Not A Palace In India

I know that Muddy Waters was really McKinley Morganfield, Howlin' Wolf was Chester Burnette, Sonny Boy Williamson was Rice Miller and so on. But I've no idea what the real name of the artist known as Taj Mahal is. The answer's probably out there on the net but it is of no importance. TM ( it seems a bit odd to refer to him as "Mahal" ) has had a long and distinguished career and has gone well beyond the realm of pure blues to dabble in many other forms of "world music" in various collaborations. But to me, this early album is a distillation of his art and has never been beaten. The Natch'l Blues only has nine tracks ( although three outtakes are included as bonus items on this cd ) but each is a superbly crafted gem. The feel is mainly thay of country blues, which remains intact and authentic despite there being a small electric band setting with very tasteful contributions on guitar from Jesse Edwin Davis and keyboard guesting from Al Kooper. TM provides national steel bodied guitar to give that country blues feel and stellar harmonica work, as well as strong characterful vocals. The final two tracks on the original album veer away from pure country into more of a Stax / Otis Redding feel, with the anguished You Don't Miss Your Water proving that TM can be a soul shouter of some note. She Caught The Katy, Corrinna; there are many wonderful tracks on this album which if anything has grown in stature over the years because when it was first released it stuck out slightly against the heavy blues rock of various guitar heroes in vogue at the time. It is those records that now seem the more dated.