Guitar Master Dudley Taft Is Screaming in the Wind on Latest CD, Coming May 20 from American Blues Artist Group
New Album of Blues-Rock Produced by Grammy-Winner Tom Hambridge Features Special Guest Reese Wynans on Keyboards
CINCINNATI, OH – Blues-rock guitarist Dudley Taft announces a May 20 release date for his new CD, Screaming in the Wind,
on his American Blues Artist Group label. The new album was produced by
Grammy-winner Tom Hambridge, best-known for his work with Buddy Guy,
Susan Tedeschi, George Thorogood and Johnny Winter, and recorded at The
Switchyard and Rendering Plant in Nashville, as well as Taft’s new
Muchmore Studio in Cincinnati. The new recording facility is part of the
house and property Dudley recently purchased from legendary guitarist
Peter Frampton.
The
new CD features a dozen songs, most of which are originals penned by
Dudley Taft, including several co-written with Tom Hambridge (who also
plays drums on a couple tracks) and Richard Fleming, plus scintillating
covers of songs by Skip James (“Hard Time Killing Floor Blues”) and
Freddie King (“Pack It Up”).
“Screaming in the Wind is
my third solo effort and the first album I’ve done produced by someone
outside the band. Several songwriting sessions in Nashville with
producer Tom Hambridge and songwriter Richard Fleming helped the songs
take shape before recording them,” says Taft. “It was refreshing to work
with other great songwriters for the first time, and it gives Screaming in the Wind a different flavor.”
Taft’s
regular band of John Kessler on bass and Jason Patterson drums is
augmented by the addition of former Stevie Ray Vaughan keyboard player
Reese Wynans on the sessions. “Reese plays some wicked B3 organ on the
CD,” exclaims Taft. “He really shines on a bunch of the songs, elevating
them to levels I never imagined. Check out his ripping solo on ‘The
Reason Why’.”
Other special guests on Screaming in the Wind include
the acclaimed McCrary sisters, who bring their smooth gospel harmonies
to the song “Barrio,” while the Muscle Shoals Horn Section shines on
“Pack It Up.”
“So
far, I have done a Freddie King song on every CD, and this was no
exception,” states Taft. “I love the funky vibe and tight arrangement of
‘Pack It Up.’ We poured gasoline on it and lit a match.”
The
title track of the album started as a custom instrumental riff Taft did
for the “American Blues Scene” website. “They told me it should be a
song,” he recalls, “and I think it may have turned out to be one of the
strongest on the album. Tom Hambridge and I worked hard to find the key
imagery in the lyrics to tell the story.”
Speaking
of instrumentals, Dudley Taft really cuts loose on the appropriately
named track, “Red Line,” demonstrating why he’s been dubbed one of the
hottest guitarists on the planet. Fans of classic ZZ Top riffs will be
smiling from ear-to-ear when they hear Taft “spanking the plank” on that
one.
“The
riff from Skip James’ ‘Hard Time Killing Floor Blues’ got stuck in my
head last year,” Taft remembers. “I thought giving it a Led Zeppelin
‘Black Dog kind of interpretation would make it fresh.”
The
final song on the CD, “Say You Will,” has what Taft calls “an epilogue,
where the gears shift and a David Gilmour influence surfaces, taking
the listener off into oblivion. That was such a fun track to record!”
Dudley Taft’s last CD, Deep Deep Blue,
released in May, 2013, received universal acclaim from fans and critics
alike, including being named on several “best of” lists at the end of
that year. He will support the new CD release with touring both in the
U.S. and overseas, where he already has a European tour planned in May
and June that will take him to the Netherlands and Germany.
