The Blues Album [LP]

by Joanne Shaw Taylor

Overview

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. Taylor'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's Aretha Franklin classic "If You've Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody" is smoldering and passionate. Taylor 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 Little Milton vehicle. Taylor 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 Taylor'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 Taylor's blistering solo. If cutting The Blues Album was a dream, she realizes it in spades. Each performance is rendered with passion, raw emotion, and taste. As producers, Bonamassa and Smith successfully present a balanced, even revelatory view of Taylor'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

Product Details

Release Date:	12/17/2021
Label:	Ktba Records
UPC:	0711574920914
Rank:	7323

Tracks

1. Stop Messin' Round
2. If That Ain't a Reason
3. Keep On Lovin' Me
4. If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody
5. Don't Go Away Mad
6. Scraps Vignette
7. Can't You See What You're Doing to Me
8. Let Me Down Easy
9. Two Time My Lovin'
10. I Don't Know What You've Got
11. Three Time Loser

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Joanne Shaw Taylor   Primary Artist
Joe Bonamassa   Guitar,Vocals,Featured Artist
Mike Farris   Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Clifford Adams   Composer,Composer
Don Davis   Composer
Ry Cooder   Composer
Alan Hertz   Mixing
Rudy Clark   Composer
Maurice Dollison   Composer
Albert King   Composer
Kim Wilson   Composer
John Hiatt   Composer
Horace Hall   Composer
Peter Green   Composer
Jim Keltner   Composer
Nick Lowe   Composer
Otis Rush   Composer
Donald Davis   Composer
David Donald   Composer
Carl Smith   Composer
Josh Smith   Composer
Marshall Jones   Composer
Ronald Miller   Composer
Don Covay   Composer