. Paul himself helped, too.
There's a Peterson-brand funkiness in the velvet-rope-themed single "L.A. Night," the most up-tempo of the EP's seven tracks, which also range from the Rhianna-flavored "Fight for Me" to the breakup ballad "End of an Era." Taylor called the EP her calling card.
"I truly love singing, so whether I can make a career of it or not I'm not going to regret trying," she said, with a levelheadedness that suggests her normal Minnesota childhood paid off.
