WHEN OTIS TAYLOR speaks, he takes long, contemplative pauses between each thought — or maybe he's just pausing to eat breakfast during an early morning phone interview.

"I slept late," Taylor admitted, snacking on peanuts instead of his planned grits.

Whatever the reason, those pauses fit with Taylor's image of a conscientious, socially aware bluesman.

Taylor's songs frequently deal with sensitive issues including race, violence, politics and history. But his newest album, "Recapturing the Banjo" (Telarc), takes Taylor's themes to another level. It's an album dedicated to showcasing the banjo's African roots.

"People don't know the banjo came from Africa. Did you know that before? Don't you think it's important?" Taylor asked, and not rhetorically. He then launched into the tale of how the banjo came over with the slaves on ships from Africa.

"They had nothing — whatever clothes were on their back — and they sort of put the banjo back together in different ways with gourds and hoops and whatever they could get. ... Then they played the minstrel shows and then the whites took over the minstrel shows and put on black face. The minstrel shows ended up being very, very popular for about 60 years almost, and but it was like they took something that was from another culture and made fun of it to make profit and to keep the other people down.

"So there's a possibility that the blacks moved away from the banjo because you would be 'stupid' and 'country,'" Taylor continued. "The blacks moved away from [the banjo] for whatever reason and then people thought the banjo was sort of a white instrument. I wanted to show that blacks could play the banjo and they could play it really well and blacks don't play like whites. It's really an extraordinary thing, American history."

The album's first track, "Ran So Hard the Sun Went Down," highlights the African-American roots of the record but is also a sharp snapshot of Taylor's signature writing style. "They're very typical Otis Taylor lyrics — it's about somebody who didn't get lynched. It's a happy-ending song," he said wryly. "It's a little comical, in a way — a little tongue-in-cheek."

"Recapturing the Banjo" is also unique for its cast of musicians: It features prominent roots musicians Keb' Mo', Corey Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Guy Davis and Don Vappie — all on banjo. "There's no white people playing banjo on that album. There are actually no white musicians on that album," Taylor said, adding that also emphasizes the album's focus on reclaiming the banjo as an African instrument.

But while Taylor is invested and concerned with social issues — race, of course, among them — he's also not a P.C.-spouting machine.

"I like 'Amos 'n' Andy.' I wasn't supposed to, but I still liked it. So I'm messed up — I'm not politically correct.

"That's a hot quote for you. I've never said that to anybody. I've ruined my career now," he said with a laugh.

» The State Theatre, 220 N. Washington, Falls Church, Va.,; with Eric Lindell, Wed., 8:30 p.m., $16, 703-237-0300. (East Falls Church)

Written by Express contributor Katherine Silkaitis

Photos courtesy Telarc

Posted by Express at 7:37 AM on February 5, 2008
Tagged in East Falls Church , Entertainment , Music , Top Stories , Virginia