‘Mellow War’ is an album by young artist inspired by the veterans of a previous generation, and establishes Taylor McCall as a rising Americana star.
Taylor McCall is in good company. The Vietnam War has inspired many a popular song from Barry Sadler’s pro-war ‘Ballad of the Green Berets’ to ‘I Feel Like I’m Fixin to Die Rag’, Country Joe and the Fish’s anti-war anthem. McCall’s sophomore album continues that chain though he is still in his twenties and was born well after that war. Even so, in describing the album McCall says that ‘Mellow War’ is a form of “homage” to his late grandpa: “My grandpa went to Vietnam. The album cover is him in Vietnam… These are songs that are sort of letters to home that I imagined he might have sent.”
Authentic is a word that comes to mind when listening to ‘Mellow War’. Authenticity, that quality that seems to be on everyone’s list of requirements for inclusion in the Americana canon, is sometimes associated with age and experience. McCall manages to capture it without the years; he infuses his music with whatever experiences life has dealt him to give it a depth and quality that is rare in even more veteran musicians. That’s not to say McCall hasn’t been working it. He released his first album, ‘Black Powder Soul’ and had toured extensively, building his reputation to the point where during his first UK tour he opened for Robert Plant as he will again in Plant’s next tour.
McCall begins ‘Mellow War’ with a scratchy recording of his grandfather singing an old gospel song, which is the same way he opened ‘Black Powder Soul’. But this is a quite different album. It’s still driven by McCall’s voice, which sounds like it’s been aged in a bourbon barrel – smoky, complex, resonant of the South – but this sound is less anthemic than ‘Black Powder Soul’ . It’s also more atmospheric, even as it retains a measured amount of the organ and percussion he used before. The mood is more blues than country with songs like ‘Whisky Costs Less’ and there is a gospel stream running through many songs. This is accentuated by the backing vocals, as on songs like ‘Star of the Morning’ and ‘Tide of Love’. And to mix things up a bit more, he manages to fit in a few ballads, such as ‘I Want You Still’ and ‘Born Again.’
McCall is a competent lyricist, more impressionistic than narrative, more Tom Petty than the Band. His songs are like snapshots rather than videos. In ‘Mellow War’ he captures the images of somebody who’s been there: “What’s the fighting for/Our lives tainted/It’s always raining/On this far side of hell”. And then back again: “And I’m headed home for better days/Goin’ be alright/I’m realizing/Opened up my eyes and/Then nothing’s gonna’ be the same.”
The album ends with ‘You to Blame’. The song opens with orchestral strings that give way to McCall’s voice, backed by piano, and then returning to the strings. The effect is rather like a 1940’s movie soundtrack, reminiscent of something his grandfather may have heard from his own parents.
Overall, this album marks McCall’s remarkable growth as a musician and songwriter and arouses expectations of greater things to come.
