WHAT: Musical performance by Kate Taylor, along with a screening of Liz Witham's documentary "Kate Taylor: Tunes from the Tipi and other Songs from Home"

WHEN: Tuesday. Reception at 5 p.m., program at 5:30 p.m.

WHERE: Student Union Theater, UNC Chapel Hill

ADMISSION: Free and open to the public

By Cliff Bellamy

cbellamy@heraldsun.com; 419-6744

Singers and songwriters, inspired by folk and other traditional music, helped define the sound of the early 1970s. The reigning family were the Taylors -- James Taylor and brothers Livingston, Alex and Hugh, who all either had recordings or played music. So prevalent was their influence that Kate Taylor only had to title her 1971 debut release "Sister Kate": Every fan of the folk-rock-blues genre knew whose sister she was.

A recent documentary made by Kate Taylor's daughter Liz Witham chronicles the Taylors' time growing up in Chapel Hill, and Kate Taylor's musical journey. Taylor will perform at a screening of the documentary Tuesday at UNC Chapel Hill. Whitham also will be at the event.

Whitham's documentary makes extensive use of Taylor family footage, and serves up a personal glimpse of the family's days in Chapel Hill, when their father was dean of the UNC Medical School. The Taylors' musical directions already are evident in this footage, and there's a historical shot of Franklin Street taken some time in the early 1960s that is guaranteed to make veteran Chapel Hillians give a nostalgic sigh.

Taylor followed up her initial release with "Kate Taylor" in 1978, and "It's In There" a year later. She withdrew from recording for a few decades, but continued playing, and released "Beautiful Road" in 2003.

The Taylor family eventually settled on Martha's Vineyard, Mass., and Witham's documentary is about Kate Taylor's relationship with the island. Taylor tells how she came to make and spend several summers in a tipi, and tells some fine stories about local residents. She also discusses how Martha's Vineyard developed a local music scene around the early 1970s, a scene that continues to flourish.

The documentary also has some intimate musical performances. Some of the best performances are of Taylor playing guitar in the tipi with other local musicians. There also is touching footage of Taylor and her brother Livingston singing a duet at a ceremony commemorating the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. The few seconds of footage from a Central Park concert in 1971 are a pure treat.

When the members of the Taylor family began recording, the strident, confrontational, angry tone of the 1960s had begun to fade. The singer-songwriters were offering something authentic, valuable but gentler. That spirit pervades this fine documentary of a member of a great American musical family.