Photo via Joanne Shaw Taylor - Facebook
Joanne Shaw Taylor
Joanne Shaw Taylor
When British blues-rock guitarist, singer and songwriter Joanne Shaw Taylor writes or performs a song on stage, her driving goal is to make people feel something.
“It's hard to do that unless you are feeling something yourself,” Taylor said during a recent Zoom interview, “and being your genuine self and actually singing and playing about things that you have experience in and genuinely feel.”
On her forthcoming new album, The Trouble With Love (out October 23 via Joe Bonamassa's Journeyman Records), Taylor opened herself up in ways she hasn’t before, musing deeply on her experiences with the full spectrum of love.
Fans attending her upcoming show at The Argo in Whitefish Bay on Wednesday, July 22, will get an exclusive sneak peek of the new material, alongside tracks from last year’s critically acclaimed Black & Gold and other favorites from her two-plus decade career.
This sense of authenticity stems from a newfound confidence, a sharp contrast to her early days playing British clubs as a 13-year-old.
“I was a lot more reserved when I was younger and a bit guarded maybe because I started so young,” she recalled. “I was 13 and digging and I think I was a bit more protective of myself because obviously I was going out into clubs playing.”
“I don't know if you've got daughters or younger sisters or something, but if you had a 13-year-old girl in a club, you'd always, as a parent, warm kids of stranger danger. So, on one hand I was performing, but also I was told not to talk to adults that weren't school teachers or I wasn't related to it. So, I think as I've gotten older, obviously I've become less reserved as a performer.”
When she was 16, Dave Stewart of Eurythmics invited her to tour internationally with his supergroup D.U.P. In the following years, she’s gained fans among legendary musicians such as Stevie Wonder, Annie Lennox, Jimmy Cliff, and Joe Bonamassa.
Yet despite the high-profile endorsements, creating music remains a deeply personal necessity for her, one she describes as “free therapy."
“I get to write about what most people have to go to therapy for and I get to write a song about how I'm feeling and hopefully feel better about it and then share it with other people,” she said. “So, I think at the end of the day, that's my job is to be my genuine self and put it out there and try and make people feel something.”
That raw, therapeutic energy is captured perfectly on the new album, which was produced by longtime collaborator Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin, The Black Crowes, Journey).
Prior to her performance at The Argo, the Shepherd Express caught up with Taylor about the emotional weight of her new music, the importance of talking about love beyond heartbreak, how working with talented collaborators such as Bonamassa and Orianthi shaped the tracks, and why she has enjoyed playing different Milwaukee area venues.
I read that in the early days you taught yourself to write songs by starting with the title and working backwards. Now that you've been performing and writing for over two decades, how has your perception and approach to songwriting changed the most?
I think I still do that sometimes and old habits die hard, but I think I've relaxed a little bit with it in that I think when you do something so much and it becomes almost like a second nature, I think it's easier to find inspiration without having to go through the methodical process.
So sometimes now things will just pop in my head or I'll be noodling around on the guitar and figure something out. But I always advise that technique because certainly if I'm struggling to write and come up with ideas but need to write if I've got a project on, it's a good safety to fall back on.
Yeah. Do you feel more creatively flexible with these recent albums with your songwriting growth?
Yeah, I think so. I think it's an age thing as well. As you get older, it's kind of, well, one, you settle into who you are more. I think you know who you are more as a person, what you're comfortable with and what you're not. And I don't want to say…you give less of a shit, but I think the pressure's off a bit. You worry less about, oh God, I've got to put out 12 songs and what if I only ever release 12 songs and it's got to be... I kind of approach it as at this point an album's kind of like a snapshot of my life. It's 12 songs about whatever Joanne's going through in that period of time, almost like a photo album or a sonically photo album. So, I think I definitely put less pressure on myself than I maybe did when I was younger.
Do you feel like your songwriting skills have caught up to your guitar playing skills?
I always thought I was a better songwriter than I was guitar player, to be honest. I've always thought I was a singer-songwriter that happens to play guitar. But again, I've never been the best person of trying to describe what I am. I think sometimes people's interpretation of you is probably closer to the truth than how you see yourself, I suppose.
