The remit of Santa Barbara Records in general and the CaliAmericana series of recordings in particular is both clever and simple: promote roots artists from the Central Coast whilst celebrating some of the USA’s most iconic artists and the music they have made—five artists, two songs each, and one fantastic artist at the album’s heart, combining new artists’ takes on familiar and well loved music.
Volume IV is specifically focused on James Taylor, kicking off with one of his best-known songs. Will Breman’s opening salvo, “Carolina In My Mind,” is the perfect balance of reverence and rejuvenation, faithful to the original while injecting just enough new groove into its now-more-sonically-lush textures.
Jess Bush takes the natural lilt of “Country Road” and lifts it even further, moving from the folky finesse that links the songs here to more country-rock territory to great effect, a shot in the arm for the original’s inherent understatement whilst losing none of its natural grace.
Some songs just can’t be improved on, and so all Mendeleyev does with “Fire and Rain” is blend his gorgeously gravel-toned voice to a very faithful take on this iconic song, and Celeigh Chapman takes “You Can Close Your Eyes” and balances its simple yet wonderfully seductive vocals with a suitably dreamy soundscape of pedal-steels and poised piano lines.
Of course, no one is claiming they can improve the originals, but neither should music, even music this beloved, be seen as so precious that it can’t be rewoven slightly. And CaliAmericana Vol IV is the perfect tribute to James Taylor and his music, new artists offering up fairly reverential reworkings in the deftest and most devoted of ways.
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