A Historical Man with a Historical Name
Henry St. Clair Fredricks was born to musically gifted parents. His father was a jazz pianist and composer, and his mother was a school teacher who sang gospel. At an early age, he was already immersed in the music scene and was already dabbling with different musical styles.
As a matter of fact, he named himself as Taj Mahal because it came to him in a dream. It seems he had lived up to the great name, as he has made a big name for himself in the blues scene. Mahal has won several Grammy awards and nominations for his various contemporary blues album and a Blues Music award for his “The Essential Taj Mahal.”
Musical Stylings
Mahal’s style parades an in-your-face smooth blend of blues and country, with a hearty sprinkle of cajun sass. Throughout his career, he branched out to other genres around the world. And that allowed him to explore his inner artist, as well as who he was. But, he never left the cool laid back vibe of his country blues origin.
Additionally, he is still actively touring up till now. Mahal has a current project that started in 2017. He teamed up with Keb’Mo to showcase blues on their TajMo duo.
Giving the Honky Tonk Blues
“Honky Tonk Women” was originally sung and released by The Rolling Stones back in 1969. The song sounded like that new wave rock vibe that they are known for. But for Mahal’s version, there is that Cajun sass that is uniquely Mahal’s as well as heavy hints of blues in the riffs of the guitar.
“Honky Tonk Women” was covered and released by Mahal in 1999 in his “Blue Light Boogie” album. You can take a listen to his version here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzjMJ4yuGnY
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