Still Singing the Blues

By Joel Watson

Often referred to as one of the best guitarists of all time, Melvin Taylor, a famous blues guitarist performed for a completely packed audience at Windsor Hall in Cumberland, Maryland on March 2nd. Because of the fact that Melvin Taylor has had a chance to open for Buddy Guy, B. B. King, as well as Santana, being able to see such a legendary musician all the way up in Frostburg was a real treat for most of the locals.

As the audience was getting nestled back into their seats with their overpriced cocktails in hand, Melvin casually walked up to the microphone and made an inaudible introduction to his first song as if it didn’t even need a name. As the first verse began wolf whistles and hoarse howls reverberated through the dimly lit hall, but when the guitar solo pierced its way into the song the entire place shut up. That is when you know a guitarist is good. As if his solo wasn’t already good enough Melvin dazzled the audience even further by reaching his hand over and back under the fret board to reach certain notes in one impressive fluid motion while then proceeding to use the microphone stand as a guitar slide to achieve an authentic blues sound. At one point in the show he even grabbed another guitar from offstage and used it as a bow to strum the guitar that he was actually playing. As the solo came to an end, people picked their mouths from up off the floor and began, once again, slowly bobbing their heads to the blues.

Even though the coolest part about the entire set was getting to see some of the blazing guitar solos on his sunburst guitar, Melvin Taylor also put together a great set list of songs ranging anywhere from Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” to Carlos Santana’s “Black Magic Woman”. He was even able to squeeze a number of long, epic slow blues songs that left plenty of room to showcase his improvisational talents on the guitar.

Melvin Taylor was also a natural comedian between songs, which added a lot of character to the whole performance. When the intermission rolled around, he joked to the audience by saying, “ I’m going to go smoke a cigarette and not the kind your thinking off.” When the show picked back up he introduced the song “Make It Funky,” which was originally sung by James Brown by saying, “It ain’t gotta have no meaning, just feel it. I don’t give a damn what you do. Just make it funky.”

By the end of the concert people were up out of their chairs and dancing while the once clean round tables were cluttered with empty beer cans. After the last song came to an end Melvin very casually walked down off the stage and began mingling with what was left of the audience.

For more information on Melvin Taylor you can go to http://www.melvintaylormusic.com/ in order to read bios, watch videos, look at galleries, and even listening to some of his music.