Joanna Connor - Live on 11/11
Release date: August 21, 2026
M.C. Records
By Linda Cain
If you’ve never heard Joanna Connor perform live, this exciting new release on the MC imprint is just what the doctor ordered. Captured in performance with her stellar three-piece band of Chicago blues aces, guitar great Joanna shines when playing in front of a live audience.
It’s something she’s been doing since she was too young to legally get into bars in her hometown of Worchester, MA.
In 1984, at age 22, Connor bought a one-way ticket and hopped on a Greyhound headed to the World Capital of the Blues in Chicago.
She frequented the Windy City’s top venues on the South and West Sides to play the her guitar and jam with the likes of James Cotton, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells at the Checkerboard Lounge; she also sat in with A.C. Reed and Dion Payton, in whose band she served an apprenticeship. By 1987, Joanna formed her own band and started to record albums several years later. She has toured the world many times over since then.
Critics have bestowed the title of “virtuoso” on her because of her often incendiary slide guitar work; she's also a fine singer and accomplished songwriter, the author of dozens of original songs on her various solo band recordings (she has over 14 albums to her credit). While often compared by reviewers to the much more famous Bonnie Raitt, Joanna's profile has remained relatively modest, even in Chicago. She has maintained a residency at Kingston Mines, the world famous blues club on Halsted Street, since the 1980s, first with Payton’s 43rd Street Band and later with her own band. The Mines has hosted countless celebrity musicians who take the stage, everyone from Tom Jones to David Bowie and Mick Jagger.
In an interview with Chicago Blues Guide, Joanna recalls the time a blues-rock legend stopped by. “I did play with Jimmy Page here at Kingston Mines in 1985 when he was with The Firm. I was here with Dion back in the day when they had only one band every night and we were on break. But they said, Joanna go back up and play, there's some guy from England here. I said ok, whatever! Dion didn't know who Page was but I got up there and it was like, oh my God, Jimmy is my hero! It was him and me and Sugar Blue that night. Page was so nice. I was 23 years old then. That's my story!”
Flash forward 40 years later and Joanna is recording live in front of an adoring audience at the Fallout Shelter club in Norwood, Massachusetts on November 11 in 2025; the slide guitar queen is accompanied by her on and off again bandmates, who are at the top of their game here.
According to Joanna, “This album brings to life what I believe needed to be heard, to witness what I’ve been honing and experiencing for decades. The unit here put in the miles, both pleasant and tumultuous. The resulting alchemy was worth all of it.”
Keyboardist Daniel Souvigny is currently in Buddy Guy’s band, but he was in Joanna’s lineup first. A child prodigy who excelled at ragtime and other historic piano styles, Souvigny was a three-time World Championship Old Time Piano Playing contest winner. He studied classical piano in Russia and plays violin, drums and electric guitar. He currently leads the Dan Souvigny Organ Trio. Anytime he can be found playing with Joanna, the sparks fly.
The smokin’ hot rhythm section consists of two top call sidemen -- drummer Jason “JRoc” Edwards and bassist Shaun Gotti Calloway -- who drive all of the guitar goddess’ incendiary musical excursions in true jam band style.
Together, this particular backing band stands as one of Joanna’s best ever -- a turbo-charged music machine that fires on all cylinders at every turn. Although the liner notes don’t mention it, Joanna has named this outfit The Chicago Wrecking Crew, a well-deserved title. She’s a generous bandleader, who delights in giving her talented bandmates plenty of opportunity to solo. And they do not disappoint.
Live on 11/11 features 10 covers of classic blues and blues rock songs – arranged by Joanna -- like you’ve never heard them before. Joanna and her crew take us on a musical thrill ride, full of surprise twists, turns, drops and rises.
They open with “Cissy Strut,” the funky instrumental classic by New Orleans’ Meters, that features Joanna’s rhythmic, soaring guitar and cleverly placed stops, not to mention the rhythm section’s relentless groove. Souvigny adds his soulful organ for an extended solo, followed by brief, strut-your-stuff solos from Calloway on bass and Edwards on drums.
