Page 93 - Cool Britannia

Joanne Shaw Taylor has established herself as the UK’s number one star in the blues rock world. The girl with the big voice from the Black Country has toured extensively around the world and released critically acclaimed albums, gaining a global fanbase and playing alongside some of her musical idols.Sold out concerts. Loyal fans. Her name in lights. Joanne Shaw Taylor never anticipated any of that at the start. Back then, she was just an ordinary Black Country schoolgirl, bored with the disposable pop she heard on late 90s radio, rifing through her father’s record collection for sunken treasure, and falling for albums by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert Collins and Jimi Hendrix.At 13 she played her frst electric guitar. “Guitars were always lying around the house,” says Joanne. At 14, she defed her teachers to play The Marquee and Ronnie Scott’s, and began to overcome insecurity about her voice. Described in the press as “A world class Blues talent” (Classic Rock), A thrilling guitarist and a powerful vocalist” (Time Out) and possessing “…heart wrenching vocals” (Sunday Times), Joanne is now well and truly on her way in the music world.Joanne left school at 16 and ran straight into her big break, as a twist of fate directed her demo into the hands of Eurythmics icon Dave Stewart after a charity gig. Refecting on his frst impressions, Stewart recalls that “she made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.” His call the following day proved the start of a lasting friendship, with Joanne seeking his advice on the industry and accompanying his DUP supergroup across Europe in 2002. Stewart gave Joanne her frst deal, but when the label ran into fnancial trouble, it gave her a chance to regroup and work on her songwriting. Until then, original material had perhaps been a neglected side of her talent. “I never really wrote songs until I was 21.” Suddenly the dam broke. In 2008, Ruf won the rush for Joanne’s signature, and soon she was working with veteran producer Jim Gaines (Carlos Santana, Johnny Lang, Stevie Ray Vaughan), bassist Dave Smith and drummer Steve Potts on the songs that became debut album White Sugar. “We recorded it in this little backwater town in Tennessee,” she recalls, “and if we needed a break, we’d walk to the shop and buy root beer.”When White Sugar dropped the BLACK COUNTRY BLUES93