James Taylor had previously announced a European tour this spring, and now the “Sweet Baby James” singer has revealed summer dates in the United States.

The European tour will conclude on May 18, and Taylor will take a short break before kicking off the North American tour on June 20 in Pittsburgh. The 19-date tour will run through July 23 when Taylor plays in Denver at Red Rocks Ampitheatre. Other cities will include Syracuse, N.Y.;  Portland, Maine; Atlantic City, N.J.; Nashville, Tenn. and Tulsa Okla.

Taylor’s most recent studio album was Covers, which was released in 2008 and contains covers of songs by artists like Smokey Robinson, Leonard Cohen, Jimmy Webb and John Anderson. He also released a live album with Carole King in 2010 called Live at the Troubadour. The two artists alternated between performing their own songs and covering songs by other artists.

Carole King also appeared on Taylor’s second album, Sweet Baby James, which became his breakthrough album because of hits like the title track and “Fire and Rain.” The album, which was released in 1970, peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

Before this album was released, Taylor’s career almost ended before it began. He became the first non-British artist to sign to the Beatles’ Apple Records, and released his first album on that label in 1968. The self-titled album contained the now well-known song “Carolina on my Mind,” which was later rerecorded for a 1976 greatest hits package. However, after Apple Records was restructured by Beatles manager Allen Klein, Taylor not only lost his contract but was threatened with a $5 million lawsuit. Fortunately, Paul McCartney stepped in and convinced Klein to drop the lawsuit.

After this, Taylor moved to California and signed with Warner Bros. Records, who released Sweet Baby James and the singer-songwriter’s next five albums.

Over the next year, Italians will be seeing quite a bit of James Taylor. The renowned singer-songwriter along with his band will be performing in 13 different locations across Italy next spring.

Taylor’s Italian tour will launch March 6 at Teatro Augusteo in Naples and wrap up on March 20 at Accademia Della Conciliazione in Rome. Additional performances include shows on March 8 in Catania, March 10 in Lucca, March 12 in Cagliari, March 14 in Brescia, March 16 in Milan, March 19 in Orino, March 20 in Bologna, March 22 in Ancona, March 24 in Padova, March 25 in Como and March 29 in Genoa.

Presale tickets are now available at JamesTaylor.com. Seat assignments are done on the basis of first-come, first-serve.

James Taylor first achieved breakthrough success in 1970 with “Fire and Rain,” his No. 3 hit single and “You’ve Got a Friend,” his No. 1 hit from 1971. Taylor’s “Greatest Hits” album released in 1976 has been certified Diamond by the RIAA with sales of over 12 million copies in the US. Over the decades Taylor has maintained a large audience, which has included a big resurgence in the latter 1990s and into the 2000s. In March 2010, Taylor toured with Carole King on their Troubadour Reunion Tour. President Barack Obama awarded James Taylor with a National Medal of Arts in March 2011 to recognize his support and outstanding achievements in the arts.

The spring tour of James Taylor‘s is kicking up a notch. Recently, the iconic folk songwriter-singer announced over a dozen new shows for his forthcoming April and May outing.

The spring tour leg will kick off in Woodlands, TX at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on April 22. Sixteen concerts in total are booked. The trek will wrap up in Orlando, FL at Bob Carr Centre on May 26.

Other concerts that have been recently added include Austin, TX at the Bass Concert Hall on April 23; Little Rock, AR at the Verizon Arena on April 29; Baltimore, MD at Hippodrome Theatre on May 11; and in Atlantic City, NJ at Borgata Event Center on May 21.

Presales for the new dates started on February 7 via the official James Taylor website. On February 11, public ticket sales will begin. According to Ticketmaster.com, most of the tickets cost between $65 and $85.

The 2011 calendar of Taylor’s features a mixture of events, including a special concert series and upcoming winter tour along with Ben Taylor, his son. The father-son trek will kick off in Tulsa, OK on February 26 and wrap up in Toledo, OH on April 2.

The special concerts for Taylor in 2011 will be concert series of four parts at Carnegie Hall along with his annual summer series in Lenox, MA on the Tanglewood estate stages. The concerts at Carnegie Hall will take place on April 12 and 22 as well as May 6 and 9. Taylor’s Tanglewood series will start on June 30 and will be performed at Seiji Ozawa Hall on the estate, followed by concerts on July 1, 3 and 4 at Koussevitzky Music Shed, an outdoor venue.

