The Blues Album

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 Nashvilles Ocean Way Studios. Co-produced by Joe Bonamassa and guitarist Josh Smith for the formers 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. Its drawn from B-sides, deep cuts, and personal favorites. Opener "Stop Messin Round" (Peter Green) was a highlight of Fleetwood Macs Mr. Wonderful album. Taylors 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 Miltons soul-blues "If That Aint a Reason" is transformed into a hard-driving, horn-drenched exercise in blues-funk. Taylors 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 Rushs "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 Clarks Aretha Franklin classic "If Youve Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody" is smoldering and passionate. Taylor makes the most of the lyrics desperation while the band sounds more Stax than Atlantic. Bonamassa plays guitar and sings with her on the sets outlier, a jaunty, shuffling cover of short-lived rock supergroup Little Villages "Dont 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 Dont Know What Youve Got" is a midtempo soul-blues ballad that features guest Mike Farris adding vocal harmonies and choruses as Taylors vocal slices open the heart. Closer "Three Time Loser" is a show band outro. Its a hard-grooving, Memphis-style shuffle with cascading B-3, pounding piano, and Taylors 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 Taylors 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