One Man Band

Ok, well I don't really do many reviews but I was wandering through the Red Shed this afternoon and espied this CD/DVD set. It's a live concert by James Taylor called One Man Band - just himself and his acoustic guitar backed up by a piano player and interspersed with stories around the writing of the songs - where they came from and where he was when he wrote them. All the classics are here: Fire and Rain, You've Got A Friend, Shower The People, Carolina on My Mind - over two hours in all.

James Taylor was one of the inspirations for me when I was learning guitar - James and David Gates and Paul Simon. I read a review of James' playing once, and the reviewer got it dead-on when he said that his every vocal line is punctuated with a guitaristic nod or wink-of-the-eye. You don't really see guitar players like this any more: well, I don't anyway. The players I see on videos these days have this stumdy-strum basic accompaniment; this is a player still in full control of his powers.

After watching this I was inspired  to pull out my guitar for what seems like the first time in ages and play those songs again. I thought I might have forgotten how to play them, but it came back.

If you're a JT fan, you'll LOVE this set and if you're not a fan then it's not to late to become one!