| White African | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Otis Taylor |
| Cover: | White African (album).jpg |
| Released: | 2001 |
| Recorded: | 2000 |
| Genre: | Blues |
| Label: | NorthernBlues Music[1] |
| Producer: | Kenny Passarelli |
| Prev Title: | When Negroes Walked the Earth |
| Prev Year: | 1997 |
| Next Title: | Respect the Dead |
| Next Year: | 2002 |
White African is an album by the American musician Otis Taylor, released in 2001.[2] [3] The album won Taylor a W. C. Handy Award for best new blues artist.[4]
Recorded in 2000, the album was produced by Kenny Passarelli, who also played bass. Taylor's daughter Cassie sang on the album.[5] The album booklet contains mugshots of Black men arrested for vagrancy in Kansas in the early part of the 20th century.[6] Taylor played a 1949 Gibson L-50 guitar.[7]
"Saint Martha Blues" references the lynching of Taylor's great-grandfather.[8] "Lost My Horse" is about alcoholism.[9] "3 Days and 3 Nights" deals with the consequences of a lack of affordable medical care.[10]
Robert Christgau praised "My Soul's in Louisiana" and "Saint Martha Blues". The Gazette wrote that Taylor "draws you into the songs with riveting, trance-like rhythms that lend powerful support to his passionate, often angry, vocals." The Commercial Appeal noted that the album "ties [John Lee] Hooker's guitar style to socially and politically charged lyrics."[11]
The Globe and Mail stated that "the album's minimalist trance-blues are delivered with a sparse elegance through Taylor's gruff vocals and acoustic guitar, banjo and mandolin."[12] The Calgary Herald deemed White African "a stunning display of traditional blues in a sparse and timeless context." The Philadelphia Inquirer called Taylor "a contemporary artist who captures the stark immediacy of traditional blues while sounding like no one else."[13]
AllMusic wrote: "Greatly influenced by John Lee Hooker, the very soulful Taylor often favors moody, dusky, haunting grooves."