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Equal parts preservationist and visionary, Taj Mahal is the closest thing we have to an American griot. His music embraces the raw energy of field hollers, the rent-party gumption of early jazz, the urbane grooves of rhythm and blues, the church-derived cadences of soul music and the rhythms of West Africa, via New Orleans and the Caribbean.

On the heels of his triumphant 2023 concerts celebrating the legacy of Harlem’s famed Savoy Ballroom, the five-time GRAMMY winner returns with four nights of music including material from his new Concord Records album entitled Room on the Porch – his second collaboration with modern blues master Keb Mo and their first joint “TajMo” session in eight years.

Since his first release nearly 60 years ago with the Rising Sons, which he founded with Ry Cooder, Taj has been a cultural force, bringing blues culture to new generations.

His legacy is apparent everywhere these days, in the old-time string band sound of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and the blues troubadours Eric Bibb and Corey Harris.

A bridge builder by inclination, he’s collaborated with a gloriously eclectic array of artists, from Angelique Kidjo and Ziggy Marley to Los Lobos and Ben Harper (and that was just on the 2008 album Maestro).