JOANNE SHAW TAYLOR

City Hall, Salisbury

City Hall was rocking on Friday night when blues-rock guitarist Joanne Shaw Taylor brought her band along. Taylor has long been known in guitar circles as a superb player, and it seems she is finally gaining some of the recognition her talent deserves.

The band came on stage and ripped straight into Mud, Honey, the opening track of Taylor’s new album The Dirty Truth. They barely let up in intensity, with a variety of numbers drawing on the blues, rock and funk.

She played the guitar with searing intensity and passion, and the tight rhythm section drove everything along hard.

Warm-up duties fell to ex-Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden. He turned his amp down by a factor of several million to play a very entertaining, mostly acoustic, set with fellow guitarist Jim Kirkpatrick. Later, Bernie joined Joanne and her band for a couple of numbers and his crunchy rhythm guitar added depth to the sound. It was a joy to see two such accomplished guitarists trading licks.

Called back for an encore, the band finished with the title track from Joanne’s new album.

Starting quietly with some country-tinged guitar picking, this soon heated up into a full-blown rocker – a fitting finale to another good night at the old barn.

John Palmer