Taylor in 2010 spent most of his time on the road with “Troubadour Reunion Tour with Carole King.” The successful co-bill include a stand of three nights at Tanglewood and sold quite well.

Last night honors went to Paul McCartney during the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony featuring the sounds from his music.  The show, which aired last night, was an incredible event.  Sharing the music from McCartney, who has made such a large impact on the United States, left no doubt that it would be huge.  However the finale with James Taylor was the best performance from any 2010 awards show.

James, along with other talented musicians, performed a melody of McCartney songs that anyone could appreciate.  The focus was on perfect harmony along with a special energy that was sensed even through the television and allowed the American people to share a special moment from the show.

The Kennedy Center Honors ceremony recognized five individuals who have made extraordinary performing arts contributions.  The individuals that were honored this year were Jerry Herman, Bill T. Jones, Oprah Winfrey, Paul McCartney and Merle Haggard.  Although several of the big name critics did pan the show, describing it as ho-hum, it must be a way of voicing their displeasure for not getting second or first row seats to the event.

Folk country singer James Taylor firms up plans to team up with his son Ben Taylor for a spring tour in 2011 that will stretch from late February to early April.  The tour is fueled with more stops confirmed as part of the itinerary including two stops in Michigan and Virginia, and single stops in Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Kentucky, North Carolina, Iowa and Florida.  The tour is set to kick off in Tulsa, OK on February 26 and will close on April 2 in Toledo, OH.

Meanwhile, the senior Taylor will also be going on a tour of his own with dates scattered between the months of December 2010, April, May, June and July 2011.  He is set to perform at the Boston Symphony Hall on December 13, New York’s Carnegie Hall for four nights – April 12, 20, May 6 and 9, and also four days at Tanglewood in Lenox, MA on June 30, July 1, 3 and 4.  All these shows continue to support Taylor’s 2008 Grammy Award nominated album “Covers”, which hit the 4th spot in the Billboard 200 upon its release.

The younger Taylor on the other hand, who is James’ son to country music superstar Carly Simon, also has his hands full with his fourth studio effort, “Listening”, set to hit the shelves early next year.   The said album is Ben Taylor’s follow-up to “The Legend of Kung Folk, Part 1 (The Killing Bite)” which came out in 2008.

James Taylor, the iconic songwriter and singer, will be making a family affair out of his spring run by adding son Ben Taylor onto his bill.

The elder Taylor recently wrapped his extensive reunion tour up with Carole King.  He will be performing a show in Boston in the middle of December, then go on a hiatus of two months.  Taylor will make his return on February 26 with a show in Tulsa, OK along with his son Ben Taylor.  It will be the first time the two will be sharing the stage together for multiple shows.  So far eight shows have been confirmed.  According to a recent press release, on December 3 additional shows will be announced.

The most recent studio album from James Taylor is “Covers,” which was released in 2008.  It peaked in the No. 4 spot on Billboard’s 200 chart.  The set was recorded at the Massachusetts studio of Taylor’s over a 10 day period.  Taylor received two Grammy nominations for the album.

Ben Taylor, son of James Taylor and Carly Simon, another chart topping singer, is preparing to release “Listening” in 2011.  It will be his fourth studio album and follows “the Legend of Kung Folk, Part 1 (The Killing Bite)” from 2008.

On October 26, EMI and Apple Records are re-releasing 15 titles that were issued originally during the 1960s and 1970s by the Beatles’ label in both digital and CD format. They include albums from Billy Preston, Mary Hopkin, Badfinger and James Taylor.

The main reason Apple was established was to serve as a Beatles’ music outlet. However from 1968 to 1973, the label was full service and was active in signing and recording other musical talent.

Beatles band members were active in helping to develop the label’s acts: The hit debut of Hopkin’s “Those Were the Days” and “Come and Get It” from Badfinger were produced by Paul McCartney. George Harrison produced and performed on albums from Jackie Lomax, singer-songwriter, and Doris Troy, soul singer. Both of their albums will be re-issued in the campaign.

Most of the albums that are being reissued contain bonus material. They include Taylor’s debut from 1968, the first four sets from Badfinger, Hopkin’s “Postcard,” and two star studded collections on Apple from keyboardist Billy Preston. Two CD reissues which reflect the sometimes eclectic bent of the label include two Modern Jazz Quartet albums and two from John Tavener, a classical composer.

Apple will have a very busy October. To commemorate John Lennon’s 70th birthday, his music catalog will also be reissued by the label.

