Otis Taylor – Below the Fold

Contemporary songwriter testifies to the blues’ continued vitality

On his latest, Otis Taylor reclaims the banjo and fiddle—once mainstays of black string bands—busting out of the gates with opener “Feel Like Lightning,” a song loosely based on the civil-rights anthem “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round.” Taylor’s seemingly improvised songs build formidable trance grooves around the exceptional work of his backing musicians, his style resembling a country-folk version of spontaneous, talking-blues master John Lee Hooker.