Paul Bass Photo
Brandt Taylor and Chris DePino in the WNHH FM studio.
A subdued Mystery Train took off Tuesday from WNHH FM’s studio.
Brandt Taylor and Chris DePino performing on WNHH FM.
Veteran blues performer Brandt Taylor offered that quiet, howling-at-the-moon, lament-evoking acoustic version of Paul Butterfield’s hard-driving electric “Mystery Train” during a live performance on WNHH FM’s “Acoustic Thursday” series (which occurred two days earlier than usually scheduled).
Taylor lightly strummed the song. He didn’t belt out the lyrics; he sauntered into them.
Train I ride, 16 coaches long /
Well, that long black train got my baby and gone …
Meanwhile, retired train conductor Chris DePino — a world-touring harmonica player who honed his craft harnessing the steel rhythms of Metro-North trains to perform for customers — added the train part. But his train metal-meets-metal accompaniment sounded distant, wistful, filling in spaces rather than incessantly chugging at full volume as in classic electric renditions.
“Mystery Train” was one of four blues, country, and Americana classics Taylor performed on the program, in between telling his own true-life story of making a living performing and recording roots music in Connecticut and Rhode Island the past two decades. The 41-year-old guitarist has opened and performed as a sideman for leading acts from Tower of Power and James Montgomery to Gary Hoey. He performs both covers and originals at weekly gigs of his own at places like the 133 Club and Music Lady Cafe.
Taylor name-checked electric note-popping lead guitarists B.B. King and Albert Collins as influences. With DePino on “Acoustic Thursday,” he lowered the volume, as well as the intensity, to offer his mid-day ruminative takes on Kris Kristofferson/Tammy Wynette’s “Help Me Make It Through The Night,” Merle Haggard’s “Workin’ Man Blues,” and John Hiatt’s “Feels Like Rain.”
Click on the above video to watch Brandt Taylor and Chris DePino perform unplugged on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” program
Previous “Acoustic Thursday @ Studio 51” performances:
• Shellye Valauskas and Dean Falcone
• Brian Ember
• Ceschi
• Wally
• Sketch Tha Cataclysm
• MJ Bones
• Johnathan Moore
• Charlie Widmer
• Sam Carlson