Joanne Shaw Taylor – Carrying Less, Delivering More
Joanne and Pete catch up in London to talk about her new album for Silvertone ‘Reckless Heart’ and matters related. The tabloid press has just nailed actor Liam Neeson whose unguarded comments in an interview look like spiking his career… but all we seek is Joanne’s thoughts about hew new tracks…
JLTT: Welcome back. When did you fly in?
JS: I flew in yesterday, Pete and I’m trying to remember when the last time I saw or spoke to you was. It’s been a year or two hasn’t it?
Yes. I’ve been interviewing Reese Wynans, Robin Trower and I’ve got George Benson coming up. I’ve done my usual forensic and have listened to your record. The one thing I would say upfront is, I think this is your best since ‘Diamonds’.
(Taken aback) Oh wow.
And I think you sound more like YOU on this one then I’ve ever heard.
Bless you.
You know what I mean by that?
(Ponders) Yeah I think… it’s weird that you say ‘Diamonds’ actually because I never really knew how that album went down.
I loved it.
Oh good. I was very fond of quite a lot of tracks on it and I thought it worked out well given that it was the dreaded “fifteen years to write this first album and fifteen days to do the second one!” I thought I did pretty good!
The Doors’ ‘Strange Days is better than the first album.
(Laughs) I wouldn’t go that far with me but I thought I winged it pretty good. I have to be honest – I think this (album) is definitely my favourite so far actually. It incorporates everything I want it to, it is certainly the most honest subject material and it certainly sounds like me I think. So I’m very happy with it.
I think your voice is better recorded.
That is something I’ve really been working on and I have had some vocal lessons. Thank you!
On this album, these are jazz guys right? And it is high time that you recorded with jazz guys whose instinctual playing will get the best out of you …more than you realise.
Yeah. They were kind of a mixed bag the rhythm section as you say they were jazz slash…funk..soul
Well Ron Otis has played with Earl Klugh and Bob James.
More recently Aretha so it was nice to have that little touch in there.
(Chris) Codish is great with that rich Hammond sound.
All great guys too.
(James) Simonson as well on bass. In passing I think the best musician in this country, the bass king is Roger.
Innis? Yeah. He is best instinctual musician that I‘ve ever played with. He is also the nicest person you’ll ever meet Rog.
I agree and I can’t imagine falling out with the guy.
A tall order!
Oh God no! If you fall out… I do know one person whose name I won’t mention that I know he doesn’t like. Roger is such a nice person you think “What did this guy to do upset like ..Bambi!”
So here you are with this great crew and these guys are quite used to playing in trios more so than quartets or quintets so to adapt to what you are doing and to frame you well, which is the name of the game they have to listen.
Yeah I think it is the art of being a great session musician. I couldn’t do it as I have very much one personality and you will always get Joanne Shaw Taylor. Not to say that they don’t have a lot of personality in their playing but you have to adapt to a different situation and be the best player for that situation in that moment. It says a lot about their personality and level of talent too.
I think it also brings a great deal of life to the songs.
It was interesting hearing the demos which were all acoustic guitar and then you have a track like ‘Bad Love’ which is just a guitar and vocal. Then you give that to Ron Otis which is probably the busiest I’ve ever let a drummer be and I want it like that always. It was absolutely perfect. Just so much soul and feel and followed me perfectly. ( I am reminded at this point to gift Joanne with a copy of Herbie Mann’s Memphis Underground, on Atlantic – PS)
You must be psychotic! That’s what I’ve written here in my notes – let’s go through the tracks on the album, Jo:
In The Mood
I thought is this gonna be the John Lee Hooker song but no. Is it a set-opener?
(Laughs) Maybe…
I like the video as it has this reddish-mauve tinge to it, sort of psychedelic.
Yeah I haven’t watched it because I don’t watch my own videos but I did watch the first few seconds of it.
The song keeps hitting the four doesn’t it?
Yeah this is a weird one I actually wrote for ‘Wild’ and didn’t use it. I thought it was a really good… I always like an up-tempo opener on an album and I liked the fact that it segued between the two albums a little bit because this album is very, very different to ‘Wild’. I think you’d probably agree with that I’d assume?
(Laughs) I feel my arm being twisted! You’ve capoed this to E did you?
No we played it in standard because it sat better with the vocal.
It made me think of Dwight Yoakam.
(Blinks) Okay.
