Sho' Nuff Makes Me Feel Alright

The Down Home Blues Of Taj Mahal
July 29, 2011

Like a tree, the blues has many roots. Taj Mahal was one of the first, if not the first to explore those roots, connecting the dots between the blues as we know it in America today with its West African and Caribbean heritage --- the route of the transatlantic slave trader's. As the African slave trade made its way to the New World in the 17th Century, particularly to the shores of the Americas, the neighboring West Indian Islands were used as 'seasoning camps' where the so called 'cargo' were tortured and 'broken' (much like the breaking of horses) for the purpose of conditioning them for their new lives as laborers or indentured servants in their new home. The island of Jamaica was an especially notorious seasoning camp where countless enslaved Africans who had managed to survive the Middle Passage, instead perished at the hands of their heartless captors in what is now considered a tropical paradise. In tracing the journey that was then used in the Second Atlantic System of slave trade, we would travel from West Africa to the West Indies, to the eventual shores of North and South America. Once here, these uprooted millions, this human cargo, these livings souls so ruthlessly torn from their homeland turned to the one universal form of expression that is easily understood by all. An expression utilized not only to communicate with one another, but also to ease their suffering at the hands of their heartless captors --- the power of music. From that starting place hundreds of years ago, the intermingling of Blacks from many nations who brought their indigenous music with them by way of the Antilles to North American soil developed a new form that over centuries slowly gave birth to what we today call the 'blues.'

Taj Mahal is a blues practitioner, one of the first to embrace his African and West Indian lineage by incorporating music taken from the home of his ancestors into his own brand of contemporary blues. A few weeks back I offered 'Nothin' But The Real Thing: The World Blues Of Taj Mahal,' a two volume set of Mahal's work that was intended to showcase his fusion of roots music (with a strong focus on his blend of West African folk and Caribbean rhythms) placed within the blues context. This week with 'Sho' Nuff Makes Me Feel Alright: The Down Home Blues Of Taj Mahal,' I extend two more volumes whose focal point this time around dwells more on Mahal's Electric, Delta, and Country blues --- the musical offspring of his forefather's hardships in America. Additionally included are Mahal's examples of how this new music then found its way into gospel, Cajun, soul, rhythm and blues, and rock --- the stepchildren of the blues.

O.K., history lesson over and none too soon. We're talking about the blues after all, a music based on feeling. This academic approach is essentially my writing a doctoral thesis some 35 years too late.

I previously mentioned in the essay that accompanied '...The Real Thing' that I considered Taj Mahal to be an innovator, one who not only presented a well rounded diorama of the history of blues, but also a much needed fresh perspective on what has become a well worn music. When you think about it, there hasn't really been a great deal of evolution in blues since perhaps the 1960's when electric rock bands took the form into dangerously indulgent 'jam' territory, a move which in my opinion nearly threatened to kill the music entirely. Since then (with a few exceptions) the blues as a 'form' has remained relatively static with most participants mining a hybrid of electrified Chicago and Texas blues rock. When Mahal broadened his palette in the mid-70's, his detractors criticized him for straying too far from the traditional constructs, seemingly forgetting that while the likes of Cream, Foghat, and Ten Years After were busy bludgeoning the genre, Mahal meanwhile was offering perhaps the most honest and authentic American blues of the day --- a combination of Delta, Country, Soul, Folk, Memphis, Pre-War Gospel, and Spiritual blues. It wasn't until later that he began exploring his heritage more deeply and adopting his extended global perspective. With 'Sho' Nuff Makes Me Feel Alright' I'd like to focus on that purist side of Mahal, hoping to demonstrate that while capable of embracing his transatlantic roots, he was then and remains today very much a blues traditionalist, not to mention a blues historian.

About The Music

Volume 1

There are a couple of performances that I'd like to point out. First, check out Mahal's two versions of Robert Johnson's, 'Dust My Broom' which was popularized by Elmore James in 1951. The first is an acoustic treatment with Taj playing some very tasty slide guitar, while the second is electric and features the great Jesse Ed Davis who additionally appears on various tracks throughout. Both are superb renditions and worth a good listen. There are also several outstanding examples of Mahal's affinity for Delta and Country blues commandingly played on either acoustic guitar, dobro, banjo, or National Steel guitar. Maybe harp too.

