![]() "Happy Day (Sister My Sister)" is glorious, uplifting country-soul gospel. The steamy slide guitar break is icing on the cake. "Cracked Windshield" harkens back to the Lateness of Dancers era, but "As the Crow Flies" offers the kind of Wurlitzer line Spooner Oldham minted: it gets grafted onto a raucous, Memphis-style rockabilly piano - à la Jim Dickinson's Dixie Fried - and multi-tracked lead and backing vocals recall a David Porter production. Mandolin, banjo, Wurlitzer, and backing singers buoy Taylor's delivery: ".Is it too heavy honey/Did I carry my piece of the fire? …If you let me honey/I'll set the world on fire for you…." The swampy, funky gospel blues in "Like a Mirror Loves a Hammer," with its nasty clavinet, multi-tracked saxophones, and plodding bassline wed the eeriness of the early Staple Singers, the soaring choruses of Joe South, and the funky jamming of the Meters. The title track is a tender, taut reflection of self-doubt, vulnerability, and commitment. "Biloxi" opens with congas and a drum kit, strummed acoustic guitars, Taylor's mandolin, and a high-lonesome Dobro that weds country and soul à la Delaney & Bonnie. Newcomers include vocalists Tift Merritt and Sonyia Turner, and saxophonist Michael Lewis. His cast includes old friends Phil and Bradley Cook of Megafaun, Bon Iver drummer/percussionist Matt McCaughan, and Mountain Man vocalist Alexandra Sauser-Monnig. These songs reflect a period in 2015 when Taylor struggled with the decision to forsake the security a day job offered his family and pursue music full-time. Heart Like a Levee is another step forward its roots come from the soul, funky R&B, and gospel-ized blues the South delivered so abundantly during the1960s and '70s via Muscle Shoals, Stax, Volt, Hi, Goldwax, and Josie. ![]() Taylor's Hiss Golden Messenger embraced a more blues- and gospel-oriented sound without leaving behind their trademark folk-inspired Americana. ![]()
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