Dwight on form is as good as you get.
Yeah all of those guys are.
Detroit is very dear to me as when I was a kid I would hang out with The MC5 and they would turn me onto jazz and all sorts of stuff. The best thing I ever did was going to see them and getting to know them. You have all of this wonderful stuff coming out of this place so no wonder these guys are on the money.
Again I think there’s something about towns that have seen hardships growing up in that very working-class system where you have things against you from the get go so you turn to creative outlets.
It sounds real and not artificial.
All My Love
This has a choppy sort of thing. You’ve got some high registered bass on this and it does have a Nikka Costa vibe to it. There’s a sort of swim to the rhythm but the guitar is very tough.
Yeah I think with that one I’d never done… I was able to incorporate all of my loves including the big one which is soul for me as a singer. So having that kind of Nikka Costa maybe even Joe Cocker influence for a fun soul song.
The Best Thing
Scratchy beat which is sort of reverbed.
(Nods) I do like my reverb!!.
It is a loud and proud sort of song isn’t it? You could almost give this to Ann Peebles.
It was kind of one of those ones where I’d realised I had never done a female anthem and it is not a subject matter I have touched on too much. As the lyric says ‘I’m the best thing you’ve ever had’. I wrote the track – I was actually coming back from a Chris Stapleton concert and I decided in the taxi on the way home that I wanted to a soul-influenced kind of track.
Ann Peebles had a great song called ‘I Didn’t Take Your Man.. You Gave Him To Me’ which is one of the best titles. Of course she shared her band with Al Green.
I do like some sass!
The guitar is very much in a soul vein isn’t it? Then it is juiced up a bit more later.
Again, I always like plenty guitar in my numbers so it does take off a bit more towards the end there. It was a one-take solo that worked out really well.
Well hats off!
(Laughs) Occasionally you get lucky! You just do.
The first take is always the best nothing touches that.
(Laughs) Yeah unless you are out of tune!
Bad Love
Again I thought is that the old Luther Allison number but no. It has quite an emphatic intro but the beats on this are very tricky and you said earlier that you gave the drummer some freedom here?
Yeah we actually started it off half-time and then Ron (Otis) finally went with the final which ended up being the track and then we went for a break and I left them to discuss and then I walked in and said “So are well all agreed that we are going with the final one?”
Seems to be about frustration. Is it?
Yeah there is a lot of that theme in this album and I always said that I’ll be honest with people. Yeah that situation when you are in a relationship with someone who has painted themselves to be something they’re not.
I think it had a Bernie Marsden/Whitesnake feel about it.
Oh nice. Uncle Bernie.
Bernie is a lovely guy but he has such a way with melody. You don’t even realise just how melodic it is until you are singing along but you are lost then and you cannot go back.
Creepin’
This has a metal-ish mode and it sounds to me like a live favourite. Is it going to be in the set?
It is yeah.
Is it true because there seems to be a stalker lyric here?
It is true actually. That one came quite easily because I was in a very frustrating situation. Kind of influenced as I was going through a ‘Hunter’ Free vibe. Just wanting that straight up good Les Paul simple blues 1-4-5 kind of thing almost.
I knew Andy (Fraser) very well and he said “Pete, I will always find the groove. Give me any tune you like.” It is the most rock blues here I would say. The bass sounds a bit like one of my favourite players Tim Bogert from Cactus.
It just goes to show how diverse Mr Simosen is.
Yeah but to draw on those is a vocabulary. These guys have got the music vocabulary.
(Warmly) Al (Sutton) couldn’t have picked a better band for me. I kind of trusted him with that and just walked in having never met him before and they are possibly the best band I have ever worked with not to do a disservice to other people who have played with me.
I’ve Been Loving You Too Long
I always imagined that you could do this with Daryl Hall if you got the chance! What say you?
It has been a while since I’ve done a minor key slow blues I had one for the live set but I’ve never been one to stick to the traditional pattern.
You did ‘Jealousy’ didn’t you?
Yeah ‘Jealousy’ was the last one but that was three albums ago. I kind of wanted a heavier Zeppelin thing going on. It worked out really well and I loved the lyric. Again, thanks to Ron (Otis) and James (Simonson) that solo was done in one take and that is purely down to them driving me forwards.
When I say the record seems honesty, it is almost like you are saying “This is me being me in good company”.
