There’s simply no better pairing in the blues today than when Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ get together, as we heard and saw back in 2017 with their Grammy Award-winning debut collaboration TajMo, which also captured both the Album of the Year and Contemporary Blues Album honors at the annual Blues Music Awards (where Mahal additionally was named B.B. King Entertainer of the Year and best Acoustic Artist, while Mo’ was crowned best Contemporary Blues Male Artist). With their second album Room on the Porch (Concord Records), Taj and Keb’ invite everyone to continue to celebrate the music with them, with another delightful collection of tracks and a chemistry unlike any other artists can offer.
Although this TajMo album might be slightly mellower overall than their debut, it certainly isn’t any less captivating, inviting you in with the swaying Americana title track that opens the album with guest vocals from Ruby Amanfu, violin, and welcoming lyrics such as “all of our friends are now your friends, that’s how we do it here/ stay as long as you like, that’s alright, we got plenty of beer” and chorus of “come on up, there’s room on the porch for everyone”, and never letting you go, from such other swaying numbers as the “My Darling, My Dear” (with Keb’ on primary vocals as well as acoustic and slide guitar, banjo, octave mandolin, and percussion) that immediately follows; smooth, jazzy tracks such as the blues classic “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” with its soulful, gospelish backing vocals, and the sax-laced “Blues’ll Give You Back Your Soul” (“they say jazz’ll give you back your mind/ reggae, give you back your body/ I know you like rock/ and I know you like to roll/ but, the blues, these blues will give you back your soul”) that features Taj on ukulele as well as most of the vocals; and all the way through to a breezy “Better Than Ever” that finds Billy Branch on harmonica and Wendy Moten on backing vocals (and Taj even busting out some French!), and the Jontavious Willis-penned straightahead acoustic duet “Rough Time Blues” (our favorite track) that close the album, the latter with such lyrics from Taj as “at one time, you could take a hundred dollars, and you’d need help takin’ your groceries back/ you could take one C-note and you would need help takin’ your groceries back (Keb’: I remember, I remember) /you know, with that same old Franklin now, you could put everything you bought in one sack”. That’s the blues, baby, and, as advertised, these blues will indeed give you back your soul.
What these guys have more of than anyone else, you’ll find, is groove, something you can hear throughout the album, but particularly on numbers such as the bit more uptempo “She Keeps Me Moving” (which the duo co-wrote with John Oates, who also provides backing vocals), a flowing “Thicker Than Mud” and a gritty “Junkyard Dog” that gives Taj a perfect excuse to display the, shall we say, ruffer, growling, Wolfman Jack-like side of his vocals.
A worldly, vibraphone-filled “Make Up Your Mind” with Keb’ on acoustic guitar, steel drum, and harmonica as well as vocals rounds out the album, which, we should mention, also includes some top-notch playing throughout on Hammond organ and other keys (Jimmy Nichols, David Rodgers), drums and percussion (K. Roosevelt, Keio Stroud), bass and upright bass (Brian Allen, Anton Nesbit) and others in addition to the diverse range of instruments Taj and Keb’ themselves bring to the porch.
We won’t be surprised to see this latest from TajMo pick up a few awards of its own in the coming year. But we have a feeling that Taj and Keb’ could really care less about awards; for them, this album is clearly all about sharing their music, one (full) porch at a time if need be, but you better believe we’ll be playing this one often on ours!