The octogenarian roots master and national treasure, Taj Mahal, is still going strong. He has a 22-date tour planned for the Spring and Summer, backed by his three-decade collaborators, The Phantom Blues Band (PBB). Surprisingly, they have a ‘new’ record to tour behind. Most of us thought this partnership reached its peak with the back-to-back Grammy wins for 1997’s Senor Blues and 2000’s Shoutin’ in Key. Since then, The Phantom Blues Band has released their own records, but not with Taj, the most recent being 2020’s Still Cookin’. So, we have a resurrection of this partnership, apparently by unearthing the 2010 recording, unreleased until now, Time. Given that some of the music on the record was composed seventy or eighty years ago, as has been…
Tag Archive: Taj Mahal
Both Keb’ Mo’ and Taj Mahal have been playing their music for over half a century. Taj is approaching seven decades. We throw the term ‘legend’ rather casually these days, but these two have long attained that status. A successful collaboration almost inevitably leads to a second, so we are here eight years later from 2017’s TajMo to Room on the Porch. When one carefully listens, the history of Black American music unfolds over just ten tracks. These two trust their instinct,s and their artistry is well-rounded and rather boundless.
This time, there’s more original material with six co-writes, a tune from Taj, two from contemporary writers, and one old blues chestnut. Taj sings on most tracks, but he brings out his trusty ukulele several times and his resonator…