Nationwide — Blues singer and bandleader Larry Taylor intends to share his Chicago West Side legacy everywhere in 2024—by recording, film and live shows in your community. Originally a drummer, Taylor moves audiences onto the dance floor with raw soul singing and precise sounds of his band, the Soul Blues Healers. They bring the glory of Black music history to life.
Taylor, age 68, is the oldest in a family of musicians headed by the late guitarist Eddie Taylor Sr. (heard on VeeJay Records) and singer Vera Hill Taylor, who joined the Great Migration to Chicago from Mississippi in the 1950s. Larry produced a CD featuring his musical brothers and sisters Brenda, Tim, Demetria, and the late Eddie Jr. Larry’s son Liljet 2x adds a heart-gripping positive rap backed by the band. Generations of Blues was released by Nola-Blue Records in 2023, receiving worldwide airplay and critical acclaim.
“This is Chicago Blues as you would expect it to be – straight ahead, no nonsense and authentic… a very comprehensive legacy piece and a wonderful tribute to a monumental blues family,” raved Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine.
“Blues is the greatest music in the world. We want to keep it going,” declares Taylor. “I feel like our ancestors are inspiring musicians of today to keep their songs alive.”
Blues was crafted by African Americans from the 19th century, woven from everyday stories and feelings shared in Southern cotton fields and lumber camps. Like spirituals, this simple, powerful music helped keep the community together in the face of poverty and injustice. Blues combined African rhythms with Celtic melodies to form the root of American popular music. Blues is part of jazz, R&B, rock, country, and even hip-hop – a form that celebrated its 50th anniversary last year.
Larry Taylor grew up in a house visited by Chicago blues giants like Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, and Elmore James. For nearly 30 years before forming his own band in 2004, he drummed with Junior Wells, John Lee Hooker, A.C. Reed, Johnnie Taylor, and many more icons of blues and soul.
But during Larry’s lifetime, many Black venue proprietors and promoters have aged out. Few traditional small lounges remain in the hood for young musicians to hone their chops.
Because blues is the root of rock music, many white fans have been drawn to it, including some who wanted to take control. Today many national “blues” festivals feature mostly white-led acts that claim the top slots.
