Hiss Golden Messenger is the name North Carolina based songwriter MC Taylor records under and for his 16th album I’m People, he’s recorded a lively collection of heartwarming Americana. Faced with the black comedy of being alive in the USA, Taylor asks “what other choice to we have than to be hopeful?”. Recorded at Dreamland, a decommissioned church outside of Woodstock, the album’s rich instrumentation was created by Josh Kaufman, JT Bates, Cameron Ralston, Bruce Hornsby, Sam Beam, Marcus King, Sara Watkins, Amy Helm, Matt Douglas, Eric D Johnson and Griff and Taylor Goldsmith.
Lead track ‘In The Middle Of It’ snared me with a most pleasing melodic breeze as Taylor channels Bob Dylan with a slightly nasal sneer, over a sprightly up-tempo country rock number. ‘Who You Gonna Run To?’ has a lazy effervescent swerve with lovely liquid guitars and a laidback summery vibe. The brass embellishments and Taylor’s tossed out vocals are reminiscent of Van Morrisson. ‘Shaky Eyes’ has the same rolling vibe of The War On Drugs as Taylor’s voice delivers a soaring croon over a driving groove.
‘Mercy Ave’ takes the tempo down a notch for a big easy vibe with minimal percussion and rich layers of instrumentation. Title track ‘I’m People’ pulls in some sweet organ tones underneath the big country rock atmospherics. ‘Seneca (Time Is A Mother, Baby)’ features some gorgeous violin, pedal steel and mandolin dancing together for a heartwarming country ballad. The skippable ‘Last Orders’ sounds like a few dozen other songs and the production overdrives what’s essentially a loose jam of a song. Taylor leans hard into the Dylan snarl in the rolling soundscape of ‘Gabriel’.
‘Heavy World’ has a sassy swing with a bumping bass groove and lazily stummed acoustic guitars. ‘Alright And Then Some’ is like the first cigarette of the day, all calming and swirling in your head, when Taylor drops the line “call me a fool, God forgive ya!” I get chills every time for some reason. ‘Spirit Cat’ has some funky chops with staccato guitar and a snappy vocal. Closing track ‘Depends On The River’ is one final beautiful, countrified ballad to ease us on our way. Taylor pushes his voice stretching out his lines using it as an instrument along with the swooning pedal steel.
This album formed a welcome diversion for me as the winter and spring months swap temperatures. The instrumentation throughout is exemplary, every listen reveals new layers to explore. Taylor’s voice is a lovely sound as he veers from (tuneful) Dylan to the delightful drawl of Adam Granduciel. I’m People is an easy listening collection of endearing alt-country rock music. Sometimes that’s all you need to get by.
