Time is a 10-track studio album by legendary blues artist and musicologist Taj Mahal and the Phantom Blues Band, released on May 1, 2026, through Resonatin' Records and Thirty Tigers.

Time was initially recorded in 2010; Taj Mahal hooks up with his longtime collaborators in the Phantom Blues Band. While there isn’t a public explanation for the long wait, this album adds to the continuity of this artist’s oeuvre -- as the collection travels the broad musical landscape of the African American and Caribbean diaspora. I would insist on continuing the characterization of his work as ‘comfort food’ for the soul.

I’m sure that there’s many Taj Mahal fans out there in MainlyPiano land. After many sessions of listening to and enjoying his live performances on videos, the artist known as Taj Mahal (government name: Henry St. Claire Fredericks Jr.) is a living cultural treasure.

Couple things to know about the album’s content. The title track, "Time," is a rare, previously unreleased composition written by the late Bill Withers. Of this exclusive release, Taj explains, “My former wife went to school with Bill Withers’ wife, so they knew each other, and I got a chance to spend some time around him. I had a lot of respect for the brother because of what he brought to music.” Taj reflected. “Bill could walk out with an acoustic guitar and sing something like ‘Grandma’s Hands,’ and it would resonate so deeply with people. He wasn’t jumping up and down or trying to be flashy – he just had his own time and his own way of doing things. That honesty in his music meant a lot. So when this song came along, I listened to it a couple of times and felt that movement and that message in it. And we were grateful to receive his blessing to record it.”

The kickoff song, "Life of Love," is a Taj Mahal composition, while all other tracks are by many other songwriters. For example, the reggae tune "Talkin’ Blues" is authored by Bob Marley, and Ziggy Marley makes a vocal appearance; while the appropriately Stax-infused "Sweet Lorene" is co-authored by Issac Hayes and Otis Redding. Catch Taj doing a fun Wolfman Jack thing in "It's Your Voodoo Working" (written by Charles Sheffield). A couple of the songs aren’t profane, but may make one blush.

I haven’t had the privilege of catching Taj Mahal live on stage. But I do rely on catching his performances on video -- go catch a session on YouTube.com where he is jamming and rehearsing with Susan Tesdesci and Derek Trucks in a hotel room. In another of my favorite performances, he performs a rockin’ "Statesboro Blues" with Gregg Allman, with an august backup band (“All My Friends: Celebrating the Songs & Voice of Gregg Allman”).

I’ll end with this: Taj Mahal is now 84 years young. So are other world-celebrated rock luminaries like the Stones’ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards -- who are also in their eighties -- have left a mark on the music universe. The Stones’ 2026 release of "Foreign Tongues" enjoyed dizzying media attention and commentary. With Taj Mahal’s release of Time, in this subjective comparison, I have to conclude that, objectively speaking, Taj Mahal’s musical presence and influence will be time-honored for his musical diversity and astonishingly rooted and profound. For this, Time may be several years late; it is appropriately titled.