Meet 18-year-old singer-songwriter Adam Taylor. He sounds a bit like Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock might if he had spent his formative years learning how to write songs, drink whiskey and chase women under the tipsy tutelage of Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard.

Now meet Adam’s ever-present elephant in the room. If the elephant looks familiar, there’s a reason. Its name is Chad Taylor, and you saw it parading around MTV for the better part of a decade as the guitarist for Live. That elephant also happens to be Adam’s older brother.

“Not every musician in the world gets a mentor that sold 25 million records. Obviously, I get great career advice,” says Adam of his rock and roll predecessor. “It’s giant shoes to fill, though. It’s sometimes hard. When he’s telling stories, it’s like, ‘Well, when I was 18, I was on MTV every other second.’ I’m like, ‘Well, shit. What am I doing wrong?’”

Whether he likes it or not, Adam is going to be inextricably linked to his brother for as long as he pursues music, at least locally. However, summing him up simply as “Chad Taylor’s brother” does a huge disservice to Adam’s music, which has a shockingly large amount of merit on its own, regardless of the fact that he’s barely out of high school. If his family name gets you to tune in, great, but don’t come expecting to hear him selling the drama. The younger Taylor brings in a wryer, more nuanced approach, literate like his idols Bob Dylan and Tom Waits (not to mention Saul Williams and Charles Bukowski) and playful like the burnt-out indie rocker his demeanor suggests.

Adam’s debut EP, Play the Piano Drunk (its title cribbed from a Bukowski line), is a loose and shuffling affair that, thanks to producer Chad’s Johnny Cash fetish, is immediate in its appeal, but loose and outstandingly creaky in its delivery.

“I wanted to go all crazy and experiment, and Chad, being the producer, was like, ‘Hey, let’s make it the most simple introduction to Adam Taylor as possible,’” says Adam. “So I think that’s what it is, my hello to the music world.”

Adam’s journey into music began in fourth grade, when, he says, his parents offered him some helpful career guidance.

“They were like, ‘Adam, you’re too fat and too bad at sports. You need a hobby,’” he laughs. After years of playing drums, he followed his brother’s example and picked up a guitar. It wasn’t until about a year ago, however, faced with the alternatives of attending college or picking up a full-time job, that Adam received the necessary kick in the ass to take his music more seriously.

“I kind of realized that the only thing I really gave two shits about was music,” he shrugs. “The ultimate goal I think for anyone is just to be able to feed themselves by only playing music. I believe that – much like Bukowski did – if I work hard enough, I’ll get to that point where I can sustain myself.”