Goldsmith has a younger brother, Griffin. They were raised in southern California. He attended Malibu High School, where he was a classmate of Blake Mills. His father, Lenny Goldsmith, was a musician who toured as the lead singer of Tower of Power in the 1980s. He is Jewish.
In 2002, Goldsmith formed a post-punk band called Simon Dawes with high school classmate and guitarist Blake Mills. Over the years, Goldsmith and Mills were joined by a shifting cast of bassists (Damon Webb, Grant Powell, and Wylie Gelber) and drummers (Alex Orbison, Dylan Grombocher, and Griffin Goldsmith). The band drew its name from the middle names of Goldsmith and Mills. Released in 2006, the band's debut album Carnivore received mixed reviews. Simon Dawes broke up in 2007 when Mills left the band.
After the departure of Blake Mills from Simon Dawes, Goldsmith formed a new band called Dawes with his former bandmate Wylie Gelber (bass), his younger brother Griffin Goldsmith (drums)—both of Simon Dawes' last lineup—and new addition Tay Strathairn (keyboards). The band's first album, North Hills marked a sharp departure from the punk-inspired tunes of their youth and embraced a subtler folk rock that has been called the Laurel Canyon sound, reminiscent of Crosby, Stills, and Nash and Jackson Browne. Over the years, the band's lineup has shifted a bit, with keyboardist Straithairn leaving and being replaced by Alex Casnoff and later Lee Pardini. Guitarists Duane Betts and Trevor Menear in turn also joined the band for some of its tours. For all seven of the band's studio albums, Taylor Goldsmith has served as the band's front man, lead singer, chief songwriter, and lead guitarist.

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