The Early 1990's: Mick Taylor and Jim Lacey-Baker After moving to Los Angeles in the early 1990's, Mick met guitarist Jim Lacey-Baker, who had admired and emulated Mick's playing style. When mutual friend Carla Olson played a tape of Jim for Mick, Mick couldn't identify who was playing.  Finally, it came to him, "Carla, it's me, right?" Sorry, Mick!  Listen, for example, to Jim's lead work on Carla Olson's Rock of Ages (requires Real Audio), a song she co-wrote with late Byrd Gene Clark. Mick and Jim jammed together, wrote together and just plain hung out during this period, with Mick producing some of Jim's early recording sessions.  In a reference that perhaps reflects the difficulty of being a top session 'hired gun' on other musicians' projects, Mick made a point of saying in an interview that he could "truly put his hand on his heart" and say he loved the music Jim was making.  Part of making history as a musician is that people will come along and adopt aspects of your innovation and style.   Mick appears to have come to acknowledge his historical legacy through his work with Jim Lacey-Baker.  Mick is becoming comfortable with the breadth of his influence and the realization that he has spawned a school of rock and blues guitarists who bring to the guitar a vocalist's need to emote through melody and tone. Jim and Mick wrote the tune Love In Arms (requires Real Audio) together, and Jim's band Walkie Talkie gives it a highly unusual treatment compared to  Mick's more straight-forward blues of recent years.  At a tight 3 1/2 minutes, the road-weary lyric floats over jazzy but "Stonesy" chords, reminiscent of a cross between the mood of the great 60's pop tune Spooky by the Classics IV, and the post-Taylor Stones' gentle Beast of Burden.   There's a subtle jazz guitar solo at the end in the spirit of Mick's immortal one-off jam on Can't You Hear Me Knocking.  The song is the spiritual sister to Mick's Stranger In This Town, itself a lament of rock'n'rollers' road weariness.   The Bay Area's Walkie Talkie has recently released a CD titled School Yard Rhymes, on Seattle's Laundry Room Records.  Walkie Talkie is an heir to sixties and seventies blues-influenced rock, but it carries forth with originality and creativity.   It;s nice to hear a record that speaks to today as well as yesterday.  Don't be surprised when Walkie Talkie breaks out with this record. Get more info on School Yard Rhymes from CDNow (no obligation).

Mick and Jim Lacey-Baker backstage, sweaty after a hot show at the Palomino in West Hollywood. FOR MORE WALKIE TALKIE INFO DIRECT FROM JIM LACEY-BAKER: Type your E-mail address here, then hit Submit Request: