Joanne Shaw Taylor is an artist who has, seemingly, been there for ever. From her earliest days - She was discovered by Dave Stewart of Eurythmics at the age of 16 – her time on the Ruf Blues Caravan and her top ten albums on Ruf in the early 2000’s, her Blues Foundation awards and connections to Joe Bonamassa’s label leading to her translation to the US, her Blues has always been strong and unique.
This new album, on Bonamassa’s Journeyman label, sees her moving away from her traditional Bluesy sound and into a more rock and melody laden entity. Her guitar work is as fiery as ever and her vocal still has that remarkable husky quality – albeit more understandable now – but a lot of her charming naivete has evaporated. This is a more adult and thought out album than previous outings. As such, it is a very fine album, brilliant playing and superb production but maybe lacking some of the spark of her earlier works.
The latest single, a version of The Faces ‘Love Lives Here’ is superb. “I’m a huge Rod Stewart fan. This is one of my favourite Faces songs,” Joanne shares. “Again, moving forward into what I see as another chapter in my life and music after ten albums, I wanted to put a lot of things behind me, but I also wanted to move forward on a positive note. Love lives here, says it all really.”
Elsewhere, her own tracks are pretty fine, I particularly enjoyed ‘Look What I’ve Become’ with its soft and subtle vocal, and the title track which shows her vocals off to their best. 'I Gotta Stop Letting You Let Me Down' has a furious and funky vibe to it.
It’s an important album for Joanne. And she has done a great job of the songwriting and playing. One of the better albums of 2025.
Joanne will perform five concerts in the UK during September and October including Bath, The Forum (Sept 24), York Barbican (Sept 25) , University of Wolverhampton at the Wulfrun Hall (Sept 27), Eastbourne, Devonshire Park Theatre (Sept 28) and London, Cadogan Hall (Oct 9). Tickets are on general sale from – https://www.gigantic.com/joanne-shaw-taylor-tickets
