Sitting here listening to the sophomore release from Dudley Taft, it dawned on me why his music is so appealing to me. In a sometimes(usually) singles driven music industry, I think a lot of us get carried away with focusing on a particular track rather the entire release. While his music is full of hooks and potential single ipod fodder, the body of work consumed in it’s entirety is when it is at it’s best. Deep, Deep Blue is the full meal deal with dessert!
He takes “Meet Me In The Morning” by Bob Dylan and applies a very tasty riff and voila…we have a mild blues rock dish fit for a king, which reminds me, he lays down some very healthy riffage as he takes “Palace Of The King” on a thrill ride and makes it his own. The guitars build into a frenzy and the crescendo is awesome! Most definitely a killer jam! I almost grabbed my lighter and started shouting “Freebird”!!!
Taft seems to settling in nicely to the blues-rock scene and he wears it well. In another life he was one of the engineers of the Seattle grunge movement as a member of Sweetwater, who by the way shared the bill with Pearl Jam for their first show. Of course big time music buffs know that PJ was called Mookie Blaylock at the time and later changed the name to avoid a lawsuit. What am I even doing talking about that here? This is a blues site! Oh yeah, I remember, I’m laying down a quick history of how Dudley got here from there. So after Sweetwater he moves on to a band called Second Coming….everyone really expected this band to go skyhigh, they had a huge record deal, they wrote and performed “Unknown Rider” for the Bruce Willis flick “The Sixth Sense”….it’s a really long story(ask Dudley sometime, he’ll tell ya)but Capitol Records pulled the plug. After a few other local music projects, Dudley Taft decided to go back to his roots….the roots that made him want to start playing in the first place. Okay, that wasn’t too long but I think that sheds some light on why he is writing in this album mentality. He even admits it himself that he just grew tired of trying to write radio hits.
So Deep Deep Blue might lead us to believe he is heading deep into the blues and while he clearly is grabbing his inspiration from the masters and Deep Deep Blue is a bluesy, he is putting out his own brand of music. I dare you to try to label it.I tried and I hear Blues, Rock, Classic Rock, Southern Rock, Funk, Blues-Rock, Soul, Country and disco….just kidding, no disco but just about everything else that is great about music.
Track 3 is called “God Forbid” which is an extension of the title track from “Left For Dead”….Dudley is quite the story teller and he even made a video to explain the thinking behind that compelling saga. God Forbid Trailer
Track 6 is called “Feeling Good Now” and it is as funky as it comes. I like that track a lot….the horn section is mixed in brilliantly and the song is a ton of fun to listen to. Dudley goes off on one of his patented shred-fests to finish that song off with a bang. Song 7, “Wishing Well” smells a whole lot like Steve Earle and the Allman Brothers to me. Track 8 “Satisfy You” has some seriously filthy Texas guitar work ala ZZ Top and the song comes equipped with a turn around leading into the chorus that is a bit addicting and Dudley shows off his ability to even sound a little bit, dare I say “Poppish”…is that even a word? It reminded me of Badfinger.
Final word. Get this album when it comes out on May 7. Then find a nice place to sit and listen to the whole thing, front to back. This release further demonstrates that Dudley is in the blues-rock genre for good.
Track Listing
1. Meet Me in the Morning
2. The Waiting
3. God Forbid
4. Sally Can’t Dance
5. Deep Deep Blue
6. Feeling Good Now
7. Wishing Well
8. Satisfy You
9. Bandit Queen
10. Palace of the King
11. Shanks Akimbo
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