B-Side Guys

Julian Taylor offers his hand repeatedly, promising presence through bitter ends. “Don’t Let ‘Em (Get Inside of Your Head)” functions as both rallying cry and reassurance, acknowledging that heaviness happens every day while insisting on community as defense against external noise. The collaboration with Jim James of My Morning Jacket transforms what began years ago as an electronic demo for film/TV sync into a fully organic, groove-driven anthem that carries raw spontaneity alongside emotional weight.

The production, recorded at Gold Standard with Aaron Goldstein, David Engle, Tony Rabalo, and Anna Ruddick, embraces alt-country grit and blues rock urgency without losing the rootsy textures that ground the message. Taylor’s assessment that the song “just seemed to flow out of everyone in the room” translates to the finished track—there’s a naturalness here that comes from musicians responding to each other rather than following predetermined paths. James brings what Taylor describes as “tender urgency,” his distinctive voice blending effortlessly with Taylor’s own, creating harmony that amplifies rather than competes.

The lyrics document contemporary struggle through simple, direct language. Watching friends fall, waking up worried about having a say, feeling like you’re living in a paradigm where crazy things happen constantly—these aren’t dramatic proclamations but accurate descriptions of daily existence under pressure. The repeated instruction to wade in water with feet on the ground, deep in the valley with problems all around, establishes both the difficulty of the situation and the method for surviving it: stay grounded, keep moving, don’t let them take anything away.

What gives the track its power is Taylor’s refusal to pretend positivity alone solves anything. He’s not denying the heaviness or suggesting it’s easily overcome. Instead, he’s offering companionship through it—”I will be there to the bitter end”—and practical advice about protecting your mental space from external voices trying to colonize your thoughts. The title’s repetition becomes mantra, the kind of phrase you need to hear multiple times before it sinks in.

The collaboration came about through genuine connection rather than strategic planning. Taylor and James met at the LA Forum during the Robbie Robertson Tribute (directed by Martin Scorsese), where Taylor performed at the invitation of longtime friend Allison Russell. Years later, Taylor sent James the nearly finished track, James loved it, and agreed to sing on it—the kind of organic artistic friendship that can’t be manufactured.

For an artist with over 25 years of music-making spanning alt-rock with Staggered Crossing, genre-blending with Julian Taylor Band, and acclaimed solo work earning multiple JUNO nominations and a Polaris Music Prize nod, Taylor has built a reputation on exactly this kind of genre-free approach. Of West Indian and Mohawk descent, he’s carved his own path by combining folk, Americana, soul, and rock with deeply personal songwriting that poet Robert Priest describes as “forever in the zone.” “Don’t Let ‘Em” represents that philosophy in action: timeless, universal, deeply human music that functions as reassuring embrace when you need it most.