Chip Taylor has released an extraordinary double cd. Both CDs are good, but the first of the two was for me like taking a healing vitamin. The first song, I Don’t Believe in That contains truth that washed over me like a spiritual wave. Chip was connected, had to be connected, to come up with this one. Inspired is the world I’m looking for.But the good work doesn’t end there. One song after another, masterfully written and performed, full of life lessons and heart felt lyrics fill the first CD. The second CD is good as well, but deals more with matters of love and loss and pain.Chip is unknown to many by name, but some of the songs he has previously written are classics and known by all. Songs like Kiss an Angel Good Morning, and Wild Thing. He’s brother to Jon Voight and uncle to Angelina Jolie. With this CD, Chip Taylor has surpassed anything I’ve heard him do. This is hands down the best album I’ve heard this year. http://lonestarmusic.com/album.asp?aid=’3813‘ Don’t waste your time listening to me. Buy the cd and listen to Chip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVK3yLIDieI&mode=related&search=He says it so much better than I.
May
26
2005
If so, “Red Dog Tracks” by Chip (Wild Thing, Angel of the Morning) Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez may be it.Mr. Taylor, in case you didn’t catch the reference, composed the songs “Wild Thing,” a hit for the Troggs and notably recorded by Jimi Hendrix, and “Angel of the Morning,”a hit for Merrilee Rush and, in more recent years (though not that recent), Juice Newton.Plus he wrote a bunch of other songs covered by many others, and he produced albums as well. Plus, he happens to be actor Jon “Midnight Cowboy” Voight brother, making him the uncle of actress Angelina Jolie..That said, what does he bring to the recording? Plenty, including solid song craftsmanship, inspiration and a pleasant, even comforting singing voice. He makes it sound so easy, strumming away with an occasional harmonica break, although sometimes I think he over-acts just a bit in his vocal delivery, as he wrings out love, loss, humor and other emotional nuances from every single syllable leaving his lips. Carrie Rodriguez is Texan and puts her melodic twang all over the tracks, along with her fiddle, giving it even a greater rootsy feel. (The CD, by the way, was recorded in New York City and mastered in Boston. We Northerners know a thing or two about roots!) Guitarist Bill Frisell, on loan from Nonesuch Records, Jim Whitney on upright bass, Richie Stearns on banjo, and Kenny Wollesen on drums add to the rootsiness.Chip and Carrie are a couple in love (Or they sure know how to fake it!), and it’s evident through much of this recording. Sometimes it’s as if one is listening to intimate yet often playful conversations that are supposed to be private. Even the Hank Williams, Sr. tune “I Can’t Help It If I’m Still In Love With You” sounds like it was written just for them. (Everybody go “aaaah.”)“Red Dog Tracks” will likely be a candidate for record of the year in the Americana genre. It’s romantic, playful, cute, sad, toe tappin’, relaxing and more, all in under an hour. It’s being officially released in late May.Chip and Carrie travel to my neck of the woods, the Narrows Center for the Arts, in Fall River, Massachusetts, on Friday, June 10th. It’s their second visit, and promises to be a memorable performance, particularly with the sort of material that’s sure to move the audience.Learn more about this Americana power couple at www.backporchrecords.com. Or you can click here, too!