After a number of years performing with local California bands and folk trios like Good Shepherd, Judge Rainbow and the Prophetic Trumpets, The Cardboard Scheme, and The Scarlet Staircase, Taylor formed Jubal’s Last Band with Steve Baxter, Kenny Paxton, and Chuck Starnes in 1972. In 1974, the band recorded a demo tape together to shop around to record labels. Later that year, the band lost Paxton and Starnes, and added bassist Marty Dieckmeyer and guitarist Jerry Chamberlain to the line-up.

In 1986, Taylor released his first solo album, Knowledge & Innocence, which included songs inspired by the death of his grandfather and the miscarriage of his and his wife’s first child. The following year, Taylor released his second solo album, A Briefing for the Ascent, this time inspired by the loss of his grandmother. That year, Taylor also became the production director for Frontline Records and went on to produce many of the label’s releases.

Knowledge & Innocence, released in 1986 as Terry Scott Taylor’s first solo album, is an introspective album dedicated to Taylor’s grandfather. Lyrically referencing the 1789 poetry collection Songs of Innocence by William Blake, references found also in Taylor’s other work such as the Daniel Amos band album Fearful Symmetry. “Song of Innocence”, a duet with Randy Stonehill singing, in Taylor’s words, a breathy “soulful and sweet” vocal, was released as a single.

Taylor created the fictional character, Dr. Edward Daniel Taylor, who first appeared in a 1990 best of compilation by Frontline Records of music by Daniel Amos and The Swirling Eddies. The character was an amalgamation of televangelists along the lines of Robert Tilton, Benny Hinn and Oral Roberts and acted as the emcee for segments of his ministry’s Prickly Heat Telethon of Love pledge event which appeared as interludes between songs. The character made subsequent appearances including 2003’s The Prickly Heat Radio Players, and 2004’s limited edition EP, The Perfectly Frank True Story of Christmas and a very brief appearance on the Lost Dogs’ 2007 Christmas album, We Like to Have Christmas, on which he can be heard introducing the band as “The Lost Hogs”.

In 1996, he wrote and performed the soundtrack for Doug TenNapel’s The Neverhood and Skullmonkeys.

In 1997, Taylor became the head of West Coast A&R for the Killen Music Group (KMG Records), a Nashville-based record label. The following year Taylor’s third solo album, John Wayne, was released at the Cornerstone Festival. In 1999, a number of artists and fans of Taylor’s came together to create When Worlds Collide: A Tribute to Daniel Amos. The album contained nearly 20 songs written by Taylor and performed by other artists, including The 77s, Randy Stonehill, Phil Madeira, Starflyer59, Jimmy Abegg, Larry Norman, The Throes and others. The project was completed and released in the summer of 2000, along with Taylor’s fourth solo project, the acoustic Avocado Faultline. Two years later, Taylor returned with an EP entitled, [LITTLE, big.

In 2005, Taylor composed the soundtrack to another TenNapel cartoon series (this time, for the Nickelodeon network) called Catscratch. He adapted the music from the famous children’s song “Bingo” for use, with new lyrics by Taylor, as the opening theme song for the Cartoon Network animated television series Camp Lazlo.