Joanne Shaw Taylor releases “What Good Is My Love?” today via Journeyman Records, a slow-burning blues rock collaboration featuring Australian guitarist and singer-songwriter Orianthi. Two of the most formidable guitarists in modern blues rock on the same track, trading solos over a groove built around heartbreak and hard-won emotional honesty. The result is exactly as powerful as that pairing deserves.
The song sits with a specific kind of pain. “We’ve probably all been in the position at some point in life when the love we had and give isn’t returned,” Joanne says. “I wanted to write a song for those of us who have had to question, ‘What good is my love if it’s not enough?'” That question drives every bar of the track, from its simmering opening to the electrifying guitar exchanges that erupt as the song builds toward its emotional peak.
Orianthi’s solo carries the full weight of the song’s central wound. Her playing adds dimension and fire to an already charged performance, her melodic leads cutting through the blues grit with precision and feeling. The chemistry between the two guitarists is immediate and genuine, two distinct styles finding common ground in the emotional truth of the lyric.
“What Good Is My Love?” follows “Hell Or High Water,” a blues gospel anthem about perseverance that has been gaining traction across streaming platforms and radio. Both tracks preview Joanne’s forthcoming studio album, due later this year, and together they signal a record with serious range and real emotional depth.
Joanne Shaw Taylor has been one of blues rock’s most consistent and commanding voices for years. This single, and this collaboration, confirms she is operating at a career-best level.