2024 is a big year for Joanne Shaw Taylor with a new album ‘Heavy Soul’ on the way, and already a single release, and a UK tour including this, her biggest London headline show to date, albeit in the Indigo’s rather sterile confines.

There was also the bonus of a support from Essex-based Connor Selby, who is making the same career progression of promising blues singer and guitarist that Joanne did a decade ago and has been attracting some high profile interest. Unfortunately I missed the first couple of songs owing to train cancellations and a long queue to get into the venue.

Photo: Andy Nathan

The curtain- haired youngster is not a natural extrovert but seems to grow in confidence every time I see him. Songs like ‘The Truth Comes Out Eventually’ and ‘That’s All Right’ had a relaxed groove to them and owed more to greats from earlier generations like Ray Charles. ‘Emily’ was the one song that veered closer to blues rock with excellent band playing, notably from keyboard player Steve Watts in his ‘Peaky Blinders’ cap. However after less than half an hour that was it, disappointing as I thought that with his full band in tow for the only time on the tour, he might have been offered longer given that the whole show was over shortly after 10 pm.

Wearing a pink jacket and leading a five piece band of American musicians, Joanne Shaw Taylor opened in up-tempo fashion with ‘In the Mood’- the keys of Phil Whitfield were well to the fore but it also featured the first of her fluent, lyrical yet concise guitar solos. On ‘Keep On Lovin’ Me’ she sounded soulful, especially when delivering the first part of the song with no guitar initially, while ‘All My Love’ had crossover potential.

After a couple of more traditional blues from the ‘Blues Album’ in If You Gotta Make a Fool Out Of Somebody (with 2nd guitarist Shane Sanders taking one of the solos) and ‘Can’t You See What You’re Doing to Me’, ‘Dyin to Know’ was a little rockier with a boogie-ish rhythm. However brand new single ‘Wild Love’ was a mainstream effort not bluesy in the slightest, and ‘Won’t Be Fooled Again’, which Joanne said was deliberately written to convey an eighties vibe, in a similar vein.

Donning a Les Paul for a dirtier, rockier sound ‘Watch ‘Em Burn’ from her debut ‘White Sugar’ album was the one occasion when she and the band jammed out significantly on an 11 minute version, while on ‘Diamonds in the Dirt’ her sensual vocals even had something of the late great Tina Turner, though she still reeled off a fine solo later in the song.

Not having seen JST live since before COVID (Stone Free in 2018, I think), nor a headline show for even longer, two things struck me. One was an increased self assurance in engaging the audience, with direct humour, and taking them into her confidence. This was particularly evident when talking about the loss of her mother to cancer a decade ago, with some very sage reflections on grief, as an explanation of the context of ‘Fade Away’, on which she played acoustic guitar.

The other is that those many years based in the States have broadened her musical palette, as an all round songwriter and singer with a strong streak of southern soul even in her vocals, and far more than just a blues rock guitar hero. Most of the songs also had a very Americanised feel to them: ‘Runaway’ featured some very Allmans sounding guitar from Shane in its first section, and ‘Sweet Lil Lies’ Could have been in Sheryl Crow territory until a closer in ‘Bad Love’ where the band, also featuring bassist Steve Lehane and drummer Eric Savage, jammed for rather longer with Phil who had played a low-key role up to this point stabbing his organ flamboyantly.

There was a solitary encore, going back to the very first album in ‘Going Home’ which seems to be her signature song. The one downer on the evening was that the crowd seemed mysteriously subdued, even though Joanne handled the muted applause with good humour. It was even more puzzling as on musical grounds this was a flawless show.

Review by Andy Nathan

Photos by Marty Moffatt (except where indicated)

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Power Plays w/c 15 April 2024

ENMY The Ledge (FiXT)
KAROBELA Get Hard (indie)
KATH & THE KICKS Neptune (indie)
THE BEE TELLERS River Poem (Black Sand Records)
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09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023
14:00-16:00 KATARINA PEJAK – Pearls On A String (Ruf Records)

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