‘Knuckleball Prime’ by Willie Tea Taylor

With his debut solo album, 4 Strings, folk singer-songwriter Willy Tea Taylor showed that he has a remarkable ability to translate life’s experiences into song in such way that they resonate in the hearts and minds of listeners all over. He has achieved this yet again, and more, with his latest album, Knuckleball Prime. This is decidedly a more produced and involved album in that it is more of a full band effort, and has less of a stripped-down and organic singer-songwriter feel, but remains a quality album nonetheless.

Produced by multi-instrumentalist Michael Witcher, the songs on Knuckleball Prime feature a number of highly skilled and recognizable musicians, including Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers), Greg Leisz (Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton), and Gabe Witcher and Noam Pikelny (The Punch Brothers). The musicianship is undeniably impressive, as are the core song structures around which the additional instrumentation revolves. Even more impressive still is Willy’s lyrical content and heartfelt vocals, as he has a knack for taking the little things in life and making them considerably bigger and more meaningful, making them deservedly profound. He touches on some of the more major areas also, and in doing so gives each song a revealing and personal element that is altogether affecting. Willy’s songs capture the feeling of the lost America of bygone years, offering a degree of nostalgia, but travel a handful of roads to the present.

To list standouts tracks on Knuckleball Prime would be unkind to the album since the entire thing is a standout; a triumph from start to finish.