Nobody's Fool

by Joanne Shaw Taylor

Overview

English blues-rock guitarist and singer/songwriter Joanne Shaw Taylor reached another level of acceptance with the covers set The Blues Album for Joe Bonamassa's KTBA label in 2020, and followed with the scorching Blues from the Heart Live in 2021. She returned to KTBA and the canny production team of Bonamassa and guitarist Josh Smith on Nobody's Fool, a studio set that finds her back in the songwriter's chair. She wrote or co-wrote 10 of these 11 songs and recorded them at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles. The music ranges across modern blues, hooky rock, soul, and old-school R&B. The title-cut opener offers a slide lick reminiscent of George Harrison's on "My Sweet Lord," but a piano progression suggesting Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" establishes a bar-rocking groove and sweet soul hook above a soaring guitar break, with poignant lyrics about claiming responsibility for one's fate. "Bad Blood" melds acoustic and surf guitars in a nocturnal minor-key groove framed by chimes, Rhodes piano, Hammond B-3, and a rock beat. "Won't Be Fooled Again" is as close to an uplifting and empowering AOR single as Taylor gets as she sings about refusing to wear blinders in relationships. Bonamassa plays rhythm guitar as Taylor and her backing singers (Gaby Moreno, Danielle De Andrea, and Jeff Young) reflect poignantly on lessons learned after a romance, balancing pain and resolve. Swinging horns and a funky clavinet introduce "Just No Getting Over You (Dream Cruise)." Taylor lives in Detroit, and the Motor City's gritty soul influence saturates the track. (One also wonders if the title's parenthetical phrase is a reference to Motown's annual Motor City Dream Cruise). The interplay between singers, bumping horns, the filthy keyboard, and her searing guitar break is worth the price of the album. "Then There's You" is a B-3-drenched blues-rocker written in prime boogie parlance. Taylor's voice slithers, growls, and rasps the lyric with swaggering conviction. "Runaway" is another pop/rocker with slippery interlocking guitar grooves, an infectious melody, and an almost uncomfortably vulnerable, intimate vocal. A cover of Eurythmics' "Missionary Man" features Dave Stewart as a guest. Its rockist strut makes room for driving R&B punctuated by killer slide guitar solos. "Figure It Out" is a fist-pumping, hooky rocker with glammed-up, overdriven guitars. The backing singers add heft and dimension to Taylor's smoky vocal in an exceptionally strong chorus. Drummer Lemar Carter offers creative fills and canny accents atop a slamming backbeat. Guest guitarist Carmen Vandenberg also adds distortion and dissonance to Taylor's runs, adding tasty cacophony. Closer "New Love" was co-written with Beth Nielsen Chapman, Leslie Satcher, and Bonamossa. It's an uptempo, neo-Northern Soul tune buoyed by an army of horns, clattering snare and hi-hat, girl group vocals, and mean guitar breaks. It's a rave-up ending to what is arguably Taylor's finest outing. The tight songwriting here reaches beyond anything she's done before, while the playing, singing, and production are immensely inspired and should enlarge her fan base. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	01/13/2023
Label:	Ktba Records
UPC:	0711574939213
Rank:	61657

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Joanne Shaw Taylor   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Jeff Bailey   Trumpet,Flugelhorn
Lemar Carter   Drums
Calvin Turner   Bass
Joe Bonamassa   Featured Artist,Guitar (Rhythm)
Barry Green   Trombone (Bass),Trombone (Tenor)
Jimmy Bowland   Flute,Sax (Tenor),Flute (Alto)
Deron Johnson   Piano,Wurlitzer
Mark Douthit   Sax (Tenor),Sax (Baritone)
Jeff Young   Vocals (Background)
David Angell   Violin
Dave Stewart   Featured Artist
Monisa Angell   Viola
Steve Patrick   Trumpet,Flugelhorn
Ali Hoffman   Violin
Janet Darnall   Violin
Jenny Bifano   Violin
Carrie Bailey   Violin
Matt Jefferson   Trombone (Bass)
Elizabeth Lamb   Viola
Tina Guo   Cello,Featured Artist
Gaby Moreno   Vocals (Background)
Josh Smith   Guitar (Rhythm)
Danielle De Andrea   Vocals (Background)
Conni Ellisor   Violin
Carmen Vandenberg   Guitar,Soloist,Featured Artist

Technical Credits

Beth Nielsen Chapman   Composer
Calvin Turner   Composer
Joe Bonamassa   Composer,Producer,Co-Founder
James House   Composer
Alan Hertz   Mixing Engineer
Chris Wilson   Cover Photo,Photography
David Angell   Leader,Contractor
Dave Stewart   Composer
Annie Lennox   Composer
David A. Stewart   Composer
Steve Patrick   Leader
Leslie Satcher   Composer
Joanne Shaw Taylor   Composer
Kate Moss   Package Design
Eric Boulanger   Mastering
Roy Weisman   Co-Founder,Executive Producer
Sharon Corbitt   Composer,Photography,Artist Relations
Dylan Altman   Composer
Josh Smith   Composer,Producer
Nate Haessly   Assistant Engineer
Rachael Iverson   Release Production
Austin Atwood   Engineer
Jeff Hamburg   Coordination,Production Assistant
DeAnn Forbes   Creative Director
Keith McLenon   Creative Director
Bobby Ekizian   General Manager
Katelyn Prieboy   Assistant Engineer