Listen: Taj Mahal Announces Live Album, Shares New Recording of Classic “Queen Bee”

Photo Credit: Phil Clarkin

Today, Jan. 25, the roots great Taj Mahal has announced the March 8, 2024, release of Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa via Lightning Rod Records. The impending set was recorded live at the Tulsa studio, best known as the home base of the late Leon Russel–a friend and influential figure for Mahal. As a preview of the impending batch, the artist has shared a live recording of his classic number “Queen Bee.” 

Comprised of a 10-track presentation, Live at the Church in Tulsa stretches across genre boundaries to fully encompass the development of Mahal’s career with the help of The Taj Mahal Sextet, which includes bassist Bill Rich, drummer Kester Smith, and guitarist/Hawaiian lap steel player Bobby Ingano, augmented by dobro player Rob Ickes and guitarist and vocalist Trey Hensley. 

Serving as the visit sonic deliverable from the collection is the single and live recording of “Queen Bee,” a piece of music that originated as an instrumental fingerpicking piece inspired by Mahal’s mentor, Mississippi John Hurt. The piece of music originated from his 1977 studio album Evolution (The Most Recent) and later appeared on his GRAMMY-winning 1997 studio album, Señor Blues.

“It’s a fun song. It’s a positive song, from a male’s perspective, you know, to speak good about women. I feel like there’s an awful lot of angst between men and women these days, from whatever stripe or ethnic group or culture they’re coming from, there’s a lot of tension,” offered Taj about “Queen Bee” via press release. 

He continued, “You’ve only got so much string in this ball of yarn, and if you waste your time fighting with one another, you’re gonna look back one day and realize that, boy, did I waste a lot of time, I could have been feeling good, talking nice, being nice to people, so many things you could be doing.”

In addition to news of the new album, the artist also dropped North American tour dates, which will rev up at the end of the month.  For more information, visit www.tajblues.com. 

Pre-order Live at the Church in Tulsa. 

Listen to “Queen Bee” below.

Track List

01 – Betty And Dupree

02 – Mailbox Blues

03 – Queen Bee

04 – Lovin’ In My Baby’s Eyes

05 – Waiting For My Papa To Come Home

06 – Slow Drag

07 – Sitting On Top Of The World

08 – Twilight In Hawaii

09 – Corrina

10 – Mean Old World