Taplin won a bursary to attend a song-writing course in Scotland with Boo Hewardine, Edwina Hayes and Eddie Reader. He has had songs taken to Nashville and requested by a National Digital Archive. He has supported such varied acts as Brooks Williams, the poet John Hegley and Edwina Hayes as well as being invited to perform for the Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. Taplin also writes and plays for the electro-acoustic trio FRONT PORCH