Blues Update

The writing sessions for Blues of Desperation took Bonamassa back to Nashville, where he’d composed Different Shades of Blue, to work with some of Music City’s top tunesmiths, people like James House, Tom Hambridge, Jeffrey Steele, Jerry Flowers and Gary Nicholson.

“These are some of the best guys in the business,” Bonamassa raves. “Lyrically, you’ll hear the proverbial trains, mountains, valleys and other blues references about heartbreak and loneliness but there are also some poignant moments about getting away from the stressful, crazy demands of life and losing yourself with your special someone. I think anybody will be able to relate.”

realized album yet, with the material ranging from the gutsy, gritty blues call to arms of “This Train” (Joe’s guitar is set to “rude” throughout) to the elegant yet emotionally shattering ballad “What I’ve Known for a Very Long Time” to the soul-nourishing, acoustic-based Americana of “The Valley Runs Low,” on which Bonamassa’s voice rises up majestically to meet Barnes, McRae and Tippins in gospel-like rapture. And then there’s the bleary, tequila-soaked “Drive,” dripping with the kind of raw, wicked and unsettling sensuality that could make David Lynch green with envy.

Throughout the record, Bonamassa’s epic guitar playing conjures up stirring benedictions and explosive exorcisms of sound. “No Good Place For the Lonely” features some of the guitarist’s most cauterizing licks yet, and the walloping title track is a white-knuckled, six-string thrill ride guaranteed to jolt the senses. Guitar fans everywhere (like those who recently voted Bonamassa “Best Blues Guitarist” in Guitar World magazine by an overwhelming margin) will consider Blues of Desperation a treasure trove of axe riches.

“There are some long solos on this record and even some mini-jams in the middle of a track where the band would just jive and crank it out,” he says. “[During those jams], we do a tip of the hat to Beck and Clapton from the ’70s. I think guitar nerds and music fans like myself will love it.”

Packed with unparalleled musicianship and teeming with the most enthralling collection of songs in Bonamassa’s career,Blues of Desperation is guaranteed to knock out critics and fans alike. By exceeding his own vertiginously high artistic goals, Bonamassa is bound to shatter all other expectations with this record and reach new audiences – no mean feat when you continue his astonishing track record of hits now includes 15 #1 Billboard Blues Albums (more than any other artist in history). 2014’s Different Shades of Blue debuted at #8 on Billboard’s Top 200 Chart, making it his highest charting album, his first top 10 and accounting for his biggest sales week ever. In 2014, the guitarist received his first-ever Grammy nomination (for Best Blues Album) for the album Seesaw, his second collaboration with blues singing star Beth Hart, and was named 2014’s Billboard Blues Artist of the Year.

“They always try to write off the blues. Well, we’ve proven tonight that at least 9,000 people like the blues.”

So says Best Guitarist in the World Joe Bonamassa on Joe Bonamassa: Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks, a new live CD, DVD and Blu-ray that will be released March 24.

The shows were recorded last Labor Day weekend, when Bonamassa and his band performed a tribute to blues legends Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado.

Below, you can check out two preview clips from the DVD. Up top we have Bonamassa’s version of Muddy Waters’ “I Can’t Be Satisfied,” followed by Howlin’ Wolf’s “Shake for Me.”

 

I really enjoy talking to great guitarists about other great guitarists. I mean, they’re the experts, right? But usually I find that the world’s top players are quite reluctant to rank one another. They’re normally of the mind that there is no “best” player, and that it’s all in the ear of the beholder. Then again, I’ve chatted with quite a few who steadfastly believe that Jimi Hendrix is number one, and that no one can touch him.

Once in a while a scorecard of the socalled “greatest” guitarists will come out, and then the chatter will pick up again. Such was the case a few weeks back when Rolling Stonepublished its 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time list. I for one took exception to it, as you can see here. And when I called acclaimed picker Joe Bonamassa in Bakersfield, California, the other day in advance of his upcomingVancouver gig, the subject came up again.

As expected, Bonamassa didn’t complain that he wasn’t on the list–even though readers of the prestigious Guitar Player magazine voted him Best Overall Guitarist last year–but it was clear that he wasn’t thrilled with how some of his own six-string heroes were ranked. For one thing, his childhood mentor Danny Gatton was nowhere to be seen.