American Blues Scene Q&A with Otis Taylor – New Album Banjo Out Now
Feb 28, 2023 – “When you wake up and you are in another space, or when you drive and you don’t remember getting there. This space is where I write songs.” – Otis Taylor
BANJO … IS THE NEW ALBUM FROM OTIS TAYLOR – BUY IT TODAY!
Banjo… is blues’ icon Otis Taylor’s 15th album. This is a stunning record both musically and sonically, recorded exclusively at Octave Record’s DSD studios in DSD256. Banjo… was recorded in Boulder over a two-week period, with Otis Taylor’s band members flown in from all over the country for the occasion. On drums, the amazing Chuck Louden brings his rhythmic fire along with Nick Amodeo on bass and mandolin, J.P. Johnson on lead guitar and on the B3 Hammond and Moog synth, the wild man himself, Brian Juan. The music on Banjo… is Otis Taylor at his best! This is a must-have masterpiece from one of the best blues musicians in the world. Pure Otis. You can listen to samples and buy the album below.
SEE OTIS LIVE! Get all the latest tour information including dates and tickets.
FANTASIZING ABOUT BEING BLACK
“Raw and unflinching”
— The Guardian
Features musical guests Jerry Douglas, Brandon Niederauer and Ron Miles
Trance Blues Festival Records
LISTEN TO “TWELVE STRING MILE” ON NPR
from Fantasizing About Being Black
Otis Taylor’s new album opens with a bumpy rhythm section under a freewheeling solo cornet, stinging lap-steel guitar and a devastating representation of a black man who, in the Deep South in the 1930s, wouldn’t dare look a white man in the eye: “I’m alive now, be dead soon,” Taylor intones on “Twelve String Mile.” Taylor calls his style of music “trance blues” — moody, repetitive grooves that create space for spare, evocative lyrics and urgent ideas. On 2013’s My World Is Gone, Taylor tackled the treatment of Native Americans by the U.S. government; now, on Fantasizing About Being Black, he confronts the historical trauma of the African-American experience. The subject matter isn’t easy, but the hypnotic style won’t let you go. “A big black man, got dark, dark eyes / Big, big man, got dark, dark skin,” Taylor moans. “Nobody sees me.” But we hear him. – Micah Schweizer, Wyoming Public Media’s Wyoming Sounds
HEY JOE OPUS RED MEAT
TranceBlues Festival Records – ON SALE NOW!
With Special Guests:
Warren Haynes
Langhorne Slim
Bill Nersh
Trance Blues Festival
“We play in the trance blues style…anyone can play” – Otis
Want to play with a legend? Join international blues artist Otis Taylor in his hometown of Boulder, Colorado—the city nestled between the mountains and reality—for the extraordinary Trance Blues Jam Festival. Unlike traditional music festivals where the audience is mostly passive, you are the rock star at the Trance Blues Jam Festival (TBJF). TBJF encourages and inspires people to be active participants. The point is to create music together. Led by Taylor’s infectious mastery, fed by his band’s passion, and wed with your musical expression, the trance jam is where you get to live your musical dreams.
The TBJF is designed for players of all types, all ages, and all ability levels to join in. It’s all about creating music together, not someone showing how well they can shred the guitar. It doesn’t matter what you play. Last year’s festival included vocalists, guitars, harmonicas, oboes, banjos, flutes, cellos, drums, violins, recorders, tambourines, maracas, mandolins and more.
OTIS TAYLOR 