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Strong Man: Taj Mahal Changed The Blues

Music Inside Out
Taj Mahal Changed The Blues

 

Taj Mahal has guts. What else would explain the song title, “You Ain’t No Street Walker Mama, Honey But I Do Like the Way You Strut Your Stuff?”

In the history of the blues, there’s never been anyone as bold, funny, carnal and canny.

Mahal puts those qualities and more into his songs, creating music that appeals to audiences around the planet. He writes for grown ups, children, for movies and plays. He’s performed in a dozen languages, including jive. And he’s encouraged fans to celebrate scores of blues artists who would otherwise be lost to history.

Mahal is, in a word, great. And after a rousing interview with Gwen Thompkins at the 2013 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, he’s great today on Music Inside Out.

 

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Gwen Thompkins is a New Orleans native, NPR veteran and host of WWNO's Music Inside Out, where she brings to bear the knowledge and experience she amassed as senior editor of Weekend Edition, an East Africa correspondent, the holder of Nieman and Watson Fellowships, and as a longtime student of music from around the world.