Exile From Main St.

“I still have these little twinges of desire to play a little bit of rock ‘n’ roll. But only a little bit,” says Mick Taylor.

There was a time about 25 to 30 years ago when Taylor, who performs with his band this Saturday night at the Coach House, played a lot of rock ‘n’ roll. Make that a lot of great rock ‘n’ roll. As the virtuoso lead guitarist for the Rolling Stones between 1969 and 1975, Taylor contributed substantially to some of the genre’s most revered albums, including the classic “Sticky Fingers” and “Exile on Main Street.”

More than a few Rolling Stones’ aficionados believe that the self-proclaimed World’s Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band hasn’t been nearly as great since Taylor departed the group a quarter-century ago. His stinging but fluid guitar runs were perfect complements to Keith Richards’ mighty rhythm guitar riffing.

Conversely, Ron Wood--Taylor’s replacement in the Stones--has proven to be a far less compelling ax-man. Wood isn’t much of a lead guitarist, and he lacks Taylor’s innate affinity for blues music, the foundation of the Stones’ vaunted rock sound.

Since leaving the Rolling Stones, Taylor has kept a disappointingly low profile. In 1979, he released a self-titled and vastly underrated solo album. “Stranger in This Town,” a live disc, followed 11 years later in 1990. Last week Cannonball Records in Chanhassen, Minn., released only his second studio album ever, “A Stone’s Throw.” His work outside of the Rolling Stones has generally reflected his deep love for American blues and even jazz rather than fireball rock ‘n’ roll.

So why the dearth of Mick Taylor solo albums during the past 25 years?

“It’s a combination of things,” he says, speaking by phone from an Austin, Texas, tour stop. “For many years I lived in the States. I lived in New York for four years and then I lived in Los Angeles for 3 1/2 years. It’s only since I’ve been back in England [the past five years] that I’ve had a permanent band of musicians that I like and respect and that I get on with.

“I’m not the type of person who can go into the studio and just write songs for my own pleasure. There needs to be some chemistry, some live interaction between different people in a band. That’s the way I play.”

It’s not that Taylor has been largely inactive since leaving the Rolling Stones. He embarked on a number of solo tours during the ‘80s and ‘90s. He’s also participated in numerous collaborative projects.

Collaborative Efforts

Immediately after his departure from the Stones, Taylor briefly teamed with ex-Cream bassist-vocalist Jack Bruce. In 1983, he played on Bob Dylan’s “Infidels” album and subsequently joined Dylan’s band for a European tour. Some of his most striking guitar work can be found on the 1984 Dylan concert album, “Real Live.”

Subsequent collaborations included a 1993 album with Carla Olson called “Within an Ace.” He’s also composed the music for numerous films such as “The Man Who Fell to Earth” and the upcoming movie “Bad City Blues.”

Taylor’s current three-month American tour is mainly devoted to exposing the mostly blues-based music on “A Stone’s Throw,” which was actually first released in Europe in 1998.

He’s also performing a few blues covers such as Willie Dixon’s “Little Red Rooster” and a several Stones associated numbers such as “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” and Mississippi Fred McDowell’s “You Gotta Move.”

The latter two songs were featured on the Stones’ 1971 “Sticky Fingers” album.

Needless to say, a Mick Taylor show tends to attract its share of late ‘60s, early ‘70s Stones fans.

“We had more [Stones fans] on the bus last night [in Dallas after our show],” he reveals. “They all came with their Rolling Stones T-shirts and their ticket stubs from the 1970s. We had ex-Dallas Cowboys on the bus. We had all kinds of crazy people, nice people, guitar players who wanted their guitars signed. It’s like a circus, really.

“They come with their own Stones [memorabilia] for me to sign. But I don’t think they just come for that. They used to 10 years ago. But now we seem to be getting more of a mixed crowd in terms of age groups and in terms of gender. We’ve got quite a strange bunch of people coming to see us. I don’t know what that says about us.”

Taylor, 52, is hoping to establish some long overdue momentum in his solo career by releasing another album later this year. He says he has an abundance of unrecorded material he penned during the 1990s.

Still, it’s likely that the engaging Englishman will always be best known in mainstream rock circles for his years with the Rolling Stones.

Known for his quiet, introverted nature during his tenure with the Stones, the surprisingly gregarious Taylor becomes quite chatty when the subject of “Exile on Main Street” comes up. The 1972 opus is considered by some critics to be the greatest rock ‘n’ roll album.

“We recorded that album in the basement of this huge colonial style villa in the south of France that Keith Richards had rented,” Taylor recalls. “We had a mobile studio outside, but in all other respects it was like recording at home. We all lived together 24 hours a day. There was never too much of a formula or a concept [behind the album].

“[Initially] we actually didn’t like that record. Not just me, but I don’t think the rest of the Rolling Stones had any idea it would be heralded as one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll albums of all time.

“[Now] it’s one of my favorite Rolling Stones albums.”

Taylor is also in the early stages of writing his autobiography. In previous years he rejected offers to write a book on his years with the Stones. But this project would also encompass his life before and after what he laughingly terms “the Stone age.”

Dispute Over Credits

A dispute over songwriting credits is one reason why Taylor left the Stones. Taylor says he helped create a handful of tracks such as “Sway,” “Moonlight Mile” and “Time Waits for No One.” Yet those songs are only attributed to Richards and vocalist Mick Jagger.

The songwriting issue “did bother me,” acknowledges Taylor, who played with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers just before joining the Stones. “But that’s not the only reason I walked out. I just felt I had enough after five years. I hadn’t been in the band from the very beginning, though I was very much part of the group and we were all great friends.

“People are always saying that it was a crazy thing to do. [It’s like], ‘Look at all the money you could be making now [that Stones’ tours are huge moneymakers].’ But that’s all with the benefit of hindsight. Anyway, I don’t really think like a merchant banker. Neither I nor the rest of the Rolling Stones used to think in that way when we were in our 20s.”

* Mick Taylor, Packet of 3, and Blue Mama perform Saturday night at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano, 8 p.m. $17.50. (949) 496-8927.