Hudspeth & Taylor – Kimuziki: Live in Des Moines
Independent
9 tracks – 34 minutes
Brandon Hudspeth was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He started taking guitar lessons after watching Johnny Cash play on Sesame Street. He became heavily influenced by the blues and after high school he moved to Kansas City where he started his own band, Levee Town. That band twice represented the Kansas City Blues Society at the International Blues Society in Memphis and placed in the top ten finalists in 2009. He has received many nominations for blues awards, including both the Blue’s Foundation’s Blues Music Awards and the annual Blues Blast Music Awards. His finger-picking guitar style stands out on the recordings. He has played with vocalists and percussionist Jaisson Taylor for over twenty years including their well-received 2020 debut collaboration, Folle a deux, which also received multiple nominations. The provided notes advise that “Kimuziki” is a Swahili word meaning musical.
This album features six covers and three original songs that were selected from songs that they performed at the Central Iowa Winter Blues Society’s Winter Blues Festival held in February 2025. The album opens with Jimmy Reed’s 1959 song, “Going To New York”, a fitting song for Brandon as he has traveled to many places in his career as the song cites “I’ve been here ‘n’ I’ve been there…but I’m Goin’ to New York, I ‘m goin’ if I have to walk.” Mance Lipscomb’s 1959 song “Run Sinner Run” is next with Brandon’s guitar picking a standout with Jaisson warning “If I was you, I would stop right here and pray”. “I am so glad I found my religion in time”. Muddy Water’s “Honey Bee” from 1951 was one of his signature songs. Hudspeth & Taylor deliver a version that is completely their own. The song delivers a declaration of love .
They return to Jimmy Reed with another classic song “Bright Lights, Big City” which he cites as having “Gone to my baby’s head”. The original “Silly Billy” tells the tale of a “dancing fool who drives the girls insane, too bad you had to go”. Jimmy Rogers’ 1957 song “Walking by Myself” gets a calm rendition as Jaisson proclaims ” I just want to be your loving man”.
Th next two songs are originals starting with “Daddy Baby” opening with some hot percussive sound by Jaisson and a unique guitar run from Brandon. “I want to be your daddy baby. I would like to build a house around this family.” I just want to build my life with you.” Next, Jaisson states that “the pressure might subside, but “I Know It’s Going to Rain Again” as Brandon pulls out his slide guitar. The album concludes with Willie Dixon’s well-known “Spoonful”, which was first recorded by Howlin’ Wolf in 1960.
The duo keeps the music close to the traditional blues as performed by the cited greats, while adding their own touch to every song. Their original songs also fit well against the better-known covers. Taylor states in the notes that “Music, in general, is basically borrowing from what’s happened before and trying to expand on it. There’s just two of us, so we try to make it interesting”. Well accomplished!
