(SOUNDBITE OF TAJ MAHAL SONG, "LEAVING TRUNK")
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, HOST:
In 1968, Taj Mahal introduced himself to the world with a blue standard called "Leaving Trunk."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LEAVING TRUNK")
TAJ MAHAL: (Singing) I went upstairs to pack my leaving trunk.
FOLKENFLIK: It was the start of a career that would take him far beyond the blues - a voyage through folk, soul, Caribbean rhythm - just about anywhere his curiosity would take him.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BLACKJACK DAVEY")
TAJ MAHAL: (Singing) Blackjack Davey come a riding through these woods, singing him a song so gayly
FOLKENFLIK: And now, 60 albums later, the recently turned 84-year-old musician is back with a new project. It's called "Time."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TIME")
TAJ MAHAL: (Singing) Time was all I needed to get over this thing for you.
FOLKENFLIK: Taj Mahal joins us now to discuss the album. Taj Mahal, welcome.
TAJ MAHAL: Thanks for having me, David.
FOLKENFLIK: This song was actually written by the late Bill Withers. He's, of course, the legend of R&B. It was previously unreleased. How did it land in your lap and on this album, Taj?
TAJ MAHAL: Well, part of the story is that Bill and I were friends, and when he came out to California and began his music career, he was looking around for like-minded people. And this guy had wonderful hits - "Ain't No Sunshine."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AIN'T NO SUNSHINE")
BILL WITHERS: (Singing) Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.
TAJ MAHAL: I mean, that's the kind of hit - if you didn't have another hit, that will hold you. And he just came on one after another - "Grandma's Hands."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GRANDMA'S HANDS")
WITHERS: (Singing) Grandma's hands clapped in church on Sunday mornings.
TAJ MAHAL: And wonderful tunes, you know. But the record company really decided that, here's where the hit music is. And he said, no, I'm not going there, I don't need some backup singers and a loud rock guitar player and some synthesizers and horns, and I'm not going to speed up my beats.
(SOUNDBITE OF BILL WITHERS SONG, "GRANDMA'S HANDS")
TAJ MAHAL: But anyway, this is one of the songs that got left on the table.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TIME")
TAJ MAHAL: (Singing) Time will heal the feeling...
Then when we did - we eventually recorded it, his wife, Marcia, she liked it. And then when she heard the release of it, she liked it even more.
FOLKENFLIK: Withers decided to stop making music in the '80s. How well did you understand Bill Withers' choice to pull back?
TAJ MAHAL: Oh, I understood his choice. The record industry never came after me. Part of it is, is that they knew right away, don't mess with this guy, he's not interested in, you know, schmoozing with you and doing all that other kind of stuff that a lot of guys did to their detriment. They chew you up, and they spit you out. What I was doing and what I've been all along is I've been connected to culture. You look at how I dress to represent Black cowboys who were never represented. You know, the jeans represented the working-class people. I used to be a farmer. I go for the real salt-of-the-earth people. That's what I've been representing. And culturally, music from African people accompanies everything we do. And I wanted to show to the world, particularly to people here in the West, that you owe a debt of gratitude to Africans for creating the rhythms, the music, setting the situation up for rock 'n' roll. For me, the common denominator in all of it is Africa.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TIME")
TAJ MAHAL: (Singing) Time will see you through.
FOLKENFLIK: This album, in fact, showcases so many different musical genres. There's blues and soul and R&B but also reggae and salsa.
(SOUNDBITE OF TAJ MAHAL & PHANTOM BLUES BAND SONG, "YOU PUT THE WHAMMY ON ME")
FOLKENFLIK: What does the act of creating music, stitching together from so many traditions - what does that do for you?
TAJ MAHAL: I know my ancestors are happy because I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. This is what I got sent here to do. I didn't get sent here to cause trouble. You know, I didn't get sent here to poison the population. I didn't get sent here to GMO the seeds. You know what I'm saying? I got sent here to play music, which will soothe people and help them have pleasant moments in their life.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU PUT THE WHAMMY ON ME")
TAJ MAHAL: (Singing) You put the whammy on with me. Whammy on me. Put the whammy on me. Whammy on me. When you shook that short, that bet, you put the whammy on with me.
