The Dirty Truth

For her fifth full-length, Joanne Shaw Taylor delivers a set of tightly crafted blues rockers that derive their strength from the delicious contrast between her incendiary fret work and achingly vulnerable vocals. On the hard-driving “Mud Honey” and “Outlaw Angel” she gets her swagger on, setting her strings ablaze with licks that bridge a country twang and Brit muscularity. The ballads “Shiver & Sigh” and “Fool in Love” flip the script, trading all that bluster for introspection as Taylor’s weary rasp reels from the roller-coaster ride of love and heartache.