I think so. I certainly aimed for that and maybe that is age being a bit older. Also, I think you have more chance of success that way as opposed to trying to fit what someone wants.
Never second-guess an audience. I’ve done sets with fifteen numbers and I’ve come offstage and they have all loved something different.
I think you are best doing what you do honestly and then have the people come to you hopefully.
That’s exactly right.
Reckless Heart
The title track. A steady gallop. You sound really cheesed off on this.
(Laughs) That’s one way of putting it! I was a bit angry. I love that track.
It is Bobby Bland isn’t it?
Yeah but I think for me it is the perfect mix of blues, soul, gospel which I love. It is a very honest lyric which came naturally as I was just singing it in the shower. I then quickly dived out, grabbed a guitar and wrote the song.
With guys like Bobby Bland the men love the playing and whatever but the women absolutely relate to the tale he is telling.
Yeah! It is funny that isn’t it?
Bill Withers is the same.
Yeah I think I sing better for females. I don’t know what your opinion is on that but I think women would identify with it more than men would.
Break My Heart Anyway
This has an acoustic spring-heeled touch to it. The lyric there (I do listen to lyrics) leave or stay it is gonna hurt.
Yeah it is the can’t-win situation.
Why does it sound like Stephen Stills?
Really?
Yeah.
I don’t know. I was having this discussion the other day and I am sure you appreciate how things seep in and influences you don’t realise. Somebody said that ‘The Best Thing’ sounded like The Zutons and someone swore it was a rip-off.
New 89
This bursts out like Crazy Horse. Again, it has a determined feel and this is quite philosophical for me; ‘Hard to reconcile independence and desire to be cherished’.
That is philosophical! That is probably the one song other than ‘Jake’s Boogie’ which is not not true but it is not true of where I am at right now. I’m sure at some point in my life I have been there but not in the situation that I had written most of these songs about. I think any musician would sort of agree with that kind of stuff.
Okay.
Jake’s Boogie
Acoustic nice nimble sound.
It kinda works
I’m Only Lonely
This gentle sway with the Hammond. This is totally different to anything else you have done.
I thought it might be a bit more like ‘Lose Myself To loving You’ there have been touches of ballads on some albums. I think that is also the confidence that my voice has come on a bit or I’m certainly more comfortable with it having taken a lot of effort over the last year or two to work on it.
Those are my favourites for what it’s worth. ( I show Joanne my notes marking Break and I’m Only Lonely – PS)
Oh! I wouldn’t think that of you. I thought you’d go… it is funny that a lot of people are saying ‘Break My Heart Anyway’ which I nearly didn’t include on the album.
What happened to ‘I Wish I Could Wish You Back’?
That was on ‘Wild’. I haven’t done that much acoustic stuff in the set maybe I will at some point.
Oh , check this! (I show Joanne one of my FX units – PS)
I don’t really use any pedals anymore. On this next tour I’ve got a Tubescreamer and a tuner. Come and see us…
Pete Sargeant
(Many thanks to Jolene and David at LD Communications for help with this article and of course Joanne)
Live Photos Credit: John Bull/Rockrpix
Bernie Marsden Photo Credit: Rob Blackham/Blackham Images
Feature Image Photo Credit: Supplied By PR
You can watch the official music video for ‘Bad Love’ in this article.
Joanne Shaw Taylor’s new album ‘Reckless Heart’ is out now on Silvertone Records/Sony Music.
You can read our review of ‘Reckless Heart’ here: http://bit.ly/2C4VQka
For more information visit her official website here: http://bit.ly/1N54Nqj
To support the release, Joanne will embark on a headline UK Tour in March 2019.
The tour will visit the following venues:
Tuesday 19th March 2019 – Tramshed, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom http://bit.ly/2nayiAW
Wednesday 20th March 2019 – O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, London, United Kingdom http://bit.ly/29St0ac
Thursday 21st March 2019 – Wedgewood Rooms (Moved From Pyramids Centre), Portsmouth, United Kingdom http://bit.ly/2jw7lGF
Saturday 23rd March 2019 – Junction, Cambridge, United Kingdom http://bit.ly/2j5hxVm
Sunday 24th March 2019 – Boiler Shop, Newcastle, United Kingdom http://bit.ly/2xA7Gk8
Tuesday 26th March 2019 – Queens Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom http://bit.ly/2N1epMU
Wednesday 27th March 2019 – SWG3, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom http://bit.ly/2meWTXa