Mellon Arena’s final concert has been determined. The show has already been booked.

Folk legends James Taylor and Carole King, when they appear on June 26, will be the last musical performers to perform at the arena. That is unless preservationists are able to find a way of saving the dome.

Maxwell, the R&B star, had a concert scheduled there for July 10. However, the tour’s second leg was canceled, with refunds available to ticket buyers at point of purchase.

Paul McCartney has been booked for August 18 at Consol Energy Center. SMG officials, who oversee both arenas, were struggling to locate an act to to close out the Mellon. A majority of artists wanted to perform at the new venue.

Jay Roberts, SMG general manager said, we had been working on getting Christina Aguilera moved to the Mellon over from First Niagara Pavilion to be the last event. She’s a hometown girl and all. It was pretty much done, but she then canceled the entire tour.

Aguilera also turned down an offer of doing one Mellon show.

Roberts said, by then it was late for finding another major headliner. With the uncertainty of whether or not the dome roof could be retracted, they also ruled out a special night for local acts.

The King/Taylor performance is turning out to be their encore for their February 26, 1971 arena performance.

Roberts said when we booked the show at first, I talked to their agency about seeing if we could move the show to later summer. It seemed it would be a great last show to have at the arena.

Now it will be.

It won’t be Mellon’s final event. On July 13, a Job Fair will be held there. That may end up being the asterisk to a trivia question that involves the farewell of the arena.

Legendary songwriters/singers James Taylor and Carole King will be offering fans a personal and up-close experience during their forthcoming “Troubadour Reunion Tour” that the two performers are doing for charity.

On each stop on the 37-city North American trek, there will be two-person table, intimate seating options surrounding the center stage, providing fans with a bird’s eye view that imitates the intimate setting from the performances that the duo did in the 1970′s at the Los Angeles’ club Troubadour.

At each concert, there will be 120 stage seats that will be available for raising money for several charities, including Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Natural Resources Defense Council, as well as over 90 other local and national organizations.

Tickets are currently available exclusively from the website Tickets For Charity. They include the package Stage Seat, featuring one VIP seat, pre-performance reception, access to the night’s sound check and a tour commemorative book.

Taylor in a recent press release stated, when we talked about reuniting at first, we knew from the start that we wanted to be able to bring to life the Troubador. Having the stage seats is a small way for us to pay homage. In addition we thought that having a nationwide reunion tour would give us the chance to support charities and all the great work they are doing all over the US.

“Covers,” the latest studio album from Taylor, was released in 2008 and debuted on Billboard’s 200 chart in the No. 4 spot, selling 94,500 copies during the first week of its release. The set was recorded over 10 days in the Massachusetts studio of Taylor’s. “Covers” provides classic song versions done by Taylor from a wide array of artists, including The Temptations, George Jones and Leonard Cohen.

The seven song companion record, “Other Covers,” consists of material that wasn’t on the first album, including remakes of “Knock on Wood” from Eddie Floyd and “In the Midnight Hour” by Wilson Pickett.

The latest studio album from King is “Love Makes the World” released in 2001. In 2007 she released “Welcome to My Living Room,” a live DVD, featuring 29 songs that she performed on her “Living Room World Tour” in 2005-2006. It includes 21 Top 40 hit singles, seven No.1 hit single, and 11 songs that did not appear on the 2005 live CD “Living Room Tour.”

Next year, James Taylor will be having a mini-series at Carnegie Hall in New York called “Perspectives: James Taylor.” The shows are scheduled to take place in April and May of 2011.

“James Taylor at Carnegie Hall: 120th Anniversary Gala” will take place on April 12. One of our time’s most beloved songwriter-singer’s will be celebrating Carnegie Hall’s 120 years of history along with special guests.

“James Taylor: Roots” will be held on April 20. Several special guests will join James Taylor, highlighting the many different influences on Taylor’s music, ranging from church hymns, to Celtic music to the blues to bluegrass.

“James Taylor” Guitar Conversations” will be held on May 6. James Taylor will be inviting a couple guitar heroes of his to join him. The night of performance and conversation will be devoted to the guitar.

“Quintessential James Taylor and his Band” will take place on May 9. James Taylor along with his band will be performing their greatest hits.

The April 12 and 20 concerts along with the one on May 9 will be held in Stern Auditorium, the main theater at Carnegie Hall. The show on May 6 will be in the smaller Zankel Hall.

No announcements have been made yet regarding guest artists.