Still Blue

The most “English” of American hard blues guitarists, it’s been a dozen years since Joe Bonamassa released a completely original album in 2002’s So, It’s Like That. Of course this prolific musician has pumped out eight solo albums as well as a deluge of live releases and collaborative albums with singer Beth Hart and Black Country Communion, along the way to his latest, Different Shades Of Blue. A true “touring animal”, regularly playing a good 200 shows a year in various parts of the world, Bonamassa decided to take his time preparing material for the new album, and find the right people to bring out the best in his songwriting.

“Some came to me by referral, some by reputation,” he explains of writing with James House, whose CV includes songs for Dwight Yoakam, Jerry Flowers, and former Babys now Journey keyboards player Jonathan Caine.

“[Producer] Kevin Shirley kind of put the whole thing together for me and made sure we were with the right cats, you know, with the soulful cats that write good lyrics. I mean I need help writing lyrics sometimes, but, yeah, there’s not a schlep among ‘em, you know, and they’ve all written big tunes.

“Co-writing’s like goin’ to a dinner party. You’ve gotta bring a cold appetiser or a bottle of wine – you’ve gotta come in with somethin’ – and you start with an idea, or come in with something that’s maybe half-finished or whatever, and that kind of gets the gears goin’. Then I knew that once I got the songs into the studio with Carmine Rojas [bass] and Anton Fig [drums] and Reese Wynan [keyboards], like, the band was gonna do its thing. It’s an entity unto itself.”

Over a year, Bonamassa accumulated some 20 songs, discarded five before going into the studio, ditched three more during the sessions and came out after nine days’ recording at Studio At The Palms in Las Vegas with Different Shades Of Blue.

“It doesn’t take very long to record blues-rock,” he suggests. “I mean it’s all live and spontaneous, it’s all done with a very kind of ‘in the moment’ feel… I don’t wanna be in the studio any longer than I have to. It’s very sterile. It’s like goin’ to an ear, nose and throat guy.”

And for all the magic captured in the studio, it’s in the live context that Bonamassa really thrives, as evidenced by the plethora of live CD/DVDs he’s released in the past decade, three this year alone – Rock Candy Funk Party Takes New York – Live At The Iridium, showcasing another quartet project, Rock Candy Funk Party, he’s been playing with; in concert with Beth Hart filmed at Amsterdam’s famed Carre Theatre; a four-disc CD package Tour De Force: Live In London – and Bonamassa will be filming the band’s performance of Different Shades Of Blue at NYC’s Radio City Music Hall in January.