On June 9, in New York City, the Songwriters Hall of Fame had their annual ceremony. Composers inducted in the class of 2016 included Tom Petty, Marvin Gaye [1939-1984], Elvis Costello and James Wesley Voight, known as Chip Taylor, 76, an outlaw country singer who, like Willie Nelson, rejected Nashville's strict 1970s conformity. Unlike Willie, though, who packed up and moved to Austin, Taylor packed up and quit the music business entirely in 1980 to become a professional gambler. The brother of actor Jon Voight and volcanologist Barry Voight certainly wasn't going to listen to anybody tell him how to make his music.
Sixteen years later in 1996, much richer, Taylor returned to music as something of an elder statesman. After all, this was the guy who, as a 20something, wrote the iconic "Wild Thing" (The Troggs, 1966). Jimi Hendrix used the song to set his guitar on fire at the 1967 Monterey Pop festival. He wrote "Angel of the Morning" (Merrilee Rush, 1975) and "Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)" (Janis Joplin, 1969). Other songs of his have been recorded by Frank Sinatra, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield and, yeah, Willie.
Little Brothers (Train Wreck Records) came out earlier this year with a picture of him and his two brothers as children. He co-produced it, wrote it, plays acoustic guitar and sings some harmony with himself. It's a casual session filled with folksy wisdom and he even tells a few stories (something you never hear on a CD by singer/songwriters who usually let their music do the talking). No, ol' Chip is folksy enough to tell a few tales in that appealing drawl of his. It's like sitting in his living room.
Taylor leaves us with a dedication. Written within the packaging for the EP, he says, "this album is for all who strive to achieve and face the emotional difficulties of either failing to reach those goals...or achieving them. With special love and thanks to the grandkids, my granddaughters, who lent their spirit and lovely voices to these songs..."
Chip Taylor and singer/songwriter Carrie Rodriguez will hit the Canadian road together in September at Sherwood Park in Edmonton (14), Elks Lodge in Red Deer (15), River Park Church in Calgary (16), Braeside Community Centre in Calgary (17) and Geomatic Attic in Lethbridge (18).
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