By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Taj Farrant is back in town.
The Australian blues guitar prodigy will be at Howard’s for two nights – tonight (Thursday, 9/21) and Friday, Sept. 22 – with Nathan Bryce Loaded Dice.
His sister, Jazel, a drummer, will open, then the band will play a short set with Taj is scheduled to hit at 8 p.m. and play to 45-minute sets. Tickets are $35, with an additional $50 for a meet and greet at 5:30 before the show. He admitted those sets will probably run long. He likes to improvise. And the blues classic “Red House” or his closer” Purple Haze” as well as his originals can travel some unexpected roads.
He likes to take them, the 14-year-old guitarist said, “the whole nine yards.”
[RELATED: Taj Farrant performs blues classic Red House on The Morning Show BG]
Tickets are $35, with an additional $50 for a meet and greet at 5:30 before the show. Click to purchase.
Taj started perfecting his craft around the barbecue at family gatherings in Australia. Thanks to the magic of the internet, his talents got worldwide views. That’s brought him to the States and beyond.
He’s had such good reception on this side of the Pacific that he and his family are now in the process of moving here. Not Bowling Green, though this has been a Midwest base for him. “It’s freezing cold here,” he said. “Even in summer it’s cold,” he said. The weather in Texas is more amenable to the Australians.
It’s hard to get work in his native land, especially for someone just starting to make his mark, he said. Only few bands can work full time in Australia, while booking clubs in the United States is easy. Just call the club and see if the venue is interested. And a number have been, and Taj keeps expanding his area.
“There’s a lot more opportunities for me here,” he said.
On this swing of shows, he’ll add a club in Buffalo, where his show a week from now at the Buffalo Iron Works is almost sold out. They’ll be stops in Indiana, Missouri and elsewhere in Ohio.
He first played Howard’s six months ago. A lot has happened in the intervening months .
He’s added to his list of gear endorsements.
He’s scored to #1 hits on the international blues charts, with two originals. “Crossroads,” written while traveling, is a tribute to blues legend Robert Johnson. “Cruz” is an instrumental that grew from improvising on the guitar, and named for a cousin who was born the day it was composed.
Those tunes will be part of a set that will be almost entirely different from his last residency here. “Purple Rain” remains the closer. He once considered not playing it at a show, then reconsidered. He didn’t want fans who expect it to riot, he said.
Taj feels he’s grown as a musician in those six months. He practices continually both on his vocals, impressively husky on “Crossroads,” and his guitar playing.
He’s started putting together a debut album. Three songs are ready. Though he’s written 80 or so songs, most aren’t up to snuff for the recording.
He hopes to have the recording out by the end of the year.
Meanwhile “Crossroads” and “Cruz” as well as three other singles are available on streaming services.
The album will be self-produce and distributed. He’s eschewing a record deal because he wants to keep control of his master recordings.
Beyond that Taj is looking to play bigger and bigger venues.
And that will take, he said, more effort from him as he continues to refine his craft.
