James Michael Taylor

When James Michael Taylor finds a topic that interests him, he doesn’t just a write a song; he records a concept album filled with autobiographical songs that are piercing, startling, occasionally off-putting, rarely commercial and often brilliant. The prolific Taylor has released a dozen of these albums since 2001, and Red Dirt Diary proves his brain remains as fertile and funky as ever. Red Dirt’s 14 songs examine his elderly father’s life and the changing cultures the old man has experienced in almost a century on Earth. Somebody who’d never milked a cow before could probably fill a bucket with ease after listening to the humorous but instructional “Milking It.” The advent of instant photography and its impact on a family is explored with equal parts nostalgia, fun and melancholy in “A Smile,” and “A Good Cry” is the most beautiful song I’ve heard in a while. Taylor seems destined to be the Vincent van Gogh of Texas folk music — unappreciated until he’s dead. But he’s alive and well now, writing and recording fascinating morality tales with an inventive ear for production worthy of a true Texas original.