Search - Jo Lawry :: Taking Pictures

Jo Lawry s Taking Pictures marks not only an evolution from her previous work but also a redrawing of how she makes music. Lawry wrote all of the record s 10 tracks (including Impossible, the sterling duet with Sting), shifting her focus from vocal jazz to a guitar-based singer-songwriter sound.

'I wanted to make something I d want to listen to', she says. 'I know so many jazz musicians who are incredibly gifted at what they do, and you get in their car and they re-listening to Pet Sounds. You have to be listening to music that sounds like what you re creating, and so much of the time for me it was simple three-chord singles with a killer hook and a beautiful story. That s what I wanted to explore: Why do those things cut to our hearts? What s in there that s so magical to us?'

There s much that cuts to the heart in Taking Pictures, from the gorgeous, effortless sway of Impossible to the multi-layered sweep of Adelaide to the brittle and heartbreaking I Said No. The songs, she says, came in an unusually lively creative burst.

'Most of it was written in a crazy frenzy in the few months leading up to recording, but at the same time, a lot of the songs had been kicking around. It s like those locusts that are dormant for years and then come flying out all at once , says Lawry.

In 2013, Lawry was featured in the film '20 Feet From Stardom', which chronicled the lives of the backup singers behind some of the greatest musical legends of the 21st century and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.