Joe Taylor curated the Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum in Crosbyton, Texas. It held an extensive collection of fossils and artifacts. Taylor, a renowned fossil restorationist, had a hand in making many of the objects on display. However, what was hidden amongst the skulls and dinosaur fossils are his real works of art. That would be Taylor’s collection of hand-painted album art, rock ‘n’ roll billboards which Taylor painted in the 1970s. Now the unique album art collection is up for sale.
Lifestyle
Rare Rock ‘N’ Roll Album Art Collection for Sale to Benefit Veterans
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Photo: Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum
In the 1960s, after Taylor left the family farm near Crosbyton, he served in the army and explored New York before moving to the Sunset Strip in ’69. “The Strip was full of people,” Taylor said. “Tower Records was the biggest record seller in the world at the time. Ray Smith was painting copies six feet square on the windows of Tower Records with artist oils. One day, as I stood watching him paint, I said, ‘I can do that.’ ‘Oh, yeah?’ he said. ‘Can you show me some of your work?’ So, I went home and brought back a photo book of my realistic paintings. He hired me and after a week, said, ‘I’m makin’ you my top painter.’”
Taylor had landed a job in art—with a rock ‘n’ roll twist. Over the course of time, he painted close to 700 of these billboard recreations of rock ‘n’ roll album covers while also pursuing his own songwriting and recording ambitions. Taylor was only able to save a few dozen of the billboards from being painted over when their campaigns finished.
Photo: Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum
The collection of Taylor’s rock ‘n’ roll billboards from the ’70s and ’80s has been stored in the auditorium of the Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum. One of these billboards was even autographed by none other than Grammy Award-winning James Taylor—no relation to Joe, apparently. James Taylor’s signature graces Joe Taylor’s painting of the 1974 album cover, which the artist arranged for the musician to view and sign at a Lubbock concert in April 2016. Members of Three Dog Night also signed the billboard version of one of their classic albums while at a Lubbock concert. Legendary singer-songwriter J. D. Souther autographed the billboard version of The Souther–Hillman–Furay Band album cover, even including a special message, after a performance at Lubbock’s Cactus Theater. These signatures from world-famous musicians make the collection all the more valuable.
Photo: Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum
Peter Frampton, Helen Reddy, and Super Tramp’s “Breakfast in America” are just three of the 20-some paintings in Taylor’s unique collection. Joe Taylor returned home to Texas in 1984 and began “fossil collecting and learning in earnest. In order to support the kids, I painted big billboards in Lubbock, 18 feet tall and 48 feet long. Also did a hundred or more portraits, and two large historic murals for local museums,” Taylor said.
