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Nanci Griffith was once married to singer- songwriter Eric Taylor and likens him to William Faulkner; Joan Baez speaks of him in hushed tones; a bedazzled Lyle Lovett produced some demos for him. Now Peter Cooper, himself a gifted singer-songwriter, honors Taylor’s art with an album’s worth of stunning tunes replete with searing insights into the true nature of heartbreak and dashed dreams among the disenfranchised (“Carnival Jim & Jean”), the hard truths about the struggle between fathers and sons to find common ground (“Charlie Ray McWhite,” “Depot Light”), and a world where the forces of Mother Nature conspire to ignite the criminal heart (“More Storms”). Words hardly do justice to Taylor’s complex narratives, but Cooper’s resolute tenor voice and measured readings ennoble the texts; his emotional conviction seizes you and won’t let go. Understated support by the likes of violinist Andrea Zonn, multi-instrumentalist Justin Moses, and guitarist Thomm Jutz aids immeasurably in enhancing both the beauty and the mystery abiding in the Taylor cosmology. Recognizing the novelistic intimations of these tales, co-producers Cooper and Jutz open up the soundscape to create a Great Plains-Big Sky endless horizon sonic effect guaranteed to haunt, and to leave a listener wanting more.
By David McGee
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