Taj Mahal is an American blues musician. He is a self-taught singer-songwriter and film composer who plays the guitar, piano, banjo and harmonica (among many other instruments).
Mahal often incorporates elements of world music into his works, and therefore has done much to reshape the definition and scope of blues music over the course of his almost 50-year career by fusing it with nontraditional forms, including sounds from the Caribbean, Africa and the South Pacific.
Taj Mahal is the debut album by the American blues artist. The result shows in tracks like Sleepy John Estes’ “Diving Duck Blues” with textures resembling the mix on the early Cream albums, while “The Celebrated Walkin’ Blues” has the sound of a late release by Muddy Waters. Blind Willie McTell’s “Statesboro Blues” and Robert Johnson’s “Dust My Broom” are also represented.
The man received nine Grammy nominations and won two Awards over his nominations. In 2006 Taj Mahal was designated the official Blues “Artist of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts” and in 2014 he received the “Americana Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement” award.