Joanne Shaw Taylor

Joanne Shaw Taylor is a 23-year old, attractive blonde English singer and guitarist (not necessarily in that order), which gives her and I... well, one thing in common. And although just her being English wouldn't absolutely guarantee my fan worship, just listen to her and you'll understand. Not only does she have a voice that slides up your neck and bites your ears, hard, she plays a mean, mean guitar.

At the age of 16, she was already good enough to be whisked off to play in a supergroup by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, which is not bad going for someone who at that age, should be doing her homework and not messing around with superstars on world tours. This girl rocked, from the start.

Having heard Stevie Ray Vaughn and abandoned her classical guitar five seconds later in favor of a Telecaster, she's already shared a venue with Jeff Beck and been mentioned in the same breath as her idols. Although I wouldn't go quite that far, just yet, she's definitely heading for serious stardom. If you're a blues/rock fan and haven't heard her yet, get in there now and enjoy her while she's still normal. Well, as much as any other musician, that is.

Her new album, Diamonds In The Dirt, is due on the shelves in November 2010, just a few weeks away at the time of writing. Meanwhile her debut album, White Sugar, is available at Amazon and elsewhere.

This is her homepage but you can also find her on MySpace which I'll add for completeness:

www.myspace.com/joanneshawtaylor