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Otis Taylor
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Otis Taylor - Respect The Dead
(Northern Blues)
By Lou Friedman
Put a banjo in the hands of a country or bluegrass artist like Sam Bush and you get danceable hootenannies or sweet sounds of mourning. Put the same banjo in the hands of someone with jazz tendencies like Bela Fleck and you get spacey noodlings. When you put a five-stringer in the hands of bluesman Otis Taylor, however, it becomes a weapon. In fact, an acoustic guitar, mandolin, and harmonica all give off the same result in the Colorado-based Taylor's possession. Voice and passion complete the arsenal Taylor uses to fight against injustices, both personal and global. The result, Respect The Dead, is a truly stunning follow-up to last year's equally amazing White African.
Taylor—king in a burgeoning stable of solid artists that record for the two-year-old Canadian label Northern Blues Records—uses minimalist, repetitive melodies with sounds coming in and moving quickly out as a backdrop to his lyrics. What made White African so engaging was its sparseness, and there's more of the same on Respect The Dead. The same producer (veteran bassist Kenny Passarelli) and musicians appear on both: Passarelli on bass and keyboards, Eddie Turner on a very understated and underrated electric lead guitar, and Taylor's daughter Cassie on backing vocals. The echoing and clarity of every instrument in each song furnishes plenty of intensity, and Taylor's fine vocals finish off the cold-blooded, chilling blues that emanates from the speakers. Taylor's lyrics are based on people's personal demons, from African slavery (the haunting "Ten Million Slaves") to Freedom Riders of the 60's, white Northerners who went South to help Blacks gain the right to vote and lost their lives in the process ("32nd Time"). There are also songs about love, but they are certainly not happy tales ("Baby So," "Black Witch," "I Like You, But I Don't Love You"). There's even a song about staying free in your dreams, regardless of circumstance (the hard-charging "Hands On Your Stomach," the best song on the set), as well as one of making your own dreams come true (the closing "Just Live Your Life").
While most true blues artists have passed on or are near that point, it's refreshing to know that a handful of folks still carry on the spirit of the blues in a way that would make the genre's pioneers proud. The blues is about both reality and spirit—both past and present—and very few of today's practitioners get it. Otis Taylor gets it, and he is unafraid to give it. A must-have for your collection, Respect The Dead is scary, thought-provoking, intense, intelligent blues that fits comfortably with early icons such as Son House and Bukka White—that is, if House or White ever played banjo.
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