Blues rock guitarist Joanne Shaw Taylor tells The Dirty Truth at Fibbers on Monday

On Monday, as part of her Planet Rock Presents itinerary, she will play Fibbers in York, where her set will combine songs from her latest record with selections from her first three studio albums.

Joanne is every inch the itinerant musician, recording The Dirty Truth in Memphis, Tennessee with producer Jim Gaines for release last September and dividing her time between Britain and America.

Ask Joanne where she lives and she says: "I'm based on the road. I still have a place in Michigan that I've had for six years and I have family in London, but it's a lot of hotels for me!" she says. "Being on the road is definitely where I'm happiest. That's the place I'm most used to. I've had more than three weeks off, so I'm going mad now to get back on the road."

Once the tour is over, Joanne will turn her thoughts to making a new record. "I think we have plans to go back into the studio in January/February, so I'll be writing in December," she says.

Joanne Shaw Taylor. "Being on the road is definitely where I'm happiest". Picture: Eleanor Jane

"I tend to write at home; I've always done that, to be honest; writing in Michigan, which has beautiful countryside. I've always written on my own, which isn't to say I'm against co-writing. After four albums, it would be nice to maybe explore writing with someone."

First comes the tour with Joanne's band of young Sheffield musicians. "They'll play all over with me; Europe and America. Me and my manager started a record label last year and we put a band together that I could rehearse with every day, creating a band for me rather than me working with session players," says Joanne.

"My manager knew these guys in Sheffield and it just clicked, which is important when you're in a van 12 hours a day."

Joanne's passion for the blues stretches back to her early teens in Birmingham, when her father introduced her to the guitar work of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert Collins and Jimi Hendrix.

"My dad was a guitar player and a huge music fan and a brother played guitar but he was more into thrash metal. I played classical guitar from the age of eight; I wasn't good at reading music but I had a natural ear for it, and when I turned 13, on February 13, a Friday, I got the world's worst chest infection. My dad put me on the sofa and put on this Stevie Ray Vaughan video and I loved it."

She was instantly hooked."With the blues, I could see you're free to put your own stamp on it," says Joanne, who played in her first band only a year later. "I was obsessed with it; I was a good student when I was there [at school], but I was practising a lot, playing at weekends and I left school at 16 with the blessing of my head of year, who said, 'Have a year out and give it a go'. That's when I met Dave Stewart."

Joanne Shaw Taylor: "York is one of my favourite cities". Picture: Eleanor Jane

The Eurythmics musician is credited with "discovering" the teenage talent of Joanne. "I did a charity gig in Birmingham for breast cancer research, as my mum had cancer at the time, and I gave this CD of me playing to a friend of Dave's and he rang me the next day," she recalls.

"I didn't know who he was at the time because I was so young, but he then mentored me for two years and really encouraged me to focus on my voice as well, which surprised me more than anyone as the voice on the early tape is very much a schoolgirl's."

Joanne returns to York on Monday after playing at The Duchess two years ago and opening for rock singer Glenn Hughes at the Grand Opera House. "It's one of my favourite cities," she says. "I remember we stayed there twice on holiday when I was young and we did a ghost tour and went to York Theatre Royal.

"I think we have a day off after our Coventry show, so I'll be doing a ghost tour again in York!"

Joanne Shaw Taylor plays Fibbers, York, on Monday night. Box office: fibbers.co.uk