As he did on his previous releases, the multitalented Otis
Taylor has reached deep into the roots of acoustic blues and hauled them
into the daylight, in the form of an album that's hauntingly beautiful.
Everything about White African is stellar--the execution, the
musical interpretation, the pacing, the songs themselves--to the extent
that one can hardly avoid describing it in superlatives. Even background
sounds, like the barely heard sound of a child wailing on "3 Days and 3
Nights," are entirely appropriate and never devolve into cheesiness or
silliness.
That song's by far the most heartbreaking on the album;
it's so tenderly performed that it's worth the price of the CD alone.
Fortunately, it's followed by the harmonica-driven "Round and Round" and
the shuffling "Stick On You," which calls to mind early John Lee Hooker.
This kind of balance and counterbalance exists all over White
African; the very first song, "My Soul's in Louisiana," features a
steady beat accented by a repeated pedal tone on the guitar, only to be
followed by the much slower "Resurrection Blues." This maintains a nice
pace throughout the album, so that the closing "Hungry Blues," about as
slow and sad as the title suggests, contains as much energy and tension as
the uptempo "Lost My Horse," which has all the drive of a train at full
speed.
It's worth mentioning at this point that there are songs
on White African that sound as though Taylor dug them out of a
dusty Alan Lomax recording. Not so; all the songs were written by Taylor
himself, proof positive that he's got a solid handle on the spirit of the
genre. As if all this weren't enough, Taylor plays just about everything
except for the kitchen sink, from acoustic guitar to electric banjo, and
does it all with expressiveness and aplomb. Then again, we shouldn't
expect anything less from a man who's played with everyone from Muddy
Waters to Jimi Hendrix and who has been at this for decades. White
African is one of the first releases from NorthernBlues, a new
Toronto-based label; if it's any indication, we should expect a lot of
good music from them.
-- Originally appeared in Blues Revue No. 66,
April 2001, pp. 64