Gaither Senior is Main Entertainer at Alba Coffee

To Taylor Raynor, Tiffany Kirby serves two roles: girlfriend and manager.

When he had a guitar gig with a friend at Tanya and Matt’s ice cream shop, Kirby was the one who told him about , a new Scottish family-owned coffee shop at 15000 N. Dale Mabry Highway. They visited the shop, and Taylor asked the owner, Ian Craig, if he could play.

Craig says that Raynor, a 17-year-old who attends Gaither High School, quickly moved from being a performer to coordinating new acts and arranging special events.

 “Taylor is a fantastic guy,” says Craig. “He’s very talented. He performs Saturdays and some Thursdays. He also does our Open Mic night.”

Though Alba has other performers during the week, Raynor is “the main entertainment,” says Craig.

And it's a role that Raynor has grown comfortable with.

“I actually now have a title, Entertainment Manager/Director!” Raynor says enthusiastically.  “I’m trying to put together new fun things to bring people in here. We have a lot of different events here at Alba, like a new music trivia night on Tuesday and our Open Mic on Thursday.”

On rainy days, Raynor sets the speakers that normally entice the local shoppers inside to a corner of the shop. 

Kirby sits in the audience with other fans who followed Taylor from the ice cream parlor to Alba Coffee and watches her boyfriend get ready to entertain the crowd.

“I love that I have a celebrity boyfriend,” Tiffany teases.

In a T-shirt and cargo pants and a backwards baseball cap, Raynor begins his acoustic set with "Wonderwall" by Oasis. Though he has only been playing guitar for four years, he looks like a natural in front of his audience.

And he should be.

Raynor has performed in the Gaither orchestra, show choir, jazz band, chorus and musical theater. He's added live singing to his resume only since performing at Alba for the last two months, and is thankful for Craig for allowing him to showcase his talents.

“The first time I came here, I fell in love,” says Raynor.  “Until Alba, I was just the guitar player, not in the spotlight. I’m used to performing, but I just started doing these kinds of gigs two years ago. I’m hoping to branch out to other gigs in the city and maybe start a band up.”

Raynor credits his mom’s soundtrack to the musical "Rent" for his love of music. He also says his brother was instrumental in introducing him to all styles of music, from Deathcab for Cutie to Styx.

He plans to attend a music college upon graduation from Gaither.

“I’m looking at FSU and Berkeley in California,” says Raynor. “Hopefully, I can master my violin first, play with orchestras and play other gigs on the side.  I want to both classically and band-trained.”

Raynor says that he loves having people listening to him and he’s available for hire. Though his website is still under construction, he says anyone interested can email him at tayraynor@gmail.com and come to Alba’s from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday and Saturday evenings to see him perform live.

“Here would be a great place to see me. The coffee’s great and the people are fantastically nice, the atmosphere is bright and happy, and you feel like part of the family and,” he takes a breath to add, “They’re Scottish!”

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