She was inspired by Steve Ray Vaughn and Albert Collins. Yes, many people were. The 13-year-old Joanne Shaw Taylor from England's Midlands took up the electric guitar and never looked back.
Dave Stewart (former Eurythmics co-lead) has an eye for talent and soon conscripted Shaw Taylor into one of his tours in 2002 when she was 17.
Shaw Taylor has released a stunning nine albums since her vinyl debut in 2009. Her most recent entry is the 2021 The Blues Album produced by Joe Bonamassa, another superstar with an eye for young talent.
Put technically, Shaw Taylor kicks ass on the album with her Fender Telecaster and Fender Albert Collins-signature Telecaster prowess. She gets right to it on Side One with the hard-driving “Stop Messin’ Round” written by Clifford Adams and Peter Green. Green was one of the founders of the original Fleetwood Mac, itself a legendary blues-rock band before it became, with a largely different cast, an impressive hit machine. Shaw Taylor’s guitar riffs alternate powerfully with Reese Wynans’ keyboard. Wynans was Stevie Ray Vaughn’s keyboardist in Double Trouble, underscoring with Shaw Taylor the talent that great talent attracts.
She cooks on Otis Rush’s “Keep on Lovin’ Me,” a smooth, danceable number with an R&B vibe and, of course, ample opportunity to showcase her wizardry. “Don’t Go Away Mad” has her sharing lead singing and alternating guitar licks with the great Joe Bonamassa. The label is KTBA Records, which is part of Bonamassa’s relief program for getting musicians back on the road after the pandemic. KTBA stands for Keeping The Blues Alive.
Shaw Taylor’s voice is authentically bluesy and it nicely moves the numbers forward. Some tunes on the album feel like Tedeschi Trucks material such as “Don’t Go Away Mad,” which was written by the extraordinary quartet of Ry Cooder, John Hiatt, Jim Keltner, and Nick Lowe. Wow! In her case, however, Shaw Taylor is lead-singing like Susan Tedeschi and lead-guitaring, well, not quite like the astonishing Derek Trucks, but pretty damn good.
Side Two opens with her take on Albert King’s “Can’t You See What You’re Doing To Me.” I played King’s version a few times first and then jumped into Shaw Taylor’s rendition, which did not disappoint. In fact, it was superb albeit (and obviously) without King’s singular road-weary edginess.
The Fabulous Thunderbirds’ song “Two Time My Lovin’,” written by their frontman Kim Wilson, is well done. This tune’s infectious rhythm is driven by Greg Morrow’s drumming and Steve Mackey’s bass. Murrow has drummed for Bonamassa, Don Henley, Bob Seger, and The Dixie Chicks.
The Blues Album was recorded at Ocean Way Studios in Nashville, which is nowhere near the ocean. The songs were mastered at Bakery Mastering in Culver City, CA, which is close to the ocean.
We’ll be seeing Shaw Taylor at City Winery Boston in May.
This concludes my Vinyl Variations series. It has served its purpose wonderfully, which was to catalyze an exploration of our record collection and, in this case, to sample a younger artist with a relatively new project on vinyl.
Image courtesy of Amazon.com.