Joanne Shaw Taylor – Black & Gold: Album Review

Mike Ainscoe

10 months ago

Joanne Shaw Taylor adds another set of classy Blues and beyond to her library of work.

Release Date: 6th June 2025

Label: Journeyman Records

Format: CD / LP / digital

Barely a year on from releasing the Heavy Soul album, Joanne Shaw Taylor joins the current glut of female Blues (and more) guitar slingers – Ally Venable and Samantha Fish, who’ve featured on our pages for starters – in adding another charged set to her library of work.

THE SINGLES

Since the end of 2024, there’s been a steady stream of singles – Hell Of A Good Time, Summer Love, Look What I’ve Become, I Gotta Stop Letting You Let Me Down, Greyer Shade Of Blue all occupy the middle ground of the sequence.

The opening four tracks of Black & Gold see the single enhanced by the acoustic and funky with a touch of Country steel. All topped with JST’s smoky vocals with the tried and trusted passion and a hint of radio friendly appeal. Perhaps no wonder that so many singles have been lifted off of what’s become her Hysteria album.

The soulful groove of Who’s Gonna Love Me Now? goes all soft focus. With the guitar providing a bluesy decoration sitting mainly in the background, bar the playout, a little off the beaten track but a number that sticks quite nicely. The swing, the twang and the chops of the title track might have some listeners recalling Richard Hawley singing Alone.

remember my name

With the middle of the album busting with singles including a rocket powered I Gotta Stop You Letting Me Down (solo of the album…so far) and the organ thrill of Hell Of A Good Time, the last couple of tracks again bring something fresh to the ears. Rock and rolling with funky chops again, the finale of Loves Lives Here is a late nite, low key curtain closer. The hanging organ chords and piano notes playing out a latter day Rod Stewart. Heck, Joanne even channels a bit like the old crooner, particularly in delivering the title in the chorus, yet its pure JST as she rips into the sort of fearsome solo that befits the closing track. A little nudge, should we not, to ‘remember my name.’

She may be recording and touring to the max, shaking that blonde mane with expressions of delight, but there can be no complaints about the ongoing presence of Joanne Shaw Taylor.

Here’s Hell Of A Good Time: