Eric Taylor - The Great Divide

Eric Taylor is one of the front runners for song-poet laureate of Texas. And that's a fertile field. His number isn't posted anywhere as one you should call for a good time. There aren't any good time numbers on The Great Divide, but there are many good numbers.

Like his playing and his singing, the songwriting of Eric Taylor is very deep and very precise. He's the only songwriter besides David Olney you hear the adjective Faulknerian applied to, for instance. Like Olney, he's old school, in a good way. But he hails from Texas, and that's a different animal. Wasn't born there, but he's been there since running out of money on the way to California landed him in Houston in the '70s. Many, like Lyle Lovett and former wife Nanci Griffith, revere the artist with words of the highest praise.

Listen to samples:

• The Great Divide
• Big Love
• Whorehouse Mirrors & Pawnshop Knives
• Mickey Finn
• Ain't But One Thing Give A Man The Blues
• Just Short of the Line
• Manhattan Mandolin Blues
• Storms
• Shoes
• Brand New Companion/Lulu's Back in Town/Dirty Dirty
• Bonnie & Avery