music.wikisort.org - Composition

White African is an album by the American musician Otis Taylor, released in 2001.[2][3]

White African
Studio album by Otis Taylor
Released	2001
Recorded	2000
Genre	Blues
Label	NorthernBlues Music[1]
Producer	Kenny Passarelli
Otis Taylor chronology
When Negroes Walked the Earth (1997) White African (2001) Respect the Dead (2002)

The album won Taylor a W. C. Handy Award for best new blues artist.[4]

Production

Recorded in 2000, the album was produced by Kenny Passarelli, who also played bass.[5][6] Taylor's daughter Cassie sang on the album.[7] The album booklet contains mugshots of Black men arrested for vagrancy in Kansas in the early part of the 20th century.[8] Taylor played a 1949 Gibson L-50 guitar.[9]

"Saint Martha Blues" references the lynching of Taylor's great-grandfather.[10] "Lost My Horse" is about alcoholism.[11] "3 Days and 3 Nights" deals with the consequences of a lack of affordable medical care.[12]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[13]
Calgary Herald	[14]
Robert Christgau	[15]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[16]
The Gazette	[17]
Ottawa Citizen	[6]
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings	[5]

Robert Christgau praised "My Soul's in Louisiana" and "Saint Martha Blues".[15] The Gazette wrote that Taylor "draws you into the songs with riveting, trance-like rhythms that lend powerful support to his passionate, often angry, vocals."[17] The Commercial Appeal noted that the album "ties [John Lee] Hooker's guitar style to socially and politically charged lyrics."[18]

The Globe and Mail stated that "the album's minimalist trance-blues are delivered with a sparse elegance through Taylor's gruff vocals and acoustic guitar, banjo and mandolin."[19] The Calgary Herald deemed White African "a stunning display of traditional blues in a sparse and timeless context."[14] The Philadelphia Inquirer called Taylor "a contemporary artist who captures the stark immediacy of traditional blues while sounding like no one else."[20]

AllMusic wrote: "Greatly influenced by John Lee Hooker, the very soulful Taylor often favors moody, dusky, haunting grooves."[13]

Track listing

References

---