Maurice Hope – September 21, 2016 at 11:58AM
Tags:_AMERICANA
Chip Taylor is an extraordinary talent. A honoured hit songwriter, recording act, and recent inductee into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame (New York, June 9th 2016). His induction came alongside Marvin Gaye, Tom Petty and Elvis Costello and it wasn’t a day too early, because here is a man who not only wrote “Wild Thing”, “Angel Of The Morning” and “Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)” plus the likes of “Son Of A Rotten Gambler”, and since his return to the fold back in 1996 he has recorded one after another concept album.
(Photo by Molly Goldrick)
Digging a little deeper each time Chip Taylor is a man and a half and then some. He was a professional gambler during the 1980s and 1990s, and as a youngster he was a pretty good golfer. Little Brothers is an album loosely built around his two brothers, Barry Voight (volcanologist) and award-winning actor John Voight and other family members too.
August 2015 on tour in Sweden and Norway with Goran Grini (keyboards) he stays at a place where there are three large buildings, and other recollections are brought to the table for tracks 5 and 6, “Refugee Children”. Taylor’s story of that day is opened with a beautiful monologue; his eye for detail and the fashion he is always searching out the meaning of life, family ties and in this case a group of refugee children, seeing them fishing the local brook off a small bridge shortly after he arrived. It prompted Chip to write a song about the plight of refugees and as a bonus you get to hear the angelic harmonies of his granddaughters Riley, Kate and Sammy Ennis. I wonder if they are going to be tempted to further their talent in music?
Taylor’s conversational style suits him well. In little to no time Taylor becomes like a long lost old friend, as he gives updates on his brothers families and wife Joan. Yes, he struggles vocally, but given the right story and accompaniment and in half-spoken world he still has much to offer. As heard on “Enlighten Yourself” and “Barry And Buffalo” which is a story about his brother, Barry and his granddaughter, Alex and a golf competition trip. Arguably the best track on the record is “Little Brothers”, a humourus and lovely little story song that came to Taylor in a dream. it is also one of the tracks that has his old friend, tour partner and picker John Platania (nylon guitar) reunited with the Yonkers-born act.
Maurice Hope
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