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Dudley taft - Guitar Kingdom |
Thank you for joining me on my quest to earn a throne in the guitar kingdom!
This album is my most autobiographical work to date. I was remembering, embracing and hopefully channeling the passion that I developed for music and guitar playing when I was about 12 years old. I was living in Houston, Texas at the time, around 1978 and 1979 when the rock ‘n’ roll bug infected me. My neighbor had an acoustic that he would let me play when he was at work, and the first thing I did was write a little melody line. I still remember it. Listening to it now, it’s almost laughable, but to me it was the coolest thing in the world (next to the girl I sat behind in History class)! The song Old School Rocker tells this story.
About the songs
Black and Blues is not about me, but someone I know very well who is his own worst enemy. I think the chorus melody and chord progression represents my taste well; it is a bit unusual when you take a closer look!
Oil and Water – don’t they go together sometimes? The yin and yang, sweet and sour… This is what makes relationships so interesting. This also seemed like a good song for an extended guitar solo.
Occasionally, I write something on the piano. I’m not very good so it takes a while for an idea to mature, but maybe that’s not a bad thing. Translated to guitar, Still Burning turned out to be fertile ground for vocal harmonies. Ashley Charmae’s backing vocals sound great on this one! I am proud of the way the chorus build a little bit more each time with the swirling background vocal harmonies.
In the title track, Guitar Kingdom, I reflect on 43+ years of songwriting and guitar playing. There have been so many ups and downs, highs and lows. I have gone from great major-label success to actually giving up, only to find myself eventually drawn back to it – it’s more than an addiction – it’s a calling really. It is literally where my spirit guides me; from one new song to the next.
What happens when you achieve some of the goals you set for yourself many years ago? I call this the “now what?” phenomenon. I Want More plays with this idea. I am not sure I can play and sing this at the same time right now – I might need a lot of practice on this one!
I wrote Darkest Night out of pure frustration with US government politicians and greedy corporate overlords. Life just isn’t fair! This started as a little “ditty” I wrote while on vacation in Tahiti.
I have been playing A Quitter Never Wins for a decade or more, and it seemed about time to put a version out on an album. Funny, I ran into Tinsley Ellis who wrote the song and told him that I play it live. He asked me what key I played it in which I think was odd. I ran into him again a few years later and asked him why he asked me that. He just smiled and said, “I just wanted to know!” Well, for the record I play it in Bb!
Several of the songs on the album have been road-tested in Germany during the fall 2022 tour, so I think audiences will hear a lot of the new album when we hit the road in 2023! We were getting tight as a band on the last tour, and it felt like we should record some of the newer songs while on a few day’s break in Prague. Quite a few from that session made it on the album (songs 4, 5, 7, 10, 11).
Album tracklist: Guitar Kingdom
1. Black and Blues 4:54
2. Old School Rocking 4:57
3. Oil and Water 4:41
4. Still Burning 4:37
5. Guitar Kingdom 5:19
6. Get Stoned 4:39
7. Favorite Things 3:26
8. Darkest Night 3:50
9. I Want More (Wild Young Days) 4:43
10. The Great Beyond 3:20
11. A Quitter Never Wins 5:08
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