The Dirty Truth from Joanne Shaw Taylor rocked my morning commute to Paulsboro!
On Thursday I babysat Oliver, In anticipation of the long day that lay ahead of me, I decided that some rocking blues would make a nice soundtrack for the commute. Through the years I’ve never had to worry about a commute to work. My workplace was a whole 4 minutes away from our house, 3 if you hit the lights! Any commuting I did was from the office to wherever I was digging a hole or delineating a wetland. Most of our work was in Burlington County, but occasionally those commutes were as far north as Lafayette, NJ in Sussex County or Cape May, so I’ve pretty much covered the state, not that there’s a lot to cover!
Okay, let’s get back to the music I have several new blues releases on the iPhone including: Tinsley Ellis‘s latest Tough Love. Tough Love is a really good album and is currently the #3 album on the Roots Music Reports Blues Chart! Then there’s the new album from Jeff Jensen Morose Elephant. The first time I listened to Jensen was in 2013, when he released road worn and ragged a fine album. While the album is anything but morose, I just didn’t think it was the right pick-me-up!!
The right album was the latest release from British Blues artist Joanne Shaw Taylor The Dirty Truth. The Dirty Truth is the fourth studio album from Taylor and it is every bit a good as its predecessors and those predecessors won some awards for Ms. Taylor and have made her what the British music publication, Blues Matters!, called…. “the new face of the blues” Here’s some more about her prior albums…
In May 2009, Taylor released her debut album, White Sugar, on Ruf Records. Taylor’s second release was 2010’s Diamonds in the Dirt, also on Ruf Records. Both her albums peaked at number eight in the US Billboard Top Blues Albums chart. In 2010, she won Best Female Vocalist at the British Blues Awards.She won the same award at the 2011 British Blues Awards, plus the Songwriter of the Year award for “Same As It Never Was” from Diamonds in the Dirt . Read More
I agree with the author of The Gibson Interview: Joanne Shaw Taylor at Gibson.com that the Dirty Truth may just be the best album yet from Ms. Taylor. She is one helluva’ good guitar player, singer and songwriter, the musician trifecta !! From the interview…..
Congratulations on The Dirty Truth – it’s got a lot of Southern blues grit.
“Thank you! I recorded back in Memphis with Jim Gaines producing, who did my first two albums. I wanted to work with Jim again for two reasons. One, the sound. Jim mixed my live album, Songs from the Road, and I fancied doing another record more stripped-down. A bit more like White Sugar, my first album.
“And secondly, it was for more personal reasons. 2013 was such a hectic year, we were recording and playing constantly. And I really like the vibe in Memphis… I thought the whole feel of the place would be inspiring, and it was.”
The opening track “Mud Honey” may just be my favorite, but then I do like the title track! Hell they’re all good! Anyway, the album was the right choice and it got me ready for a day with Oliver! Now the soundtrack on the trip back was just a little different, but that’s for later!!
Links for Explorations of Joanne Shaw Taylor’s Music
Website
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Wikipedia
Here’s the official video for the song “Outlaw Angel” from The Dirty Truth