The past couple of years have been a very creative period for you. What do you attribute this surge to and how did your album from last year, Black & Gold, set the groundwork for this new album?
I think a large part of it still was Covid because I'd not really stopped since I was 14. And then to have two, three years of not doing anything, I think I bottled up those years and when I was finally able to get back in a recording studio and tour, I had time to make up for. So, I think that was a large part of it. And then I think again, going back to what we were just talking about, about being at an age where I'm a lot more comfortable in myself and know who I am, that I'm just really enjoying making music, which I always have, but I think I put a lot of pressure on myself when I was younger. I think I just overthought everything a lot more, if that makes sense. And I think that's gone now and I just really enjoy the process a lot more. I think when you enjoy something, it's always going to lead to bigger creativity than worrying about it.
With the new album, the sons explore love in all its various forms. Can you talk a little bit about what got you thinking along those lines and why it seemed important?
I think I got a little bit of a chip on my shoulder or maybe have you ever heard the thing of I call it the Adele Complex or Taylor Swift where people joke online that they have to get in a relationship and have a breakup in order to write an album? And I just realized, well, people say that about women, but to be honest, we've all been fascinated by this subject for hundreds of years. Shakespeare was writing plays about it and we've written operas, and we'll still be doing so in a hundred years’ time. I think love in all its many different forms is the most interesting and beautiful thing we've got on this planet, whether it's romantic or friendship or platonic or unrequited. So, I wrote “The Trouble with Love First” and I just thought, well, why don't I just lean into it and make a whole album about the different types of love?
A lot of music focused on love is rooted in heartbreak. Why was it important to explore the full spectrum of love for this album?"
Well, I mean, not everything has to be about a breakup. There are different types of love. There's unrequited, there's successful, there's toxic, which a lot of us have been in those relationships that you can't seem to get away from, but they're not good for you. And I can't speak for men, but certainly as a woman getting older, the most important loves to me in my life right now are some of the amazingly strong female friendships I have, women who really support me and hopefully I support them and particularly in this industry. Again, we've been fascinated by this subject for hundreds and hundreds of years, and I think we still will be in hundreds of years more. I won't be here, but I think the future people will be.
I your description of it as being beautiful chaos. Where did that idea come from?
I don't know. I can't remember the inspiration for that to be honest, but I mean it is, isn't it? If it's done right, there's nothing worse than boring love. I don't think that exists actually because I don't think there is such a thing as boring love. I think every time I've experienced it and its many different ways it's come into my life, whether that's a friendship or an unrequited it again is something wonderful. It's been many things, but it's never been boring.
What was the most surprising song to write?
Ooh, probably “Tired of Being Right About You Being Wrong”, because that it took me five minutes to write that. I came up with a song title, and it just came out, which doesn't happen too often, but it's pretty lovely when it does.
You worked with several key collaborators on the album. How did their presence help you take the songs to the next level?
Well, I mean, we've got Joe Bonamassa obviously on “Trouble With Love”. I mean, he's been a long-time collaborator of mine. He's produced albums and that's pretty well-documented working and personal relationship. And I love his solo on that. We go head-to-head. And I think it's a great example of you can really hear our different personalities in our playing and tone and choice of notes. Orianthi playing on “What Good Is My Love?”. I was so thankful that she came in to do that because that song's actually a really dark song. The intention for that was the subject matter is what is the point of me having all this love if the person I'm trying to give it to doesn't want it? It's kind of a dark subject matter, but I like the fact that it's a really catchy up tempo pop song in that kind of juxtaposition.
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And I really wanted it to be a really kind of melodic poppy solo. And I wanted someone to come in and play. I knew that wasn't really in my wheelhouse or I wanted it to be something better than I could do. So, we brought in Ori and she nailed it. She did such a good job on that song.
It seems like all these collaborators have really helped you become more eclectic in the music that you play.
Yeah, that's a really good observation. I can do what I can do. I can't do what someone else does. And sometimes the song needs something that someone's in terms of a guitar so they're going to do better than I can or it's just more suited to their playing. So, I'm very lucky that I'm in a position that I have these people I can phone and they're willing to work with me. So, if you're lucky to be able to work with Orianthi or Joe Bonamassa, why not give them a call?
