Pickin’ a laid-back New Year’s Eve party? The UU Coffeehouse has the acoustics -- A Guest Blog by Jim DuPlessis

 

If you’re looking for a laid-back gathering for New Year’s Eve, come over to the UU Coffeehouse in Shandon.

            You can hear Jack Williams performing along with Susan Douglass Taylor, Cary Taylor, and Danny Harlow. Doors will open at 8 p.m., and music will kick off at 8:30 p.m. The music will pick up later in the evening with room for dancing and a pause for a champagne toast at midnight.

            Coffee, tea, and sodas will be provided. Feel free to bring additional beverages that you may wish to enjoy. Plan to dance, listen, and be with friends as we bring in the New Year.

            Tickets for this special show are $25. For reservations, call (803) 200-2824, or just stop by. The UU Coffeehouse is a listening room located at 2701 Heyward Street, the corner of Heyward and Woodrow Streets, in Shandon.

            Monday night’s line-up

            Jack Williams is considered a “musician’s musician”, an uncommonly unique guitarist, a writer of vivid songs with a strong sense of place, and a storyteller in an old Southern tradition who further illustrates each tale with his guitar. Vic Heyman, in SING OUT!, wrote,“He is one of the strongest guitar players in contemporary folk.”

            His music is rooted in his native South Carolina, and was shaped by a 54-year career of playing folk, rock, jazz, R&B, classical and the popular music of the 1930s, '40s and '50s.

            His songs have been recorded by artists ranging from Tom Jones and David Clayton-Thomas to Chuck Pyle, Cindy Mangsen, Ronny Cox and Lowen & Navarro. In addition to his solo career, as a guitarist he has accompanied such luminaries as Tom Paxton, Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul & Mary), Mickey Newbury and Harry Nilsson.

Listen to Jack Williams here.

   Listen to Susan Douglass Taylor here.        

            Susan Douglass Taylor is a singer/songwriter, guitarist and banjo player whose album, “Great Falls Road,” was released earlier this year.

            The Winnsboro native often performs solo or with The Twang Bombers, a bluegrass band featuring her husband, Cary Taylor (bass & vocals), Danny Harlow (mandolin, fiddle, tenor guitar & vocals), and award-winning guitarist and banjoist Randy Lucas.

            Taylor played bluegrass for 10 years with close friends in a band called String Fever before she started singing back-up with Jack Williams, whom Cary Taylor had played bass with for many years. Williams allowed Susan to experiment with banjo on some of his songs, and eventually included her background vocals and banjo playing on a number of his recordings.

            In mid-2007, Susan, Cary, and long-time friend and musician Danny Harlow went on an 18-month tour as the back-up band for Ronny Cox, a singer/songwriter and character actor. Cox made his acting debut in the acclaimed 1972 film, “Deliverance,” when he played the instrumental “Dueling Banjos” on his guitar with a banjo-playing mountain boy.

            “It was a great experience traveling around the U.S. playing concert halls and coffeehouses, and once to the UK, where we actually played for a convention of Stargate fans,” Taylor said. “And what a thrill it was to play “Dueling Banjos”with Ronny Cox!”

Susan Taylor Releases a Superb Batch of Original Songs - by Mike Miller

Susan Douglass Taylor got her first guitar on her 11th birthday. At age 17, she became enamored with the five-string banjo, her dad’s favorite instrument. Over the years, she honed her talent on both instruments at bluegrass festivals and during living-room jam sessions. She even played in a bluegrass band called String Fever for 10 years.

  So it’s somewhat surprising that it took her so long (she’s now just a shade or two north of 50) to record her first solo album. But that doesn’t make it any less gratifying to hear the songs on her disc, “Great Falls Road,” because they resonate with a rich sense of time and place, and are delivered with the maturity of an artist who’s seen much in life and knows what’s important and what is not.

  “Great Falls Road” is about life in a small town and all the simple pleasures and family ties that make life there so special. The town in question here is Winnsboro, S.C., Susan’s hometown, and songs such as “Black Top,” “Old Brick Tavern,” “Little Town,” and the title track are all wonderful reminisces that ring with Southern sincerity.

  Many great players contributed to the disc, including Robert Bowlin on fiddle, John Wayne Benson on mandolin, Michael Hearn on harmony vocals, and stalwart Texas pedalman, Lloyd Maines, on pedal steel guitar. One of the Midlands’ most respected bluegrass musicians, Danny Harlow, produced and recorded the album.

  But it is Susan’s beautifully pure voice and delicate guitar playing that carry the day. This is music that sprang from her heart. There’s a touch of Western swing here, a dash of bluegrass there, and it’s all sung and performed with a gentle warmth that wraps around you like a fresh mound of hay in a hayloft.

  At her CD-release concert last week at the UU Coffeehouse, Susan demonstrated that she was a fine bandleader, too. She was wonderfully supported by Harlow on mandolin and guitar, Collin Willis on dobro and pedal steel, and her husband Cary Taylor on bass. It was a superb evening of harmony vocals, soaring instrumental solos, and solid ensemble playing. It was like watching our version of Alison Krauss & Union Station, and I’d like to see this cracker-jack band play a few more dates around the Midlands.

  Congratulations to Susan Taylor and her fine new CD. It’s exciting to see someone who’s been a quiet mainstay for so long on the South Carolina folk and bluegrass scene to step forward with such a great batch of original songs.

-- Mike Miller