Originally recorded in 2010 alongside Taj’s longtime collaborators the Phantom Blues Band — a three-decade partnership responsible for GRAMMY-winning albums Señor Blues (1997) and Shoutin’ in Key (2000) — Time captures a shared musical language refined across decades. The sessions featured Tony Braunagel (drums), Larry Fulcher (bass) and Johnny Lee Schell (guitar), who also produced the album alongside Berkowitz. Additional musicians include New Orleans piano great Jon Cleary and organist Mick Weaver. The album was recorded at Ultratone Studio in Studio City, CA, with its rich blend of reggae rhythms, New Orleans grooves, country blues and Latin influences reflecting the band’s signature chemistry. Few artists have shaped American roots music as profoundly as Taj Mahal. A recipient of the 2025 GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award, Taj is a genre-defying musician, composer and cultural ambassador whose six-decade career spans more than 40 albums, multiple GRAMMY wins and global acclaim. Since launching his groundbreaking solo career in the late 1960s, Taj has continually expanded the boundaries of blues while illuminating its deep cultural connections across continents, influencing generations of artists from The Rolling Stones to Bonnie Raitt. From back-to-back GRAMMY wins for Señor Blues and Shoutin’ in Key to his Best Traditional Blues Album victory for 2022’s Get On Board, his celebrated reunion with longtime collaborator Ry Cooder, alongside recent acclaimed projects including Savoy and the GRAMMY-winning Swingin’ Live At The Church In Tulsa, Taj remains both torchbearer and innovator. Reflecting both the years it took to bring the record to life and the moment we find ourselves in now, Time moves fluidly through the musical worlds Taj Mahal has always inhabited — but enriching them for a new generation along the way. As Ruthie Foster writes in her liner notes for Taj’s album: “turn it up — this is deep-groove, grown-folks music from a band that still plays like the night is young.” |