Twangy, relaxed, confessional country duets

Hit songwriter Chip Taylor’s performing career is having quite a second act. Or third, or maybe fourth. After his initial foray as a singles artist netted little success in the early ‘60s, Taylor penned a string of hit titles for others (including “I Can’t Let Go,” “Wild Thing,” “Country Girl, City Man,” and “Angel of the Morning”). In the 1970s he embarked on a moderately successful second pass at recording with a string of solo works. His songwriting continued to make more headway than his performing, and at decade’s end, he retired from the music business (apparently to become a professional gambler). He resurfaced in 1996 with Hit Man, an album of newly recorded versions of songs others had made hits, and the following year returned as a contemporary songwriter with The Living Room Tapes.

What was clear from his new songs, which continued across a trio of albums on his own Train Wreck label, was that Taylor had returned to performing and writing with more rustic country intentions than with which he’d left at the end of the 1970s. The roots movement had opened up space for country-oriented singer-songwriters to lay down their wares without the interferance of anything Nashville, and that space could just as well benefit old masters as young guns. What sent Taylor’s performing career to the next level, however, was his meeting of fiddler Carrie Rodriguez. Taking her on tour as an instrumentalist and backing singer, he gradually drew her out as a duet singing partner for 2002’s Let’s Leave This Town.

This 2005 release is their third, and the chemistry that was immediate on the debut has greatly deepened. The growing confidence in their vocal interplay allows them to sing more leisurely and provides more breathing space for their music. Acoustic bassist Jim Whitney keys the band’s relaxed pace, and Bill Frisell’s guitar winds all around the vocals. Rodriguez’s fiddle is heard more as accompaniment than solo, the focus staying with the vocals and occasional instrumental flourishes. Taylor wrote most of the songs, co-writing one with Rodriguez, pulling two from Hank Williams (“My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It” and “I Can’t Help It If I’m Still in Love With You”) and one from the public domain (“Elzick’s Farewell”).

Taylor’s songs retain the folkiness of his earlier days, particularly as rendered with relaxed tempos and quiet instrumental passages that provide reflective moments between verses. The contrast of his rougher vocal tone to Rodriguez’s plaintive style works especially well as they converse in melody, employing long drawn notes and an intimate, confessional tone. The ease with which they sing together demonstrates the pairing that began as a serendipitous meeting at SXSW has blossomed into a complete partnership. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

Chip Taylor’s MySpace Page
Carrie Rodriguez’s MySpace Page
Train Wreck Records