This writer, who can be very selective about blues-rock artists, has always admired Joanne Shaw Taylor (JST) for her inventive guitar playing which doesn’t venture to the same cliché’s that many blues-rockers employ. Yet, it never seemed right to consider her a true blues artist. That sentiment may be more widespread than anticipated as we now find JST coming to grips with real blues on The Blues Album. Even she admits that the thought of a real blues album has been lingering for years. Now, don’t expect her to shed all her blues-rock trappings especially considering that she is working with the producing team of Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith. Yet, it is clearly a step in the direction that this writer and others have long-awaited. The album is being released on Bonamassa’s KTBA (Keeping the Blues Alive) label and was recorded in Nashville with several of the city’s best blues musicians. The label is an offshoot of Bonamassa’s non-profit Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation and has issued acclaimed albums from Dion (Blues with Friends) and Joanna Connor (4802 South Indiana Avenue). So, the table has been set for JST’s seventh album, and first with the emphasis on blues rather than rock.
Shaw used mostly her own guitar, a 1966 Esquire ‘Junior,” claiming that Bonamassa’s telecasters didn’t fit her hands well although she did use his vintage amps but no pedals. JST covers tunes from Peter Green, Otis Rush, Albert King, Magic Sam, Kim Wilson (The Fabulous Thunderbirds), and a couple of soul tunes from Don Covay. Some of her choices also include Little Village, Little Milton, and James Ray. These are not the usual standards you’re accustomed to hearing, which is admirable. The musicians accompanying her are Josh Smith (guitar), Reese Wynans (keyboards), Greg Morrow (drums), Steve Mackey (bass), Steve Patrick (trumpet), Mark Douthit (sax), and Barry Green (trombone). Bonamassa adds his guitar and vocals to “Don’t Go Away Mad” and gospel/soul vocalist Mike Farris guests on “I Don’t Know What You’ve Got.” Bonamassa’s intention was to push Shaw as a singer and bring out her vocal side, feeling that her guitar playing has been the dominant side of her artistry. (Bonamassa says, “We try not to live in the well-worn trails of the blues. Each song has to stand on its own while paying tribute to the original masters.”
The opening “Stop Messin’ Around” from Peter Green, has JST bringing an avalanche of blues-rock molten lava and she barely eases up on the throttle for the punchy horn assisted “If That Ain’t a Reason.” Her vocals are strong on both but glow even more brightly on Otis Rush’s “Keep on Lovin’ Me,” her guitar solo being more in the Chicago electric blues mode here but faster and aggressive and less emotive than what Rush typically delivered, yet on the slower blues/soul “If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody” both her vocals and her guitar solo is deeply felt. She teams with Bonamassa for the Little Village (Cooder, Hiatt, Keltner, Lowe) “Don’t Go Away Mad,” transforming it into a horn-driven blaster.
“Scraps Vignette” is an instrumental that has her trading licks with Josh Smith who penned the brief interlude of sorts. Her vocals on Albert King’s “Can’t You See What You’re Doing to Me” are potent and her guitar solo reaches stratospheric levels, leading into the soul track “Let Me Down Easy” where her sultry, heartfelt vocals evoke Janis, but the guitar outro is too frenzied, ruining the soulful vibe she had just laid down. The Fabulous T-Birds “Two Time My Lovin’” is delivered as a joyful shuffle, with background vocalists on the choruses. Her brightest shining vocal moment arrives with “I Don’t Know What You’ve Got,” as Mike Farris steps in to add harmony on the choruses while the horns deliver solid backing and her guitar services the song, rather than overtaking it. She goes out loudly with another Covay-penned tune, the shuffle “Three Time Loser.”
Considering that the objective was to bring JST’s vocals to the forefront, the album succeeds, mostly in soul-oriented tunes. However, she would have benefited from leaner instrumentation in some places, and with more restraint in her guitar playing as well. While there’s no doubt she can wield her axe with the best of them, the balance in some of these tunes still leans too far in the direction of the guitar.
