In two weeks, while families across the country are gathered around the table telling each other how thankful they are, Bill Taylor will be strumming his guitar and missing his new wife. Taylor, lead singer of the Kingsbury Manx, is touring the country with his fellow bandmates.

“I got married in June,” Taylor says. “I’d rather not be gone on our first Thanksgiving, but what can you do?”

Despite being homesick during the holidays, Taylor says the band is having a good time on the tour. He says the tour started off slowly, but the people who go to the shows are enthusiastic and they are making friends.

“It’s really nice,” Taylor says. “We have friends in every city we go to. We’re just touring the country and partying with friends.”

Kingsbury’s friends have been very responsive during the tour. Taylor says he is very thankful for his fans. Even though he enjoys performing for the crowds, he has a slight case of stage fright, which he says is getting better through experience.

“Basically, I’ll get a beer or two in me,” Taylor says. “I’ll make a set list and talk to people. I just kill time before the shows. I used to have bad stage fright, but you’re forced to play at shows over and over again. I mean, I was too chicken to try out for stuff in high school, but you’re thrown in front of big crowds.”

Taylor’s love of music, however, will not be hindered by any amount of stage fright. He says that if nothing else, he really enjoys just playing his guitar. If he goes without it for a few days, he says he gets antsy.

Persistent playing has helped inspire Taylor to write many songs, and he will often write the music before anything else. The lyrics are added at a later point.

“Usually, I’ll just walk around the house with my acoustic, and something will hit me,” Taylor says. “The next thing I do is figure out what comes next. Lyrics come second. The music comes faster.”

One of the band’s songs, “Oh No,” was inspired by a dream band member Paul Finn had. He dreamed of a world where all of the inanimate objects got up and started attacking each other. Taylor decided to make it into a song, only he would put his own little spin on it. He says he decided to tell the story from the perspective of a couple watching the battle happen.

Taylor says his hope is that people will listen to the music and apply it to their own life. The most bizarre case of this was a man who told the band his daughter was born to their music.

“It was bizarre, but it was really cool,” Taylor says.