THE plan for a cover story on Singer-Guitarist James Taylor and his talented family got under way last month when TIME'S Music Critic William Bender attended a brilliant performance by the young musician at New York's Philharmonic Hall. Later that evening, Bender and Reporter-Researcher Rosemarie Tauris Zadikov talked with Taylor for two hours at an East Side apartment. "James is not given to glibness," says Bender. "As in his songs, he doesn't say anything he doesn't know to be true. He's a man very sure of his own mind and fiercely brilliant. I came away full of respect."

Shortly thereafter, Bender flew to Los Angeles to observe Taylor as he put the finishing touches on his new album, Mud Slide Slim. After the recording session they repaired to Manager Peter Asher's house for more talk into the small hours of the morning. "It was a little like Night Beat," recalls Bender, "sitting at a table with a tape recorder in the middle, cigarette smoke curling round a light bulb overhead."

Meanwhile, Rosemarie Zadikov went to Washington, D.C., to interview James Taylor's older brother Alex and to hear him perform at the Cellar Door in Georgetown. Boston Correspondent Philip Taubman talked with several of Taylor's friends and traveled to Martha's Vineyard to see Younger Brother Hugh Taylor, Alex's wife Brent and her 3 1/2-year-old son, "Sweet Baby" James. In Los Angeles, Sandra Burton interviewed Sister Kate Taylor, Asher and Fellow Musicians Carole King and Danny Kootch. Atlanta Correspondent Peter Range journeyed to Chapel Hill, N.C., to visit with Mother Trudy Taylor about everything from her son James' tree-climbing habits to her daughter Kate's budding career. He interviewed the singer's father, Dr. "Ike" Taylor, the busy dean of the University of North Carolina Medical School, by flying with him to Chicago one evening.

The cover story is accompanied by a chart, "An Informal Genealogy" of rock, which was drawn by Artist John Huehnergarth, in collaboration with Senior Editor Timothy Foote and Critic Bender. With the help of Maps Researcher Nina Lihn, they sorted out the hundreds of pop, country and blues groups of the last four decades in order to show the major lines of development and influence. "It's finally all come together--pop, folk, country, rock and even some jazz," says Bender. "And musically, James Taylor is right where the new rock is."

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