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Hey Joe Opus/Red Meat seamlessly blends hypnotic songs and instrumentals; features guests Warren Haynes, Langhorne Slim and String Cheese Incident’s Bill Nershi.

Hey Joe Opus/Red Meat, the new album from visionary roots music songwriter and bandleader Otis Taylor, is a psychedelic masterpiece. Blending his uniquely poetic songwriting and the compelling musical approach that he calls “trance blues,” the recording — due on May 5, 2015 on Taylor’s new Trance Blues Festival label — cuts to the core of the human spirit with its mix of vocal and instrumental performances, letting its hypnotic sound as well as Taylor’s lyrics tell its story.

The artist explains that his 14th album is “about decisions and their consequences. It’s about how decisions and the actions that result can change our lives, the lives of our families and the lives of people we don’t even know. Sometimes you win in life; sometimes you lose. You want the outcome of your decisions to be good, but sometimes it’s bad. And that’s when you don’t eat the meat. The meat eats you.”

Typical for Taylor, he’s found a unique way of expressing those ideas in a grand work. The songs on Hey Joe Opus/Red Meat comprise a suite in 10 parts, designed to be heard as a complete recording, with the classic song of decisions and their consequences “Hey Joe” as its overarching theme. That number, made famous as the debut single from the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1966, was written by folk artist Billy Roberts and has intrigued Taylor and been part of his live concerts for two decades.

In a gambit that recalls Pink Floyd’s use of recurring musical themes on their enduring multi-platinum album Wish You Were Here, “Hey Joe” appears on Hey Joe Opus/Red Meat twice. The first version, which starts the album, features Gov’t Mule and Allman Brothers guitarist Warren Haynes. The second features Langhorne Slim on backing vocals. Haynes also plays on the first of three appearances of the Taylor composition “Sunday Morning,” which follows. His bold guitar tones mesh perfectly with Taylor’s sonic tapestry as both songs set the tone for the album. The recurring motifs in “Sunday Morning” are especially striking, drawing on powerful, single-chord rhythms and the interplay of Taylor band members Todd Edmunds on bass, guitarist Taylor Scott, drummer Larry Thompson and violinist Anne Harris, who often plays melodic and textural foil to Taylor’s idiosyncratic, mesmerizing guitar. They’re joined by keyboardists Gus Skinas and Steve Vidaic, cornetist Ron Miles, banjo player David Moore and, on “Peggy Lee,” a song about a man undergoing a sex change, String Cheese Incident guitarist Bill Nershi. Together they bring Taylor’s unfailingly brilliant ideas to kaleidoscopic life.

The album introduces four more new Taylor songs. “The Heart Is a Muscle” is a driving tune about the complexities of love and “Cold at Midnight” mixes loneliness and infidelity into Taylor’s potent aural swirl. There’s also “Red Meat,” driven by Taylor playing his signature model Santa Cruz acoustic guitar, and the elegant instrumental “They Wore Blue,” which transitions the album into its second half.

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Cellist Beth Rosbach has resided in Colorado since 2001. Known for her musical versatility, Ms. Rosbach has performed with bands, orchestras and chamber music groups throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia. She has appeared on stage with musicians as diverse as bluesman Otis Taylor, cellist Lynn Harrell, pop and electronic musician Moby, and newgrass band Railroad Earth. Ms. Rosbach has played on dozens of recordings, including noted Denver singer-songwriter Covenhoven. 2017 saw her debut as a composer when she performed her music in a collaboration with Winifred Harris Productions’ original modern dance work, “How to Tame an Elephant.” In 2016 she performed in a faculty recital at the University of Colorado-Boulder featuring the music of Pulizer Prize finalist Carter Pann. In 2011 Ms. Rosbach founded Sphere Ensemble, the Denver-based string chamber group noted for its 21st century take on classical music. She is an enthusiastic advocate for musician wellness, including studies of the Alexander Technique.
 
Ms. Rosbach holds cello performance degrees from The University of Colorado and The University of Oklahoma. She maintains a flourishing private teaching studio in Boulder, and currently performs across the U.S.

Byron Kidd Cage in an Upstate New York musician turned world traveling artist. A multi-genre instrumentalist, producer, teacher and performer. Grammy award nominee Kidd Cage can be seen currently touring with Otis Taylor, performing with Joe Louis Walker, Seth Marcel, Melissa Gardiner and many other projects locally and internationally. With a wide range of influences, Byron has become a versatile player working in multiple genres of music. Kidd is a Los Cabos Drum Sticks endorsee and plays Pearl Drums, Meinl Cymbals and Evans Drum Heads.