Photo: Ruf Records – Used With Permission
Every once in a while your listening to a record for the first time and maybe digging it a bit, just laying back and enjoying some good playing. Then a particular track begins to play and suddenly everything else stops because your hearing something real special. And do I mean something special! If you have never heard of Joanne Shaw Taylor before, you are going to be in for what we historians call a “Great Awakening,” While many people in the United Kingdom are well aware of Joanne Taylor Shaw’s amazing talent, she is not as well know in the United States. The blues singer and guitarist has already released six albums in the United Kingdom along with a fabulous lived DVD. Her first album White Sugar was released in 2009. Her latest album Wild was released last year in 2016.
For most young blues musicians there will always be comparisons to Stevie Ray Vaughan. As time has passed since Stevie Ray Vaughan’s passing in 1990, his legacy and contributions to the blues have only grown stronger. While most comparisons to Stevie Ray Vaughan are usually way overstated, Joanne Shaw Taylor really does echo the spirit of Stevie Ray Vaughan guitar playing. Being compared in earnest to Stevie Ray Vaughan is actually one of the highest compliments that can be made towards any musician. Many fans may forget that Stevie Ray Vaughan was compared over and over again to Jimi Hendrix when Vaughan first arrived on the scene. In time the comparisons died down as Stevie Ray Vaughan began to build his own unique and original legacy After listening to Joanne Shaw Taylor’s entire catalog, one can also hear a unique original voice that stands at the top of today’s modern blues guitarist and singers. In the near future we will be covering Joanne Shaw Taylor in far more depth and looking at every one of her releases.
While many music journalist actually try to refrain from comparing musicians, sometimes it is the most effective way to describe a musician’s sound in words. However, we feel once you take a listen to this smoking track below, it wont matter at all what we have written, because Joanne Taylor Shaw is the real deal. The guitar solo that Joanne Taylor Shaw performs on the track “Time Has Come,” will knock you down panting for more. It’s an amazing testament to a talent that everyone needs to hear. We were completely blow away by this. We know you will be too.
TESR