Yeah. And I imagine it's exciting having multiple styles of music that you can draw on throwing working with different types of musicians.
Yeah, I've been lucky. I mean, that's always been the challenge for me. I've always said I'm a blues guitarist that's a soul singer that likes writing rock pop songs. So, I mean that's always the challenge for me is how do I wrap that into one package? So being able to have other people to collaborate with maybe in a mix of those genres is always exciting to me.
What are some songs that have especially taken on new life on the road of late?
Some of the older ones actually. Been digging into the back catalog a little bit. We've particularly been playing a lot of the Wild album, which was about 10 years ago, 12 years ago. And that's always kind of fun to go back to because I'm a different person than I was 12 years ago, and obviously my voice has aged a little bit and my guitar playing's changed a bit as hopefully things do with time. So, it's always fun to go back to things and play them through to as they were but update them and freshen them a little bit.
You've hit different venues every time you've come to the Milwaukee area. What do you enjoy about switching up the vibe here? What do you enjoy about getting to play different venues around this area?
Oh, I mean, it's always fun to try something different. I mean, a lot of it comes down to what venues are available. But I mean, look, as long as there's people who have spent their money to come out and see me and their time, I'm just so thankful for that. So, I mean, you could put me in a garden shed and I'd be happy to perform, to be honest. It's about the people for me more than the venues, but I'm just lucky. So happy I still get to do this.
I caught your shows at the Pabst Theater and The Bend.
Oh, cool.
It’s cool seeing you in different settings like that.
Yeah. Well, also that's kind of fun. I kind of mix it up. Whether it's sit down crowd or more of a club and a standup audience, I think the audience changes whether they're forced to sit down for two hours or stand up. So, it's always kind of fun to mix it up.
With playing The Argo, what about playing a seated show in a typically standing room venue seemed appealing?
To be honest, that's not really my decision. That usually comes down to the promoter. So, I don't have too much say over that. But yeah, I think people tend to listen more when they're seated. I think when you're standing in a gig, you're more inclined to dance and have more of a fun time. I think people tend to get their enjoyment when they're sitting and really delving into the music. So, I think that changes how the audience perceives the music, I suppose. But I mean, both are fun. They're just different.
It's another former movie theater that you'll be playing. The Argo used to be a movie theater like The Bend.
Oh, brilliant. Oh, that's cool. There are actually quite a few venues like that. We play movie theaters from the 30s that have been converted, especially in Europe.
It's neat to see the venues being repurposed like that.
Yeah, right? I mean, I think particularly after COVID, a lot of us musicians were, if the world opened up, would there be any live music venues left? So, the fact that we're having music venues and that they're still there and they're still succeeding is a big champion of that.
What else are you most looking forward to in the months ahead?
Well, we're doing festival season right now, so that's always fun because it kind of mixes it up as opposed to just being on a bus and traveling, flying out and different shows and getting to see other artists. We just did a festival last weekend with Eric Gales, so that was kind of fun to catch up with him. But yeah, looking forward to that. Looking forward to the World Cup, still watching soccer. But yeah, just looking forward to getting out and playing and taking these songs on the road.
Who are you playing with for this tour?
Same band I've been with for about a year now. It's Shane Sanders on guitar, Ty Bailey on keyboards, Katelynn Corll on drums, and Chris Alexander on bass. Shane's been with me for about four or five years. The other guy's been with me for the last 18 months, I think. So yeah, they're brilliant and brilliant people.
What's most special about the chemistry you have with them?
Well, obviously they're brilliant players, but I'm really lucky that everyone I work with in my band and crew, particularly at the moment, are just spectacular people. Really lovely, caring, there for me. I feel very supported, great fun. So, I think when you have that kind of relationship with people, I think it shows on stage as opposed to... There's nothing worse than if you've got someone in the band that's a nightmare to work with and then there's three of you on stage hating the other person, office politics. But I'm really lucky that everyone I work with is fantastic.
And I imagine it makes it easier to be very spontaneous on stage with those types of people.
Yeah. I think when you've got that kind of bond and friendship and you really know that you're supported and your band's got your back and they're really willing you to thrive on stage, I think the music's better for it.
Joanne Shaw Tayor performs at The Argo in Whitefish Bay on Wednesday, July 22
