by Phillip Smith
After a Jimi Hendrix tribute
concert, Taylor and friend, Mato Nanji, were backstage discussing the history
of the Native American. Within that
discussion, Mato, member of the Nakota Nation, uttered the statement, “My World
is Gone”. At that point they both
realized what they needed to write about: the trials and tribulations of the
Native American as it tries to retain the remaining bits of its culture. That is what this album is all about. Running the usual gambit of topics, My World is Gone touches on drinking, racism,
lost love, and murder. Just over half of
the tracks, feature special guest, Mato Nanji, front man for the band
Indigenous and member of 3 Skulls and the Truth, on lead guitar. Mato is quickly becoming one my favorite
guitarists to listen to.
Otis has an interesting way
of taking the blues and serving it up in his own very unique style, oftentimes
transporting the listener into a trance-like state, with steady background
beats and rhythms. From the first and
title track, “My World is Gone”, one of the collaborations with Mato, I am
totally on-board with the musical journey which awaits. In this one, Anne Harris adds a nice little
folky presence with an ever-so-soft fiddle accompaniment. In “Lost My Horse”, Tayor and Mato sing about
alcoholism and the dire consequences that were the direct result. In this song, a man whose father was a runaway
slave and whose mother was a Navajo woman, loses his horse, his most important
possession, due to drinking. Soon after,
he realizes it is only a matter of time before he loses his mind. The history lesson continues in “Sand Creek
Massacre Mourning”, recounting the despicable atrocities of the 1864 attack by
Colonel John Chivington along with 700 of his troops on a village of friendly Cheyenne
and Arapaho encamped in southeastern Colorado Territory. The song has a certain
military cadence to it; the kind one would hear preceding an execution. Taylor’s banjo picking combined with and Ron
Miles cornet playing, gives this a little The
Good, The Bad, and the Ugly touch.
I love the infectiousness of
“Huckleberry Blues”, as Taylor keeps a constant rhythm on banjo behind some
really nice jazzy cornet playing by Ron Miles. Taylors strong and soulful
vocals remind a bit of Isaac Hayes. Other favorites include “Gangster and Iztatoz
Chauffeur”, and “Green Apples”. Both
heavily doused in the washtub of trance blues, have such an instant likeability.
I liked this album from the
first listen, and the pleasure I get from it increases with each subsequent
listen.
