I had never heard of Otis Taylor or his music until 2009, when one of my favorite directors, Michael Mann, featured this great song in the John Dillinger biopic Public Enemies. The film was decent but flawed, and certainly not one of Mann's better efforts. But the inclusion of this song (especially in the trailer) was fantastic, and Mann has always been one of the best filmmakers at setting action to music. I like the choice of this song to represent the feel of the film, because it aesthetically recalls the depression era dust bowl setting of the story, while still having an exciting modern flair (just like Mann's style).
I haven't explored Taylor's discography as much as I should since first hearing him, but I do have the album that contained this song, 2002's Respect the Dead, and it's quite good. Anyone interested in contemporary blues should definitely check him out.
This was originally written and posted on Facebook on June 4, 2014
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