Customer Reviews

Truth Is Not Fiction

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
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Today just about any tradition-based, secular African-American musician is routinely called a blues artist, as if blues were all there is to be said about black folk music. So call Otis Taylor a "bluesman" if you will, but if so, he is far from an ordinary one. He fuses old and new in a striking, even startling, manner, and with such assurance that one cannot help comparing it to Dylan's comparable achievement. Though Truth Is Not Fiction has its own, distinctive sound, it will bring to mind such masterpieces as Time Out of Mind and Love and Theft. Yes, on the evidence of this disc, one can speak of Dylan and Taylor in the same sentence.

Though thoroughly contemporary, the arrangements eerily bridge the 19th and 21st Centuries in roughly the way Dylan's recent work has done. Taylor's settings are sparer, however, and his narratives more straightforward. Taylor even manages to breathe new life into the one non-original, the hoary folk-blues "Baby, Please Don't Go" (Big Joe Williams's often-recorded rewrite of the old prison lament "Another Man Done Gone"), but it's his own material that places him among the most compelling American roots performers to come along in recent memory. Dylan would have been proud to write -- for but one example -- "Shakie's Gone," but even the master would be hard-pressed to pull it off half so well.

This is music from a deep well, indeed. If you're looking for the stuff that lasts, Otis Taylor certainly has it.

Otis Taylor is at the top of a very short list -- current, vibrant African-American musicians expressing themselves through blues. Although Taylor obviously has assimilated classic Delta, rural and urban blues but has no interest in becoming an archivist or revivalist. He is telling his stories, not recycling Robert Johnson's. The same can be said of his music.

If there are "rules" to the blues, Otis Taylor is breaking pretty much all of them. These songs mix electric and acoustic instruments, with no drums. Taylor plays a very percussive banjo on some tracks, and other cuts include background cello that sounds like an early Suzanne Vega disc. Since this CD, Taylor hit upon "Trance Blues" as a way to describe his music. It simultaneously appeals to "jam band" festivals and John Lee Hooker fans. This is the most idiosyncratic blues(-ish) stuff I've heard in ... pretty much ever. Purists will be as unhappy with Taylor as the Newport Festival crowd was with Dylan in 1965. People who love blues but are ready to move on from Clarksdale circa 1938 without should really check this out. Folks who have worried about blues becoming fossilized with no means to develop or grow will be thrilled.

I notice that one of the reviewers is dismayed by the subject matter in this CD. It bears noting that this is not heavy-handed or uniformly sad stuff. It is a pleasant listen. The song about organ transplantation ("Be My Frankenstein" -- I told you this is not 1930's blues) is downright lighthearted. Taylor is as entitled to write a song about lynching as Billie Holiday was to sing "Strange Fruit." But if you're looking for 12-bar shuffles, you won't find them here. Highly recommended.

I heard one of Mr. Taylor's songs at the end of "The Shooter" and was so moved I searched for his music to learn more. As a classic rock and classic country afficianado you might say I'm a little out of my league writing a review on Taylor's work. His music is soulful, deep, blues-y, full of emotion, powerful and thought provoking. I put the CD in my truck (I did say I'm a country fan afterall!) and lose myself in the lyrics as I travel down the road. I'll be buying more Otis Taylor and suggest you do the same.

Just watched the new Public Enemies movie and looked up who sang "Ten Million Salves & Nasty Letter"...found Otis Taylor. Dam good stuff! If you'd like to hear something even cooler, check out "pat mAcdonald" (Futures so Bright I Gotta Wear Shades), new CD "PURGATORY HILL" It's wild Blues with a Swamp Box twist...

This is a great CD. I first heard Otis on a movie soundtrack, Shooter, playing "Nasty Letter". Since them I've been hooked on his powerful songs and skillful guitar playing. Well worth a listen!

I am new to his work and am enjoying this album for the most part. The lyrics have a truly poetic style in that you have to think to piece them together. When he sings, it feels a little like a cross between spoken word and a poetry slam competition. I'm not a musician, so I'll do my best to describe the sound--his website says he is "trance blues certified." The music has a cadence feel where the same chords are repeated without variation. Some songs feel like a chorus that repeats itself 3-5 times then it's over. If you are thinking, "why buy it then?", well, Taylor has a great sound in his voice, the lyrics grab your attention, there seems to be a lot of feeling in the work, and the guitar licks are pretty cool. It won't go as a top 10 album for me, but it's worth picking up and having several listens to it.

This is my first Otis Taylor and have to say I am very happy with his music. It reaches out and grabs from very first chord and does not let go.

I first heard Otis Taylor in 2003/4 while living aboard my sailboat in the US Virgin Islands. I won a compliation CD in a radio contest. His song, My Soul's in Louisiana, quickly became my favorite track. I recently watched the movie "Shooter" and heard his style once more played at the end during the credits. There was no question who it was and I have no doubt I will never hear music the same way!

great cd love the guitar playing, love his style and sound will buy other cd's by Otis Taylor

Excellent modern interpretation of American Roots Music. Haunting yet sometimes firery and always well played. His very personal lyrics are always engaging and thoughtful.