Product Description
COMING JUNE 06, 2025 RESERVE YOUR COPY TODAY!
Joanne Shaw Taylor has established herself as the UK’s number one star of the blues rock world. The girl with the big voice from the Black Country has toured extensively around the world, released critically acclaimed albums and gained a global fan base as well as having the honour of playing alongside some of her musical idols. My newest single "Black & Gold" is out now! This was a big chart hit for Sam Sparro in the UK in the 2000’s. I always loved it and the desperation of the lyrics and thought it could make a great Blues/gospal song if performed differently. I played my version to Kevin Shirley in the Studio and fortunately he heard the same thing I did.
JOANNE SHAW TAYLOR
Black & Gold
Journeyman Records
Guitarist/singer/songwriter Joanne Shaw Taylor artfully blends the lines between blues and blues-rock. She was inspired as a young teen by the guitar stylings of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert Collins, and Jimi Hendrix. She was discovered at 16 by Dave Stewart of Eurhythmics fame, who mentored her and took her on the road with one of his bands, D.U.P.
Moving to Nashville may have been the best career move Taylor has made, because it’s here in the U.S. it seems she’s getting more attention and can easily access the rich array of Canadian and American blues, folk, and jazz festivals while continuing to perfect her craftsmanship.
Black And Gold includes some radio-ready pop and rock tunes like the title track and “All The Things I Said” – about misgivings in a relationship, or things one should have said – may not satisfy blues purists, what’s more important are Taylor’s songs, which allow contemporary blues to keep expanding, appealing to more wide-ranging, diversified audiences.
“Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?” is a good example of this, an expression of lost love for someone who has departed this mortal coil, moved away, or otherwise split from the relationship. If you have doubts that Shaw Taylor can get down and play some gutbucket blues, your doubts are eliminated when you hear “I Gotta Stop Letting You Let Me Down.”
I caught this Britisher – a native of ‘the Black Country’ near Wolverhampton – last year in Red Bank, NJ, at the Vogel Theater, a smaller venue attached to the 1,200 seat Count Basie Theater. She had a great stage presence, told good stories about her youth, threw that British sense of humor into her talks about life experiences, and introduced most of her selections.
She’s followed up Heavy Soul with this release, which offers up plenty of tasty guitar playing on “Hell Of A Good Time,” “I Gotta Stop Letting You Let Me Down,” and some innovative lyrics on “Look What I’ve Become,” “What Are You Gonna Do Now,” and the title track, “Black & Gold.”
– Richard Skelly