'A Soulful Little Tune (Um, Um, Umm, Umm, Um)' is a charming example of the most basic of blues --- a simple verse over handclaps that one might easily imagine being sung by Tobacco Road children in the 1930's Deep South.

Meanwhile apparently channeling the ghost of Otis Redding, Mahal more than successfully dives into Deep soul with his masterful performance on 'That's How Strong My Love Is' and 'You Don't Miss Your Water ('Til Your Well Runs Dry). Absolutely killer.

Finally on 'Sweet Home Chicago,' Mahal's performance is quite admirable, but the original Pointer Sisters who provide background vocals nearly upstage him with their very powerful accompaniment. As down home as it gets.

Volume 2

Solid throughout. Blues in all its shades, including Pacific auqamarine. My favorites might be 'Tom & Sally Drake,' 'Woulda Coulda Shoulda,' 'Lovin' In My Baby's Eyes' and 'I Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Steal My Jellyroll.'

'Cajun Waltz' has an easy, languid feel to it while 'Big Legged Mommas Are Back In Style' is a boogie woogie number that jumps from beginning to end. 'But I Rode Some' rocks too. Good stuff all around.

Sho' Nuff Makes Me Feel Alright, Vol.1

1) Honky Tonk
2) Ain't That A Lot Of Love
3) You're Gonna' Need Somebody On Your Bond
4) Fishing Blues
5) Dust My Broom (Acoustic)
6) She Caught The Katy (And Left A Mule To Ride)
7) You Don't Miss Your Water ('Til Your Well Run Dry)
8) Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl
9) A Little Soulful Tune (Um, Um, Umm, Umm, Um)
10) Six Days On The Road
11) Sweet Home Chicago
12) A Free Song (Rise Up Children, Shake The Devil Out Yer Soul)
13) Corrina (Live)
14) That's How Strong My Love Is
15) Colored Aristocracy
16) Dust My Broom (Electric)
17) Little Brown Dog
18) Suva Serenade
19) Blues With Feeling
20) Built For Comfort
21) Needed Time

Sho' Nuff Makes Me Feel Alright, Vol.2

1) Country Blues, No.#1
2) Someday Be A Change
3) Tomorrow May Not Be Your Day
4) The New Hula Blues
5) Farther On Down The Road (You Will Accompany Me)
6) Cajun Waltz
7) Little Red Hen
8) Tom & Sally Drake
9) You Ain't No Street Walker Mama, Honey But I Do Love The Way You Strut Your Stuff
10) Woulda Coulda Shoulda
11) Blind Boy Rag
12) John Henry
13) Things Are Gonna' Work Out Fine
14) Big Legged Mommas Are Back In Style
15) Cajun Tune
16) Lovin' In My Baby's Eyes
17) But I Rode Some
18) I Ain't Gonna' Let Nobody Steal My Jellyroll



Source material for 'Sho' Nuff Makes Me Feel Alright, Vols.1&2' comes from the following:
Rock and Roll Circus (1968)/The Natch'l Blues (1968)
Giant Step (1969)/De Ole Folks At Home (1969)
Happy Just To Be Like I Am (1971)/The Real Thing (1971)
Recycling The Blues & Other Related Stuff (1972)
Sounder Soundtrack (1972)/Ooh So Good 'n Blues (1973)
Mo' Roots (1974)/Live & Direct (1979)
Mule Bone (1991)/Like Never Before (1991)
Dancing The Blues (1993)/Phantom Blues (1996)
Sacred Island (1998)/In Progress & In Motion (1998)
Shoutin' In Key (2000)/Etta Baker With Taj Mahal (2004)

Taj Mahal plays
guitar, dobro, National Steel guitar, banjo, upright bass, piano, kalimba, recorder, penny whistle, and harmonica