Taj Mahal will always be special for my partner and me. When we were first dating, and getting to know each other’s musical interests, we discovered on a road trip to Montebello, QC, that we had a mutual fondness for the legendary blues and folk musician. In the car, somewhere around Thurso, she told me her favourite Taj Mahal song was Shady Grove.
Well damn. I’d never heard that one. An epic, endearing, bluesy, bluegrass, banjo courting song, Taj’s version runs nine minutes, but the traditional Appalachian folk song is known to have as many as 300 stanzas. The most famous version is the 1963 one by Doc Watson. I still prefer Taj’s take, which is rather difficult to find since it was originally rejected when recorded in the early 1970s. I sourced it on the 2012 compilation Hidden Treasures.
Seeing him perform the song live is just as rare, but I was hopeful when we saw him Sunday night at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. He had actually played it two weeks earlier in California, on the same tour. But alas. I was tempted to shout it out as a request, because the seats my gf got us were three rows from the man himself, who was seated centre stage surrounded by his instruments including a Recording King tricone resonator and Whyte Laydie-style banjo.
Taj, born Henry St. Claire Fredericks Jr., is still a towering — if lumbering — figure at age 81. He turns 82 in May. He remained seated the entire show, which was opened by Gambian traditional musician, educator and humanitarian Sona Jobarteh and her five-piece backing band. In his signature straw hat and shades, Mahal performed with a four-piece backing band — bassist Bill Rich, drummer Tony Dee, guitarist/Hawaiian lap steel player Bobby Ingano and Robert Greenidge on steel drums.
The man himself was in excellent form Sunday night — taking his time going through a setlist which demonstrated his broad spectrum of styles, while still dishing out fan-favourites like Corinna (from 1968’s Natch’l Blues), Fishin’ Blues and Take A Giant Step (from 1969’s Giant Step), Lovin’ In My Baby’s Eyes (from 1996’s Phantom Blues), and Queen Bee (from 1977’s Evolution). His voice is strong and loaded with character, and his playing is distinct, natural and seemingly second-nature. His percussive, melodic style was on full display. It is genuinely wonderful to watch a musician tune up without a digital tuner — calling out notes for the bass player to hit so that he can tune to them. He had a little trouble with the banjo. “It’s slippin’,” he said, as the crowd sat silently watching and waiting for him to get the instrument ready. “Startin’ to make me mad.”
This is truly a living legend, and one I’ve been enjoying for three decades, ever since I went in search of his music after a name-drop by none other than the late Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett. I was reading something about Barrett (with whom the teenage me was obsessed); I believe it was an interview with the troubled musician shortly before he left the business. Barrett was asked what music he was currently listening to, and he indicated Taj Mahal. The first thing I found was the freshly rereleased Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus, originally recorded in 1968 but shelved until 1996 because the Stones weren’t happy with their performance. It was the last one with Brian Jones, who died seven months later. The band was wildly upstaged by The Who. Taj Mahal performed third — right after The Who — doing Ain’t That A Lot Of Love, from Natch’l Blues. This sent me on a buying spree — getting most of his early albums, including the soundtrack for the 1972 film Sounder. Mahal was also a musical backdrop for my kids, providing the delightful theme music for the PBS/TVO animated series Peep and the Big Wide World.
This song, believe it or not, is what solidified my fandom and preference for his banjo songs like Shady Grove and much of the Sounder soundtrack. If I could change anything about Sunday night’s performance, I woiuld have him play more unaccompanied songs. Mahal’s band were good, but I found them to be a bit bland. I much prefer the kind of arrangement you see in this video from 2015, featuring him serenading New Orleans’ French quarter from a horse-drawn carriage.
Mahal is an incredible character. An incredible, unique talent. I would have liked to see that isolated a bit more. But it was still a show I will remember for a very long time.
If you’re among the uninitiated, here’s a nice introductory playlist I made:
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Area Resident is an Ottawa-based journalist, recording artist, music collector and re-seller. Hear (and buy) his music on Bandcamp, email him HERE, follow him on Instagram and check him out on Discogs.
