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Livingston Taylor

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One Track Mind: Livingston Taylor – “Grandma’s Hands”

by Pico, blogcritics.org

The other day I was digging Bill Withers' gentle folk-soul masterwork from 1971, Just As I Am. A week later I still find myself occasionally warbling "Ain't No Sunshine" when there's no one else around save for my daughter and nearly sat down to write about it in this space. But then started thinking about the song that follows it on that blessed album, "Grandma's Hands." And then I got to think of how well Liv Taylor covers this Withers original. Ah, screw it, everybody knows about "Sunshine," anyway. I gotta testify for Liv.

For those who think I'm misspelling Steve Tyler's daughter's name, Livingston Taylor is the Jimmie Vaughan of folk rock; he's plenty talented enough, but his career's been overshadowed by a superstar brother. While Jimmie has had to deal with constant comparisons to Stevie Ray, Liv has quietly toiled away in nearly complete obscurity while his older brother James became an adult contemporary icon.