Results for "Otis Taylor"

Otis Taylor

Born: 1948

Otis Taylor - guitar, banjo, vocals With Otis Taylor, it’s best to expect the unexpected. While his music, an amalgamation of roots styles in their rawest form, discusses heavyweight issues like murder, homelessness, tyranny and injustice, his personal style is lighthearted. “I’m good at dark, but I’m not a particularly unhappy person,” he says. Part of Taylor’s appeal is his contrasting character traits. But it is precisely this element of surprise that makes him one of the most compelling artists to emerge in recent years. Guitar Player proclaimed him “arguably the most relevant blues artist of our time,” while Billboard has called him “one of the most innovative, thought-provoking blues artists to emerge in the last 20 years.” Whether it’s his unique instrumentation (he fancies banjo and cello), or the sudden sound of a female vocal, or a seemingly upbeat optimistic song takes a turn for the forlorn, what remains consistent is poignant storytelling based in truth and history. Truth and history are at the heart of “Recapturing the Banjo,” Taylor’s fifth release on Telarc

Pennsylvania Blues Festival 2013

by Wade Luquet
August 10, 2013

22nd Pennsylvania Blues Festival Blue Mountain Ski ResortPalmerton, PAJuly 26-28, 2013For the past 22 years, veteran festival producer Michael Cloeren has thrown a weekend party in the Pocono mountains, playing host to fifteen of his favorite blues musician friends and their bands and inviting a few thousand avid fans of the ...

Luis Bonilla, Terri Lyne Carrington, Tony Levin & Otis Taylor

by Martin Longley
April 4, 2013

The Luis Bonilla Quintet Dizzy's Club March 19, 2013 For two nights only, trombonist Luis Bonilla brought his quintet to Dizzy's Club. The first set on the first evening launched off into an assured blast of convoluted style amalgamation. Many might view Bonilla as a Latin jazz specialist because ...

Visionary Songwriter Otis Taylor Returns With His Powerful And Unique Blend Of Roots Music And Narrative Poetry

November 17, 2012

My World Is Gone explores the struggles of Native Americans with contributions from Indigenous frontman/guitar virtuoso Mato Nanji BOULDER, Colo. — Roots music visionary Otis Taylor’s 13th album, My World Is Gone, set for release February 12, 2013 on Telarc, a division of Concord Music Group, is a lightning bolt of musical creativity and social commentary. ...

Rain So Hard

Featuring the music of Otis Taylor
Duration: 9:43
August 24, 2012

Pennsylvania Blues Festival: Palmerton, PA, July 27-29, 2012

by Wade Luquet
August 13, 2012

Pennsylvania Blues FestivalBlue Mountain Ski AreaPalmerton, PAJuly 27-29, 2012For 21 years, the Pocono Mountains have been the epicenter of the blues, attracting thousands to the bottom of a ski slope for three days each summer. Blue Mountain Ski Resort lent itself well to the fifteen national acts that performed on two ...

Otis Taylor: New Album

November 19, 2011

HAUNTING, HYPNOTIC GROOVES FROM ICONOCLASTIC TRANCE BLUESMAN OTIS TAYLOR Otis Taylor isn't defined by any single category. A musical alchemist and a true innovator, Taylor has never been afraid to experiment beyond the blues tradition. He's a master craftsman who has created his own signature “trance blues" style by melding haunting guitar and banjo work, syncopated ...

Otis Taylor's 'Contraband' is Iconoclastic Trance Bluesman's New CD

November 12, 2011

Otis Taylor's Contraband features Cassie Taylor, Larry Thompson, Anne Harris, Jon Paul Johnson, Chuck Campbell, Ron Miles, The Sheryl Renee Choir and more BOULDER, Colo.—Otis Taylor isn't defined by any single category. A musical alchemist and a true innovator, Taylor has never been afraid to experiment beyond the blues tradition. He's a master craftsman who has ...

Otis Taylor Announces Trance Jam Blues Festival Lineup, November 25-27

August 22, 2011

Bob Margolin, Tony Trischka, Don Vappie, George Porter Jr., Standing Bear and Cassie Taylor to appear at Thanksgiving weekend event in Boulder, Colorado Musicians, educators, singers and fans are invited to participate BOULDER, Colo.—The first annual Otis Taylor Trance Blues Jam Festival is a weekend of public workshops and jams for musicians and fans of all ...

Otis Taylor's 'Pentatonic Wars and Love Songs' Due out June 23

March 30, 2009

No one ever accused blues singer/composer/multi-instrumentalist Otis Taylor of overindulging in the happier aspects of the human condition. His songs are often peopled with characters whose emotional landscapeno matter how raw or dark is laid bare for all to experience, and the story is often less than pretty. But if love in any or all of ...