Search - Wayne Taylor :: Dear Mom

A troubadour on the deep blue sea

J. Ross | Roseburg, OR USA | 05/08/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After years of honorable service, guitarist/singer Wayne Taylor has retired from the U.S. Navy and their Country Current bluegrass unit. "Dear Mom," his first release since leaving Country Current in March, 2008, showcases a fair amount of Taylor's original material, as well as an eclectic repertoire of gospel, country, and folk covers presented in stellar fashion with top-notch bluegrassers Ron Stewart (fiddle), Emory Lester (mandolin), Keith Arneson (banjo), Kip Martin (bass), Russell Moore and Ray Deaton (harmony vocals). From a different recording session, John Prine's "Grandpa Was A Carpenter" and Taylor`s own "Dear Mom" feature Bill Emerson (banjo), Wyatt Rice (guitar), Mike Nicholson (bass), Rickie Simpkins (fiddle), Mike Auldridge (Dobro), Dan Tyminski or Jimmy Gaudreau (mandolin), and Dan Tyminski (harmony vocals).



Besides being a troubadour, Wayne Taylor is also still a bounding seafarer at heart. While each song tells an evocative story on its own, the CD could also be viewed as a booklet with each song documenting chapters in Taylor's life. Opening with strong original material, "Golden Hair" emphasizes how something as simple as a lock of hair helps a sailor deal with the angry waves and depths of the seven seas. With Arneson's frailing banjo, "Dreamin of the Sea" is a lilting message that a sailor's choice is clear when faced with deciding between his Tennessee home and the sea. I wonder if Wayne Taylor is really ready and content to just "kick back in my easy chair and dream of the sea." At track three, Taylor admits that he's living and dying with "Choices" made, but track four then reinforces just how much he loves "My Smoky Mountain Home." If it's guidance and wisdom that Taylor needs, he knows where to look -- track five is a beautifully-rendered version of "Be Thou My Vision." So, in just the first 15 minutes of this album, one sees just how Wayne Taylor conceptually organizes his songs, not only as seafarer and musician, but also as storyteller and prophet.



The jazzy arrangement of "Wayfaring Stranger" allows Ron Stewart's fiddle and Emory Lester's mandolin to converse freely. "Late in September" is an instrumental written by Keith Arneson, and the album's lean arrangement features just banjo, mandolin and guitar for a slight change of pace. Besides paying tribute to those friends he's met on the deep blue sea, "Dear Mom" states that Taylor will be home once he's old and his work is done. When he finally does reach the end of his journey, Taylor exclaims "Lord Take Me Home." Songs like Don Gibson's "Oh Lonesome Me," John Prine's "Grandpa Was A Carpenter ," and Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talking" all convert nicely to bluegrass treatment. As an optimistic album closer, "Everybody's Talking" does seem to bring it all home. Taylor smoothly vocalizes, "I'm going where the sun keeps shining through the pouring rain .... sailing on summer breeze, skippin' over the ocean like a stone." Besides his mother, home, family and Lord, there's still clearly a fond place in Wayne's heart for the sea too. (Joe Ross)

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