Joanne Shaw Taylor Almost Always Never

Joanne Shaw Taylor’s newest album (her 3rd), Almost Always Never (Ruf Records), has been quietly making an impression on me for some time. The CD was recorded and produced in Austin, Texas by Mike McCarthy (Producer of Patti Griffith and others) and features the British singer-songwriter and guitarist backed by David Garza (keyboards), Billy White (bass/slide guitar) and J.J. Johnson (drums). With the exception of Frankie Miller’s Jealousy, Taylor penned the songs on this.

Her smokey, soulful vocals have the strongest appeal with a simmering intensity which is displayed on Beautifully Broken, with the crisp backing (Garza’s organ really helps frame her vocal) and Taylor’s rocking solo. At spots, her guitar is too much in a rock vein for my taste (the opening Soul Station), but her vocals never disappoint here as she moans and never screams her blues-laced performances. Furthermore, her lyrical takes on standard themes are fresh such as her take on a break-up, You Should Go, I Should Stay, where she tells her ex on her leaving that “you’ve got nothing to be sorry for.” Miller’s Jealousy might be the highlight as she wears her heart on her sleeve with passionate singing with smoldering backing and crisp, searing blues-rock guitar. 

With the performances ranging from the hard rock of Soul Station and Tied and Bound, to the buoyant, rocking ”A hand In Love” and the low-key, acoustic country blues flavor of Army of One, there is plenty to sustain a listener’s interest throughout Almost Always Never. The solid production, and Joanne Shaw Taylor’s strong blues and soul infused performances contribute to a very memorable recording.

I received this from a publicist. Here is a video of her performing Piece of the Sky.

Joanne Shaw Taylor Smoldering Hard Rock Intensity

Listening to Joanne Shaw Taylor’s sultry, smokey vocals one is impressed by the passion she brings on her and how she builds, along with the swagger in her sometimes furious guitar. Her new Ruf release, “Diamonds in the Dirt,” certainly rocks hard and with her attractive looks, one can certainly anticipate her building a substantial following with her blues-tinged rock. Listening to the opening “Can’t Keep Living Like This,” we get taken along for a searing, driving solo that fades at the track’s end.

While she is on the cover of Blues Revue for an issue devoted on “Women in the Blues,” these ears do not hear much blues here, rather hard rock or blues-rock. I say this as an observation, not an evaluation of the music here. Listening to “Dead and Gone,” as she bellows out “when the morning comes, I’ll be dead and gone,” the performance is hard rock, even if their is some blues in her musical foundation. At the same time, she is adept in building her vocals as well as her jamming solos. But then again, a second track that fades at the end.

“Same As It Never Was,” has a nice catchy lyric, a very attractive vocal, a nicely shaped guitar solo and a a bit of R&B inflection in the groove. “Jump That Train,” opens with some heavy layered and busy guitars as she belts out her lyric and another screaming guitar solo. The title track is an appealing song of love’s hurts and lessons that benefits from the more low-key accompaniment. “Let It Burn” is a heavy Stevie Ray Vaughan inspired shuffle with an angry vocal matching her lyrics and the hard rocking accompaniment and a searing solo and more singe the earth playing for the coda of this blues. The album closes with the wistful “The World and It’s Way,” which opens with her whispering her vocal as it nicely builds along with the accompaniment and a nice solo matched with some attractive wordless vocalizing to go with her sweet playing as the track and disc fades out.

For someone being marketed as a blues performer, I heard little blues in the performances here. While a British blues publication has the logo “Blues Without Blinders,” that does not mean blues is now a label for what even a decade ago would be regarded as hard rock. The fact that a singer and songwriter is a very accomplished guitarist (perhaps an understatement), does not make that person a blues artist. That said, Joanne Shaw Taylor is an extremely talented performer and especially when she keeps the fires smoldering, produces some very fine music performed and played with plenty of intensity.

Review copy supplied by Ruf Records’ publicity firm.