Joan Armatrading

JOAN ARMATRADING IS one of the greatest songwriters alive, and because her songs have had such an impact, many have overlooked her guitar playing. But Joan has been playing rhythm and lead—and on both electric and acoustic guitars— on all of her albums since the beginning of her career. What really knocked me out from our interview, though, was her self assuredness and her singular vision as a writer, player, and arranger. The mark of a master is how easy they make it all seem to the rest of us.

 

- Sue Foley

I never realized that you were such a great guitar player.

I think a lot of people don’t even realize that I play guitar. When they hear guitar on my records, they just assume it’s somebody else. When I did What’s Inside [1995], there was a really bluesy song with a great guitar solo. The record company did a focus group where they asked, “Who is playing the guitar?” The group mentioned just about every guitarist you could think of. Only one person said, “Joan.”