When Bluesman Taj Majal Ready Tried To Drink All The Liquor In Costa Rica- Or Maybe Newark In New Jersey

By Sarah Lemoyne

[Seth Garth who had acted as my main mentor as a new hire before I got my own by-line has with the exception of my old nemesis Sam Lowell with whom I locked horns over the place of film noir in cinematic history more stories about happenings, his term, in the old days than you could shake a stick at, also him term. Those stories told around the office water cooler or at Jimmy Jack’s Tavern across from the Adams Building where we work can be about anything since he, along with the aforementioned Lowell worked the hard alternative newspaper drag when in order to survive you had to have a different slant on the news or cultural twirl, Seth’s term, against the mainstream noise or go under. Most of those operations did but that had more to do with the times changing in an ugly direction than the quirky looks guys like Seth (and Sam) threw at the established presses when that meant something.]        

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Seth Garth the old time music critic for the now long gone alternative newspaper The Eye who had followed all the trends in the folk world in the old days once his friend from high school, Jack Callahan, had turned him on to the genre after having heard some mountain music coming from a fugitive radio station one summer Sunday night still was interested in what was left of that world. More importantly who was still left still standing from that rough-hewn folk minute of the early 1960s. An important part of that interest centered on who still had “it” from among those who were still standing. Whose voice still could call out a song and who had enough presence to grace a smaller stage if they couldn’t.

That was no mere academic question but had risen quite sharply in the early part of 2002 when Seth, Jack and their respective wives had attended a Bob Dylan concert up in Augusta Maine and had come away disappointed, no, more than disappointed, shocked that Dylan had lost whatever voice he had had and depended increasingly on his backup singers and musicians. Dylan no longer had it, both agreed that they would have to be satisfied with listening to the old records, tapes, CDs, and YouTube. That single shocking event led subsequently to an earnest attempt to attend concerts and performances of as many of the old-time folkies as they could before they passed on. They have documented elsewhere some of those others some who have like Utah Phillips and Dave Van Ronk subsequently passed on but one night recently, a few months ago now, they were discussing one Taj Majal (stage name of a Springfield, Massachusetts-bred folk-singer, bluesman and all around talent not the famous wonder of the world in India) and how they had first heard him back in the day since in anticipation of seeing him in person up at the great concert hall overlooking the harbor at Rockport.      

Naturally enough if you knew Seth and Jack they disagreed on exactly where they had first seen him after Jack had hear him do a cover of the old country blues classic Corrina, Corrina on that fugitive folk program out of Rhode Island, WAFJ. Seth said the Club 47 over in Harvard Square in Cambridge and Jack said they had gone underground to the Unicorn over on Boylston Street in Boston. Of course those disputes never got resolved, never got final resolution. What was not disputed was that they had both been blown away by the performance of Taj and his small backup band that night. His blues mastery proved to them that someone from the younger generation was ready to keep the old-time blues tradition alive, including playing the old National Steel guitar that the likes of Son House and Bukka White created such great blues classic on. The highlight that night had been The Sky Is Crying which has been covered by many others since but not equaled.     

The track record of old-time folkies had been mixed as one would expect as the shocking Dylan experiences pointed out. Utah Phillips by the time they got to see him had lost it, David Bromberg still had it for two examples. The night they were discussing and disputing the merit of Taj’s case both agreed that he probably had lost it since that rough-hewn gravelly voice of his had like Dylan’s and Willie Nelson’s taken a beating with time and many performances. Needless to say, they should not have worried (although they did when old be-hatted Taj came out and immediately sat down not a good sign for prior experiences with other old-time performers) since Taj was smokin’ that night. Played the old Elmore James Television Blues on the National Steel like he was about twenty years old. Did his old version of Corrina proud and his version of CC Rider as well. Yeah, Taj still had it. But if you don’t believe a couple of old folkies and don’t get a chance to see him in person out your way then grab the album Shoutin’ In Key from the old days and see what they meant. See what they meant when women and men played folk and blues tunes for keeps. Got it.