[6] Taylor married Eliza Hill (1827-1909), who came from the village of Huttoft,[4] and had seven children: James (1858-1915); Betsy (1860-1929); John (1864-1947); Joseph (1864-1880), who drowned in the River Ancholme at the age of 15;[7] Anne (1867-1937); Frederick (1869-?

He is a courteous, genial, typical English countryman, and a perfect artist in the purest possible style of folk-song singing...He most intelligently realizes just what sort of songs collectors are after, distinguishes surprisingly between genuine traditional tunes and other ditties, and is, in every way, a marvel of helpfulness and kindliness.

[8]Percy Grainger first came into contact with Joseph Taylor when he saw him perform in the North Lincolnshire Musical Competition in 1905, which he had entered reluctantly and won with his version of ‘Creeping Jane’.

In 1908, Grainger was instrumental in the Gramophone Company inviting Taylor to London, where a dozen of his songs were recorded, with nine subsequently being released on a series of seven gramophone discs, on the "His Master's Voice label,[2] as part of a series billed as "Percy Grainger's Collection of English Folk-Songs sung by Genuine Peasant Performers".

Although he is 75 years of age, his lovely tenor voice is as fresh as a young man's, while the ease and ring of the high notes, the freshness of his rhythmic attack, his clear intonation of modal intervals, and his finished execution of ornamental turns and twiddles (in which so many folk-singers abound) are typical of all that is best in the vocal art of the peasant traditional-singers of these islands.Though his memory for the texts of songs was not uncommonly good, his mind was a seemingly unlimited store-house of melodies, which he swiftly recalled at the merest mention of their titles.

His dialect and his treatment of narrative points were not so exceptional, but his effortless high notes, sturdy rhythms, clean unmistakable intervals and his twiddles and ‘bleating’ ornaments (invariably executed with unfailing grace and neatness) were irresistible.The British Library Sound Archive describes these releases as "a first in our field, and decades before any other attempt to issue real traditional singing on record for public consumption".

Taylor was Guest of Honour at the first performance, at the Queen's Hall in London, and reputedly stood to sing along,[11] although his daughter Mary stated that he simply hummed along rather than sang out loud.

The following report was printed in The Lindsey and Lincolnshire Star three days later:...whilst driving out on Tuesday was thrown out of the trap on to the horse, through the animal shying at something on the road.

[11] Percy Grainger's first meeting with Joseph Taylor has been called "a major turning point in the history of traditional folk music".