At 71, James Taylor has a new audio memoir, loves watching 'Blue Bloods' and won't dish on Carly Simon

LENOX, Mass. - Even here, in the stillness of the Berkshires forest, James Taylor grows anxious. He has to be conscious of how he enters his days, since he most often experiences stress during the first six hours of being awake.

"I was glad to get a chance to see my shrink. I haven't seen her since before the break," he says. "I think any attempt at mental health is an excellent idea. It's a little bit self-centered and navel-gazing, to a certain extent, to focus on yourself to that degree. But some of us need to become conscious of what we're doing that we need to stop doing."

It's early January, and the 71-year-old, who has just driven the mile of his maple-lined entry after visiting with his therapist, walks into TheBarn - his recording studio, a building just a few paces from where he sleeps - and takes off his coat. He keeps on his trademark newsboy cap while tending to the fire in the wood-burning stove.

It's difficult to imagine a more tranquil environment. But in recent years, Taylor says, he has found his anxiety becoming "a bear." From the inception of his career, the musician has been open about his mental health struggles. In his senior year of high school, he spent 10 months at Boston's McLean Hospital during his first depressive episode. A couple of years later, he checked into another residential treatment center in an attempt to kick his heroin addiction. It was there