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The most appropriate way to describe Joanne Shaw Taylor’s career arc, from being discovered by Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart at 16 to topping the Billboard Blues Album chart in the US, would be with a phrase coined by BB King: she’s paid the cost to be the boss.
By the age of 25 she’d supported King, toured with Stewart’s DUP project, backed his former Eurythmics bandmate Annie Lennox, and could doubtless have landed a gig as a hired gun with an established artist. Instead, she’s done anything but play it safe, staying true to her love of the blues through her 10 previous solo albums and countless road miles, which have positioned her at the forefront of the genre in the past five years.
Refreshingly, she’s maintained her success by taking risks stylistically, bringing the soul and pop-rock influences that shaped her vocal style into her songwriting on Heavy Soul (2024), and Black & Gold (2025). While the gamble paid off with both fans and critics, a third album in as many years could be a risk too far if the pace outstrips the consistency. Thankfully, The Trouble With Love finds Shaw Taylor audibly pushing herself as both performer and writer to refine the genre-blending approach of recent years.
In the propulsive title track that opens the record, Shaw Taylor’s vocals and biting guitar licks impress (no mean feat after a cameo solo from Joe Bonamassa) with their commanding intensity. The stripped-down stomp of Hell Or High Water and the midnight-blue ballad This Is Who I Am showcase her concise, eloquent phrasing as a soloist, the latter also illustrating her growing power and control as a vocalist.
Tired Of Being Right deftly balances gospel, soul and country rock, with hints of The Band. On the pop-rock side of the street, What Good Is My Love boasts dazzling six-string trade-offs with Orianthi, while The Girl That You Used To Love lands a killer riff and insistent harmonised vocal melodies.
Despite its well-worn title, Bad Boy puts an inventive 21st-century twist on the blues, complete with a sublime lead break and emotive lyric. Never Gonna Please ’Em All wields a riff that AC/DC would be proud to come up with, You And Me (Rachel’s Song) injects old-school soul with layered guitar textures, before album closer Death Wish builds from melancholy atmospherics to a pounding crescendo, with a solo shot through with the kind of blues feel you just can’t fake.
