When someone with multiple Grammy and Brit Awards, several honorary degrees and recognition from the Queen of England is doing more than 200 shows a year 45 years into her career, you know it's love.
Joan Armatrading's love of music, love of creativity and love of performing explains a lot about her enduring success and steady release of new music.
Armatrading tells Q104.3 New York's Out of the Box with Jonathan Clarke that she knows she's supposed to slow down at her age, but she really doesn't feel like she needs to.
Nevertheless, after doing 235 shows on her previous tour, Armatrading cut down her road schedule on her new tour to 60 shows — enough to cover major and secondary markets in the United States for most acts.
"It doesn't feel a lot to me. It feels quite like a little baby [tour]," she tells the show.
Armatrading's just released her 21st album, Not Too Far Away. Yet again the songwriter wrote, arranged, produced and performed every instrument on the album. Being involved in every aspect of her music is all part of the joy of creating, she says.
"Since I can do it and I enjoy it, I thought, you know, I'd do it. But I've been producing myself since 1986."
Since 2003, Armatrading has performed every instrument on her studio albums. There's little she hasn't done since her career began in 1972.
Check out the full interview, plus Joan's in studio performance of "I Like It When We're Together" above!
Get all of Joan Armatrading's tour dates here.
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Watch the official video for "Loving What You Hate" below: