Joanne Shaw Taylor – The Blues Album

Recently released on Joe Bonamassa’s independent KTBA (Keeping The Blues Alive) Records, also produced by Joe and Josh Smith, Joanne Shaw Taylor releases her seventh studio record The Blues Album. These 11 tracks of blues covers originally released by Albert King, Peter Green, Little Richard, Magic Sam, Aretha Franklin, Little Milton and many more make for essential listening.

Album opener ‘Stop Messin’ Around’ is a tantalizing toe tapper drenched in razor sharp guitar lines that reel you in right from the off. This song about cheating includes lyrics of “Baby please stop messin’ around, you’re messin’ round all the time and if you don’t stop messin’ round, you’ll be somebody’s baby instead of mine”. A piano piece midway bites down hard to pave way for a glorious guitar solo and thunderous bass guitar lines.

‘If That Ain’t A Reason’ is smouldering blues that crawl along at snails pace as a brass section adds muscle to the fiery fluidity of Joanne’s fretboard ferocity, all topped off by Motown tinged choruses.

‘Keep On Lovin’ Me’ is a snazzy piece of jazz infused rhythms as smooth sax compliments the slow burning vocals. The song comes to life with dazzling fretboard runs until it settles down to a calming outro.

A tearjerker comes from ‘If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody’ as Joanne shows off her vocal prowess to make every lyric count to pile on the sorrow and the pace of her guitar work keeps in line with the songs laid back grooves.

‘Don’t Go Away Mad’ features Joe Bonamassa. It’s a jaunty dance floor filler for sure with an upbeat lead vocal and additional guitar wizardry from Joe.

‘Scraps Vignette’ is a blink and you’ll miss it 90 seconds of meandering jazz funk for a trippy short but sweet number.

Prominent bass guitar and brass section pins down ‘Can’t You See What You’re Doing To Me?’. It heavies up when Joanne unleashes a shredded outro solo.

‘Let Me Down Easy’ is another bonafide heartbreaker that rolls along on ear caressing grooves. Vocals are raw and tearjerking but also give a glimmer of hope. A cathartic outro comes from a ballistic guitar solo.

‘Two Time My Lovin’ has glorious doo wop like choruses to steal the spotlight. Jaunty verses raise a smile to but a guitar solo is never far away to end the song with some fiery licks.

‘I Don’t Know What You’ve Got’ has a guest spot from Mike Farris. A dose of serene soul makes for Joanne’s most powerful vocal here and a midsection of brass and gently picked chords are sumptuous.

This majestic album ends far too soon with the rabble rousing ‘Three Time Loser’, a rock and roller to close The Blues Album with style and a steely eyed stomp. Fiesty piano adds a touch of barroom boogie to keep the energy levels high and curiously the opening notes to ‘Soul Man’ pop up a few times.

Album purchase links and band info are here :- https://shop.jbonamassa.com/collections/ktba-records I https://www.joanneshawtaylor.com I https://www.facebook.com/joanneshawtaylor/ I https://twitter.com/joshawtaylor I https://www.instagram.com/joanneshawtaylor/ I https://www.youtube.com/user/jstblues55/featured I https://amazon.co.uk/The-Blues-Album-Joanne-Shaw-Taylor/dp/B09B14PZ8G/?tag=plane09-21

The Blues Album track listing :-

Stop Messin’ Around.

If That Ain’t A Reason.

Keep On Lovin’ Me.

If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody.

Don’t Go Away Mad (featuring Joe Bonamassa).

Scraps Vignette.

Can’t You See What You’re Doing To Me?

Let Me Down Easy.

Two Time My Lovin’.

I Don’t Know What You’ve Got.

Three Time Loser.