Joanna seemingly turns her slide guitar into a musical flame-thrower on Elmore James’ “Shake Your Money Maker.” The band boogies down hard, but then she takes it down to a whisper, drawing the crowd in with her guitar artistry which is answered by Souvigny’s jazzy organ solo, before they build it back up for the big finish.
The crew dishes up another Elmore classic with “The Sky Is Crying,” which opens with Joanna playing a mellow, melodic intro on guitar and her subtle sensuous vocals. Her guitar weeps and moans in keeping with the song’s lyrics and moodiness. That is, until her guitar explodes and the band kicks in; Joanna’s now furiously playing all up and down her guitar neck, leaving no doubt that this wonder woman can indeed throw some musical thunderbolts down from that weeping sky.
Both of the band’s Elmore James covers could easily serve as a Master Class in guitar virtuosity, improvisation, dynamics and a lesson in leaving no one alive in the audience.
“Further On Up The Road,” -- by Bo Diddley and later covered by Eric Clapton and others -- receives a unique cover treatment by Joanna and the crew, who turn it into a mostly instrumental number, featuring Souvigny’s swirling, gospel flavored organ, with Joanna’s bright, saucy vocals and peerless guitar prowess. The original song serves only as a launching pad for the band to fire off from. And man, do they soar into the stratosphere before coming back down for the landing! Certainly the audience felt they were treated to something very special.
After coming back to earth, Jo and the Wrecking Crew take us to their Sweet Home with a Little Walter classic, sans harmonica, for “You’re So Fine.” Joanna’s vocals are sexy and sassy as they get down with some lump-de-lump traditional Chi-town blues that merges into a rockin’ house party. Joanna picks up the pace, with rapid fire notes, bending and squeezing her strings and then furiously sliding away like a luge sled racing down a tunnel. Displaying telepathic powers, Joanna and the band must have left the fans breathless.
The marvelous guitar maven then ventures into Jeff Beck jazz/blues fusion territory for another Chicago hit, “I Just Wanna Make Love To You,” penned by Willie Dixon and covered by many. Her vocals are gruff and commanding, her guitar wild and exploratory, leaving no doubt that this woman is in charge of the love department.
The band continues to pay homage to its hometown as they lay down the beat with “Magic Sam Boogie,” that surely had the Fallout Shelter patrons shakin’ some booty in the aisles, as Souvigny’s fingers fly across the 88s and Joanna throws in a nod to John Lee Hooker and Z.Z. Top with her driving guitar riffs.
They take us across the pond with Steve Winwood’s Blind Faith-era song of longing, “Can’t Find My Way Home.” Souvigny opens with some sweet solo piano, reminiscent of Bruce Hornsby, but then moves into the familiar sound of Winwood’s stylings that prompts cheers of recognition from the audience, as the band kicks in. Joanna contributes some fine jazzy, behind the beat vocals and melodic guitar, that doesn’t allude to Eric Clapton at all. Souvingy alternates between keyboards and organ and his playing is majestic.
The band segues from the smooth melodies of Blind Faith into the bombast of Led Zeppelin for the show stopping finale “When The Levee Breaks.” Joanna got to play with Jimmy Page at Kingston Mines when she was a young upstart. So of course she’s going to unleash her own Hammer of the Gods, when she covers this Memphis Minnie-penned tale of devastation that has become her signature live closer. It’s a mind blower that will leave you cheering, stomping your feet and screaming for an encore. Sorry, but Ms. Connor has left the building.
So, be sure to purchase this music so you can listen to Live on 11/11 on repeat. It’s certainly the best live album out this year so far.
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About the Author: Linda Cain is the editor/founder of Chicago Blues Guide, started in 2008. Her career as a music journalist and editor began in the 1970s and she has interviewed many illustrious musicians including: Buddy Guy, Lonnie Brooks, John Primer, Chris “Kingfish” Ingram, Sue Foley, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, Charlie Daniels, The Eagles, Gordon Lightfoot and more.
