Joanne Shaw Taylor

The first lady of British blues reflects upon Bulgarian kazoo players and the wisdom of keeping a corkscrew handy at all times…

- David Mead

What was the first gig you played and how did it go?

“My first ever gig was at a school fete in Hitchin. The stage was a few school tables pushed together and I was dreadfully nervous, but it seemed to go pretty well from what I remember. It was mainly school children and so I don’t expect I’ve kept a lot of the clientele over the years. But in terms of being a first gig and getting up and playing, being horrendously nervous and thinking I was playing Madison Square Garden, it was a good one. It was all covers, I think. I may have written one or two songs, which would have been Time Has Come and Blackest Day, which both ended up being on my first album, White Sugar [2009]. I wasn’t singing – we had a singer – but I was picking the setlist; there were some Albert Collins numbers, I think we always opened with Don’t Lose Your Cool, there were a few Luther Allison songs, Stevie Ray Vaughan. I remember a band called The Paladins; we played a few of their numbers. So it was mainly blues-rock covers.”

Describe your current stage rig…