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The power trio - that's the kind of band which suits Joanne Shaw Taylor, are also at home in Birmingham, where she and her trio play the pubs, clubs and festivals. "I always wanted to try the power trio thing, like Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Paladins or Jimi Hendrix. I thought it would bring me on as a guitar player and a singer - which I think it has done. And" - Joanne chuckles - "it's also cheaper, you know." She talks about some influences. When Joanne was a little schoolgirl, she was caught by the rough side of the blues: SRV, Albert Collins, the Paladins, Jimi Hendrix. At Christmas she got her first electric guitar. The old classical guitar, which she had played since she was eight, vanished from the children's room. "As soon as I heard SRV and Albert Collins I knew pretty much that I wanted to do that full stop. That was the lifestyle route that I was going to go down. It was never a hobby. I was always very serious and dedicated to it." White Sugar is the proof. The confident and young British woman keeps the traditions of her idols but she is going her own way. With her record debut she demonstrates her talent with ten songs that she has written herself. Playing the hard stuff à la SRV, making us feel the bite of her Telecaster just like Albert Collins did or working out charming little riffs from the Jimi Hendrix book - Joanne is always seeking - and finding - new terrain. Funky shuffles, soulful ballads or the hypnotic hookline of the title track, a burning instrumental, she presents her craft powerfully. Some songs were written during the flight to Memphis, a few others were written 10 years ago and are kind of her signature tunes. |
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