ARTIST BIO

Joanna relies on our HRS-R 10-46 nickel wound electric guitar strings for her killer tone!

Since releasing the aptly titled Believe It! for Blind Pig in 1989, Chicago-based guitarist and singer/songwriter Joanna Connor has revealed herself as a virtuoso stylist in modern electric blues, R&B, and blues-rock. Her take-no-prisoners playing style joins fiery single-string runs to dazzling, rough-and-ready slide guitar pyrotechnics in an approach at once incendiary and deeply soulful. Connor is also an accomplished vocalist and songwriter. 1996’s Big Girl Blues drew accolades for its raw, house-rocking approach. Despite situating her blues approach firmly in the Chicago tradition, Connor is well-versed in the genre’s long history, amply revealed on 1998’s Slidetime. 2002’s Joanna Connor Band moved toward soulful blues-funk. After 2003’s Mercury Blues, she took a 12-year break from studio recording to raise children. In 2016 Connor returned with the globally acclaimed Six String Stories. The funky, horn-drenched soul-blues of Rise followed in 2019. In early 2021 she issued the Joe Bonamassa-produced 4801 South Indiana Avenue.

Joanna Connor Biography by Thom Jurek
Photo Credit: Cory Anderson