Photo: Joanne Shaw Taylor by Kit Wood
Award-winning guitarist and singer-songwriter Joanne Shaw Taylor is pleased to announce five UK concerts in April 2022. Dates include Sunderland Fire Station (Saturday 23 April), York Barbican (Sunday 24 April), London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire (Tuesday 26 April), Bexhill De La Warr Pavilion (Friday 29 April), and Coventry HMV Empire (Saturday 30 April).
Planet Rock will start a 48-hour ticket pre-sale at 10am GMT via planetrocktickets.co.uk. Tickets will then go on general sale from Ticketek.co.uk, Seetickets.com and Gigantic.com.
Joanne will perform songs from her latest critically acclaimed album “The Blues Album” which topped Billboard Magazine’s Official Blues Album Chart. The album was also voted #1 Most Played Blues Album of 2021 by the Independent Blues Broadcaster’s Association. Joanne will also dig deep into her rich back catalogue where she will hand-pick songs from her albums “Reckless Heart”, “Wild”, “The Dirty Truth”, “Almost Always Never”, “Diamonds in the Dirt”, and “White Sugar”.
“The Blues Album” is the follow up to 2019’s critically acclaimed “Reckless Heart” album, and features Josh Smith (guitar), Reese Wynans (keyboards), Greg Morrow (drums), Steve Mackey (bass), Steve Patrick (trumpet), Mark Douthit (sax), Barry Green (trombone). Joe Bonamassa plays guitar and sings on “Don’t Go Away Mad”.
The 11-track album features Joanne’s personalised covers of eleven rare blues classics originally recorded by Albert King, Peter Green, Little Richard, Magic Sam, Aretha Franklin, Little Milton, and many more.
“I’d known from the beginning of my recording career that one day I wanted to record an album of blues covers, I just wasn’t sure when the right time to do that would be,” says Joanne. “I’ve always found it far easier to write my own material than come up with creative ways to make other artists’ material my own.”
When the pandemic put the brakes on from musicians from touring during 2020 and most of 2021, Joanne thought it was the right time to head into the studio to record ‘The Blues Album.’
“We wanted to make a tough vocal centric straight blues record that showcases Joanne’s amazing talent but in a slightly different light,” explains Bonamassa. “Joanne is a dear friend and a superstar. Josh and I focused on testing her limits and pushing boundaries that might not have occurred before. It’s all about making a statement and having the listener want to play the music repeatedly.”
Joanne’s covers album pays tribute to artists and bands that are not obvious choices including Little Village, Little Milton, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, James Ray, but, at the same time, she covers seminal blues icons including Albert King, Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green and Magic Sam. Some of the songs covered are B-sides of singles.
Joanne Shaw Taylor April 2022 UK Tour
with special guest Toby Lee
Sunderland, Fire Station
Saturday 23 April 2022
York, Barbican
Sunday 24 April 2022
London, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Tuesday 26 April 2022
Bexhill, De La Warr Pavillion
Friday 29 April 2022
Coventry, HMV Empire
Saturday 30 April 2022
Watch “If That Ain’t A Reason”
Joanne Shaw Taylor website
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