Over seven albums and hundreds of thousands of road miles later, U.K. native (and Detroit transplant)
Joanne Shaw Taylor
has established a reputation as a world-class blues-rock guitarist.
The Blues Album
was recorded at Nashville's Ocean Way Studios. Co-produced by
Joe Bonamassa
and guitarist
Josh Smith
for the former's
Keeping the Blues Alive
label, the pair assembled a top cast of sidemen including
Reese Wynans
(keyboards),
Greg Morrow
(drums),
Steve Mackey
(bass),
Steve Patrick
(trumpet),
Mark Douthit
(sax), and
Barry Green
(trombone). The material, associated with iconic artists, is not standard fare. It's drawn from B-sides, deep cuts, and personal favorites. Opener "Stop Messin' Round" (
Peter Green
) was a highlight of
Fleetwood Mac
's
Mr. Wonderful
album.
Taylor
's version features
Wynans
' piano and organ playing as its engines. They frame the resonant emotional grain in her voice, and she delivers a smoking guitar solo, too.
Little Milton
's soul-blues "If That Ain't a Reason" is transformed into a hard-driving, horn-drenched exercise in blues-funk.
's vocal, accompanied by a soaring backing chorus, paces the shuffle with emotion and authority -- she sounds like
Dusty Springfield
fronting
Muddy Waters
' band. Her reading of
Otis Rush
's "Keep on Lovin' Me" reflects his bumping Chicago style but is faster and harder. She exchanges vocal lines with the punchy, swinging horns and organ before delivering an aggressive guitar break. Her reading of
Rudy Clark
Aretha Franklin
classic "If You've Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody" is smoldering and passionate.
makes the most of the lyric's desperation while the band sounds more
Stax
than
Atlantic
.
Bonamassa
plays guitar and sings with her on the set's outlier, a jaunty, shuffling cover of short-lived rock supergroup
Little Village
's "Don't Go Away Mad." They inject this spiny rocker with abundant blues spirit and fine solos. Single "Let Me Down Easy" is another
vehicle.
injects it with rough soul layered atop Chicago blues. Her slow-burn croon is wide open, raw, and dripping with emotion as the band rises to match her intensity. After a fingerpopping read of the
Fabulous Thunderbirds
' hip-swinging stroller "Two Time My Lovin'," She closes the set with two
Don Covay
tunes: "I Don't Know What You've Got" is a midtempo soul-blues ballad that features guest
Mike Farris
adding vocal harmonies and choruses as
's vocal slices open the heart. Closer "Three Time Loser" is a show band outro. It's a hard-grooving, Memphis-style shuffle with cascading B-3, pounding piano, and
's blistering solo. If cutting
was a dream, she realizes it in spades. Each performance is rendered with passion, raw emotion, and taste. As producers,
and
Smith
successfully present a balanced, even revelatory view of
's abilities. She is presented as a blues and R&B singer of great sensitivity and power, buoying her already stellar reputation as a guitarist. ~ Thom Jurek