Joanne Shaw Taylor

There is a fine crop of ladies playing the Blues, from Erja Lytinen through, Dani Wilde, Samantha Fish and the brilliant Chantel MacGregor but the queen of the scene is definitely Joanne Shaw Taylor. From the flowing blonde locks to the husky voice and superb songwriting skills – she has it all, but especially her guitar playing which is truly special.

The gig at The Jazz Café was that last of her current tour and there was a packed crowd to see her, eagerly awaiting something special. And she didn’t disappoint.

Taking to the stage as a three piece, all eyes were on the guitarist and she flashed a nervous smile at the packed out venue before launching into ‘Mud Honey’ kicking into high gear from the off.
Her voice is deep and dark but she has a soulful edge to it that exactly matches her guitar and through ‘Outlaw Angel’ and the funk and soul of ‘Wrecking Ball’ she ripped it out with power and real pizzazz.
By the time of ‘Tried Tested and True’ we needed a break – of sorts – and even without the Hammond that features so strongly on the original she put over a stunning version of that emotional and heartwrenching ballad.

The music just pealed off the stage with her guitar solos getting massive reaction from the crowd and even when she swapped the Gibson for an acoustic she had them rapt in attention.

She played numbers from all her 4 albums since 2008, my personal favourite being ‘Tied & Bound’ which just bust out with a vicious edge and built into a monster. Closer ‘Going Home’ had heart and when she came back out for ‘The Dirty Truth’ she showed all her skills in one dark and downright nasty number – the crowd loved it.

Support band on the tour were Federal Charm who are building quite a following with their indie-tinged Blues/rock and they were excellent with lead singer Nick Bowden showing great character and sterling guitar from Paul Bowe. They are a band definitely on the rise and improved massively from the nervous kids I saw a couple of years back.

Picture by Steve Brinkman