FOLKENFLIK: I want to play for our listeners just a little snippet of your reimagining of a Bob Marley song. It's called "Talkin' Blues."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TALKIN' BLUES")
TAJ MAHAL: (Singing) Cold ground was my bed last night. Bed last night. And rocks for my pillow too.
FOLKENFLIK: That song features Bob Marley's oldest son, Ziggy Marley.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TALKIN' BLUES")
ZIGGY MARLEY: (Singing) But I'm going to stare in the sun and let the rays shine in my eyes.
FOLKENFLIK: What was it like to work with him?
TAJ MAHAL: Well, it was the second time I worked with him. You know, Bob thinks of me - thought of me as his uncle. And Ziggy thinks of me as his uncle.
FOLKENFLIK: How come?
TAJ MAHAL: Because of how much older I was than Bob was at the time, and uncle is a term of endearment. You know, my own father, his people were from St. Kitts and Nevis, 200 nautical miles southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico. And my stepfather was Jamaican. So I've always been connected to the Caribbean, to Africa, South America. All those kind of things are what I hear. And so I was like, why am I just holding this stuff off to the side? I said, no, disseminate it. Put it out there, you know, so people can enjoy it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TALKIN' BLUES")
MARLEY: (Singing) On the inside.
FOLKENFLIK: I'm told you grew up in a musical household, as well as one that crossed borders. How did that affect your taste in music?
TAJ MAHAL: You know, my mother was a schoolteacher and a gospel singer that came from South Carolina. Her father was a classically trained Caribbean pianist, you know, who arranged music and composed music, playing everything from Bach to swing. We as young people were introduced to all of that but from an African perspective.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ASK ME 'BOUT NOTHING (BUT THE BLUES)")
TAJ MAHAL: (Singing) Ask me who was the first man to make a light burn so bright. I don't know. Oh, Lord, I don't know.
FOLKENFLIK: So when people describe you as a blues musician, how well do those clothes fit the man?
TAJ MAHAL: They don't. It might be a suit that I have on that night. You know, if I make several changes while I'm on stage, in reality, people have said to me that I'm the person that has coined the words world music. And when people - 'cause somebody asked me, said, what are you playing, huh, what's all this? And I said, world music. No, I am not allowing the category to shape me. This is what the music is. At this point, at 84 years old, I'm looking back at what I love to do, OK? I'm not looking back at something that somebody coerced me into doing. 'Cause you know what the game is? They coerce you into doing it, and they make the lion's share of it. You don't have enough money to bury yourself, you know?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ASK ME 'BOUT NOTHING (BUT THE BLUES)")
TAJ MAHAL: (Singing) That I know this. It's called some blues. It's all I was left with. Ask me why does a man have to reach...
FOLKENFLIK: Is this a blues standard?
TAJ MAHAL: Not necessarily, but it's one of - it should be a blues standard, actually. Well, that's one of the great songs that, hell, you know, a giant of a bluesman Bobby Blue Bland put out there.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ASK ME 'BOUT NOTHING (BUT THE BLUES)")
TAJ MAHAL: (Singing) Ask me why does a tree have to shed his leaves. I don't know.
He never got the shot, you know, at the brass ring. He nonetheless had an incredible following. I just loved what he did.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ASK ME 'BOUT NOTHING (BUT THE BLUES)")
TAJ MAHAL: (Singing) Nothing but the blues. Oh, the blues is all I was left with. Oh, have mercy.
FOLKENFLIK: Your album is called "Time." When you think about legacy, what do you hope endures?
TAJ MAHAL: I don't think about legacy 'cause I'm in the process of moving forward. If I had stopped playing, and I'm not playing anymore, just ain't got enough time to really play any - no, I'm not that guy. Till the wheels fall off the bus, we going.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIFE OF LOVE")
TAJ MAHAL: (Singing) Oh, we used to...
FOLKENFLIK: Till the wheels fall off the bus. That's the musician Taj Mahal. His latest album, "Time," is out now. Taj Mahal, thanks so much.
TAJ MAHAL: Remember this - jazz gives you back your mind, reggae gives you back your body, but the blues, the blues, the blues will give you back your soul.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIFE OF LOVE")
TAJ MAHAL: (Singing) Celebrating. Celebrating a life of love. Celebrating. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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