+joe+bonamassa

Twenty years after Blues Deluxe, his first all-blues album, Joe Bonamassa delivers a sequel with 2023's Blues Deluxe, Vol. 2. He may follow the same blueprint – it largely consists of covers, supplemented by two originals – but the circumstances and collaborators have changed. Here, he foregoes using longtime producer Kevin Shirley to work with Josh Smith, a blues guitarist from Bonamassa's own generation who also contributes the album's closer "Is It Safe to Go Home." Smith helps give Blues Deluxe, Vol. 2 a loose, lived-in feeling that contrasts with the eager fire of the 2003 record. It's a change that suits Bonamassa well.

Despite its hardscrabble title – a sentiment mirrored by the deeply etched black & white cover art – 2016's Blues of Desperation is very much a continuation of the bright, varied blues-rock heard on Different Shades of Blue. On that 2014 album, Joe Bonamassa made a conscious decision to pair with a bunch of Nashville songsmiths to help sharpen his original material, and he brings most of them back for Blues of Desperation, too. The tenor of the tunes is somewhat heavy – there are lonesome trains, low valleys, no places for the lonely – and the production also carries a ballast, something that comes into sharp relief on the Zep-flavored title track but can be heard throughout the record.

Despite its hardscrabble title – a sentiment mirrored by the deeply etched black & white cover art – 2016's Blues of Desperation is very much a continuation of the bright, varied blues-rock heard on Different Shades of Blue. On that 2014 album, Joe Bonamassa made a conscious decision to pair with a bunch of Nashville songsmiths to help sharpen his original material, and he brings most of them back for Blues of Desperation, too. The tenor of the tunes is somewhat heavy – there are lonesome trains, low valleys, no places for the lonely – and the production also carries a ballast, something that comes into sharp relief on the Zep-flavored title track but can be heard throughout the record.

Beth Hart first teamed up with guitarist Joe Bonamassa in 2011 and the partnership proved to be mutually beneficial. Hart gave the rock-edged Bonamassa some blues bona fides while the guitarist brought the vocalist to a wider audience. Plus, it was evident from their two studio albums and live set that the two had an easy chemistry: They shared a similar vernacular in Chicago blues and classic soul. The pair rely on that effortless interplay on Black Coffee, their third studio collaboration. Working with producer Kevin Shirley – a veteran of Black Crowes records who has been in the Bonamassa orbit since 2006 – the pair eschew straight traditionalism for a clean, colorful, retro vibe.

Beth Hart first teamed up with guitarist Joe Bonamassa in 2011 and the partnership proved to be mutually beneficial. Hart gave the rock-edged Bonamassa some blues bona fides while the guitarist brought the vocalist to a wider audience. Plus, it was evident from their two studio albums and live set that the two had an easy chemistry: They shared a similar vernacular in Chicago blues and classic soul. The pair rely on that effortless interplay on Black Coffee, their third studio collaboration. Working with producer Kevin Shirley – a veteran of Black Crowes records who has been in the Bonamassa orbit since 2006 – the pair eschew straight traditionalism for a clean, colorful, retro vibe.

Joe Bonamassa has moved far past his initial incarnation as a kid guitar wiz with a Stevie Ray Vaughan fascination, and has developed into an elegantly reverent guitarist and a fine singer as well, bringing a little R&B blue-eyed soul to the blues. For Different Shades of Blue, Bonamassa co-wrote songs with veteran Nashville songwriters Jeffrey Steele, Gary Nicholson, James House, Jerry Flowers, and Jonathan Cain, then took 11 of the songs and tracked them in Las Vegas at Studio at the Palms with producer Kevin Shirley and a solid band of studio musicians including Reese Wynans (organ, piano), Carmine Rojas (bass), Michael Rhodes (bass), Anton Fig (drums, percussion), Lenny Castro (percussion), Lee Thornburg (trumpet, trombone), Ron Dziubla (saxophone), the Bovaland Orchestra (strings), and background vocalists Doug Henthorn and Melanie Williams.

Time Clocks slowly comes into focus after the short atmospheric instrumental "Pilgrimage" sets the stage for a moody, cinematic record. In its brief minute, Joe Bonamassa plays a fat, melodic phrase that sounds uncannily like David Gilmour, a tone and aesthetic he'll return to throughout Time Clocks. Other blues and classic rock greats are alluded to on the album – the winding riff propelling "Notches" harkens back to Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac, Clapton is always lurking around the corner – but at this stage of his career Bonamassa is a stylist, tying together recognizable influences into something distinctively his own. Here, he's leaning toward somber introspection, filtering his musings on life and society through a Pink Floyd prism.

In 2015, guitar hero Joe Bonamassa set out on what he called the "Three Kings" tour, in which he paid homage to three of his favorite guitarists: B.B. King, Albert King, and Freddie King. The tour concluded with a show at the venerable Los Angeles venue the Greek Theatre, in which Bonamassa and his band treated the audience to a night of classic blues standards. A mobile recording studio and a camera crew were on hand to capture the performance, and Live at the Greek Theatre (released on CD, LP, DVD, and Blu-ray) documents the event, in which one of the 21st century's top guitarists demonstrates how much he learned from the masters. Bonamassa is backed by a stellar band of blues musicians including Anton Fig (drums), Michael Rhodes (bass), Reese Wynans (Keys), Lee Thornburg (trumpet), Paulie Cerra (saxophone), Ron Dziubla (saxophone), Kirk Fletcher (Guitar), Mahalia Barnes, Jade MaCrae and Juanita Tippins (Vocals).