Joanne Shaw Taylor
Jeff Beck

The guitarist Joe Bonamassa has no doubt about it: “Joanne is a future superstar!” Other big fans of the 31-year-old singer-guitarist on either side of the Atlantic include Tedeschi Trucks, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and John Mayall. The latest jewel in blues rock grew up in the Black Country, in the West Midlands near Birmingham, the home of Tolkien and also some of the most rundown industrial areas in the UK. She was spotted at the age of 16 by Dave Stewart (Eurythmics). These are some of the chaperones of Joanne Shaw Taylor, who was voted “Best UK Singer” at the British Blues Awards in 2010, 2011 and 2015. In fact, the grainy, powerful and soulful voice of“White Sugar” (from the name of her first album, released in 2009) is part of a direct inheritance from Maggie Bell (from the 1970s Scottish band Stone the Crows) and the legendary Janis Joplin. And how could you describe her fluid and saturated guitar style, as dense as the forests in Cannock Chase District? On her Gibson Les Paul, Joanne recalls in turn the flamboyance of Stevie Ray Vaughan and the old-style power of Billy F. Gibbons (ZZ Top). In late 2016, the follow up to “The Dirty Truth” (recorded in Memphis by Jim Gaines), was finally released: “Wild”, our Brummie’s rock-solid sixth album.

Photo : © DR

Since his psychedelic debuts between 1964 and 1966 with The Yardbirds, then a period of solo glory in the 1970s (the famous albums “Blow by Blow” and “Wired”), the appearances of this great British guitar hero have seemed too rare. In the 1980s and 90s, Jeff Beck was more often a gala virtuoso performer than an active creator, yet he will always be seen as the creator of a unique and flamboyant, wild and incredibly technical style, with an unmatched sound. Starting out in blues and hillbilly / rockabilly (see the album “Jeff Beck: Rock´n´Roll Party, Honoring Les Paul”, a concert recorded in 2010 in homage to the guitarist Les Paul, his biggest influence), the “Loner” is one of the artists who has taken the electric guitar to a new dimension. Beck made a comeback in 2008 with a series of small-scale concerts at Ronnie Scott's in London. Following up on the album “Emotion & Commotion”, which had five nominations at the Grammy Awards (2011) and after working with Herbie Hancock on The Imagine Project, followed by six years of silence, Jeff Beck made a definitive comeback in 2016 with “Loud Hailer”, an album written with Carmen Vandenberg and Rosie Bones from the group Bones. He then set off on tour with his idol Buddy Guy. In August 2016, El Becko celebrated 50 years of a protean career on stage at the Hollywood Bowl in the company of Billy F. Gibbons, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Hall, Jan Hammer, Beth Hart and Steven Tyler (double album and DVD released in 2017).

Line up : Vinnie Colaiuta (dms), Rhonda Smith (b), Jimmy Hall (voc),Vanessa Freebairn-Smith (cellist)

Photo : © dr