Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez – Live From the Ruhr Triennale
As their three studio discs have demonstrated, the combination of Chip Taylor’s earthy vocals and from-the-heart compositions plus Carrie Rodriguez’s folksy Texas twang and fiery violin can produce magic. Because they project strong, appealing personalities and interact so well, you’d expect a concert album to be a particular treat.
You’ll indeed find treats on this recording of a 2005 German gig, but not consistently. It’s hard to go wrong with material as good as Johnny Cash’s “Big River” and Merle Haggard’s “Today I Started Loving You Again”, but the duo’s covers of such classics, while respectable, add little to the originals and occasionally underscore Taylor’s vocal limitations. Another minor disappointment is that the couple barely speak between songs; a bit more stage patter might have shown off a side of them their studio discs don’t convey.
But stellar Taylor compositions predominate, and when the two trade verses or harmonize on originals such as “Let’s Leave This Town”, their charm proves irresistible. The album ends with readings of Taylor’s best-known songs, “Angel Of The Morning” and “Wild Thing”. The versions here won’t usurp the hit versions by Merilee Rush and the Troggs, respectively; but Taylor and Rodriguez’s “Angel” sounds intimate enough to make you feel like an eavesdropper, and with the help of Buddy Miller on guitar, they turn “Wild Thing” into a raunchy, playful rave-up.