Joan Armatrading's career spans nearly 35 years, but she's rarely stayed in the same genre for long. The singer, songwriter and guitarist has released 18 albums spanning folk, pop, rock, jazz and beyond, often within a single disc.
Her new Into the Blues finds Armatrading delving, appropriately enough, into the blues. But her definition of the genre is broad enough that the disc never seems predictable or conventional.
In an interview from London, Armatrading talks about her eclecticism, the allure of the blues and the meanings behind her new songs. She also describes the genre's versatility — rejecting the notion that blues music merely dwells on misery and suffering — and touches on the way Into the Blues differs from the way it would sound if Armatrading were 22 instead of 56.
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