Dirty Linen (6-7/96, p.65) - "...Mahal seems to have reached an artistic pinnacle with PHANTOM BLUES..."
Living Blues (5-6/96, pp.75-76) - "...His music is a direct challenge to arbitrary barriers of genre and generation--a healthy antidote in our age of prefabricated styles, ideological rigidity, and corporate-driven tastes."
Personnel: Taj Mahal (vocals, dobro, harmonica); Bonnie Raitt (vocals); John Porter (acoustic guitar, guitar, slide guitar); Jon Cleary (guitar, piano, Wurlitzer piano, Clavinet, background vocals); Jon Brion (guitar, Chamberlin); Johnny Lee Schell (guitar, background vocals); Eric Clapton, Dean Parks, John Parks, Joe McGrath (guitar); Mike Campbell (12-string guitar); David Hidalgo (accordion); Joe Sublett, Bernard "Dr. B." Anderson (tenor saxophone); Darrell Leonard (trumpet, trombonium); Mick Weaver (organ); Larry Fulcher (bass, background vocals); James "Hutch" Hutchinson (bass); Tony Braunagel (drums, tambourine, percussion); "Freeze" Guillory (rub board); "Sir" Harry Bowens, "Sweet Pea" Atkinson, Terrence Forsythe, Regina Taylor, Alphanette Durio, Billy Barnum (background vocals).
Recorded at Sound City Studios, Van Nuys, California on May 8-14, 1995 and House Of Blues Studios, Encino, California.
PHANTOM BLUES was nominated for a 1997 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album.