Dudley Taft leans into rock's roots and expresses himself with a bit more edge without sacrificing his signature blues style. His new album Simple Life is out now. The song "Give Me A Song" is held by a hummable riff, a thick groove and a singalong chorus. Taft enlisted the talents an all-star cast of musicians to round out his southern rockn'roll sound, including drummers Walfredo Reyes JR. [Santana, Chicago, Steve Winwood], Summer Rain collaborator Mike Taponga, and newcomer Chris Ellison.
On the album, the distorted swells of "Pouring Down" and "Shine" conjure signature spirits Seattle with a fresh fire. The latter might even be "the happiest grunge song ever," says Taft Everything concludes with an organic jam on "Back to You." It examines, "where you fuck up your relationship and you want to get back to your happy place".
The question isn't whether life's glass is half-full or half-empty; the point is to drink it all in deeply. This is music that celebrates life's triumphs despite its necessary pains and setbacks. These songs remind us we owe it to ourselves to keep it simple and fill our glass with love, laughter and loud music.
"I'm enjoying the Simple Life right," says Taft. "It's probably my most honest record. I freed myself from all of those self-imposed structures and allowed the music to happen." Taft went from co-founding Space Antelope alongside future Phish icon Trey Anastasio in high school to attending Berklee College of Music to founding Seattle staple Sweet Water. He joined Second Coming in 1997 and recorded the group's seminal self-titled debut, which yielded the Top 10 hit "Vintage Eyes" and "Soft." 2008 saw him kick off a successful solo career highlighted by a prolific string of releases: Left for Dead [2011], Deep Deep Blue [2013], Screaming in the Wind [2014] Skin and Bones [2015], and Summer Rain [2017]. In between canvasing the United States on tour, he enamored audiences across Europe. His impressive playing and intimate songcraft resounded around the globe with the European Blues Society nominating him for "Best Guitarist" in 2017.
