#JOE BONAMASSA BIRD ON A WIRE PROFESSIONAL#

I really enjoy Joe’s slide playing, but the slide hasn’t been prominently featured on one of his albums for several years. His recorded guitar tones are some of my favorite, and Black Rock continues that tradition. Vocally, Joe seems to be stretching himself further with each album. The album starts off with a couple of heavier blues tunes, “Steal Your Heart Away” followed by “I Know a Place.” These songs set a nice tone for the album. King on the Willie Nelson tune “Night Life.”

On Black Rock, Joe covers songs by Jeff Beck, John Hiatt, Otis Rush, Willie Nelson, Leonard Cohen, Blind Boy Fuller, and James Clark. As I’ve mentioned before, Joe has a way of taking songs written by other people and making them his own. Joe wrote 5 of the 13 tracks on the album. Like Bonamassa’s previous solo albums, Black Rock contains a mixture of original tunes and covers. You can read more about the recording process here. Additionally, Greek folk musicians were brought in to play with Joe. At the start of the recording sessions, Shirley had Joe record using a Telecaster directly into small amps to force Bonamassa out of his Les Paul/Marshall comfort zone. Recorded in picturesque Santorini, Greece, Black Rock* is the next chapter of the Shirley/Bonamassa collaboration. On the contrary, Shirley seems to be able to push Bonamasssa a little further with each new release, and Bonamassa’s signature sound gets more refined. Which is not to say that the records sound rushed. I don’t know how they do it, but they’ve got the process down to a science. Each year they get together for a few weeks and record a new album.

Night Life (Willie Nelson, Walter Breeland, Paul Buskirk)(sung with BB King)Ħ.Joe Bonamassa and Kevin Shirley have a good thing going. Spanish Boots (Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, Ron Wood)ġ. When The Fire Hits The Sea (Joe Bonamassa)ĥ. Bonamassa has an ear for non-blues writers too, cherrypicking Leonard Cohen's 'Bird on a Wire' and John Hiatt's 'I Know a Place,' tying it all together with beefy lead lines, but the provocative moments on Black Rock are all self-penned, whether it's the clattering stomp 'When the Fire Hits the Sea,' the British folk lilt of 'Quarryman's Lament' and 'Athens to Athens,' or the droning dramatic epic 'Blue and Evil.' These are easily the most intriguing songs here.' - Stephen Thomas Erlewine, ģ.

e retains a healthy respect for all manners of classic blues. in, there's not much reason to change, so Bonamassa doesn't tinker with his formula here, retaining a little of the folky undertow of The Ballad of John Henry, but with its remaining roots in a thick, heavy blues-rock more redolent of '60s London than the '50s Delta. King to guest on his eighth album Black Rock - and if what you're doing is good enough to rope B.B. 'It's a sign of Joe Bonamassa's increasing profile that he got blues legend B.B. He's one of a kind.' By age 12, Bonamassa was opening shows for the blues icon and went on to tour with venerable acts including Buddy Guy, Foreigner, Robert Cray, Stephen Stills, Joe Cocker and Gregg Allman. He hasn't even begun to scratch the surface. After first hearing him play, King said, 'This kid's potential is unbelievable. A child prodigy, Bonamassa was finessing Stevie Ray Vaughan licks when he was seven and by the time he was ten, had caught B.B.

#JOE BONAMASSA BIRD ON A WIRE PROFESSIONAL#

Guitar Player writer Matt Blackett has said, 'He's an old soul, and that comes through in his bends, vibrato, singing voice, and note choices, which – with each passing year – get more restrained and refined.'Ģ009 also marked Bonamassa's twentieth year as a professional musician, an extraordinary timeline for a young artist just into his '30s. In 2009, Joe was awarded the Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award at the U.K.'s prestigious Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards and Classic Rock magazine has said, 'They're calling him the future of blues, but they're wrong – Joe Bonamassa is the present so fresh and of his time that he almost defines it.' He was also named Best Blues Guitarist in Guitar Player Magazine's 2009 Readers' Choice Awards for the third consecutive year. During the show, Bonamassa's hero, Eric Clapton, joined him on stage for a joint-performance of Clapton's hit 'Further On Up The Road.' London's The Independent said about the show, 'The man has arrived, and there's no turning back.' In May '09, he played to a sold out crowd at London's Royal Albert Hall, arguably the most prestigious concert venue in the world. His ability to connect with live concert audiences is transformational. King! Includes 5 Originals + Covers of Otis Rush, Leonard Cohen, John Hiatt, Willie Nelson & More!Īs Joe Bonamassa grows his reputation as one of the world's greatest guitar players, he is also evolving into a charismatic blues-rock star and singer-songwriter of stylistic depth and emotional resonance. 180 Gram Vinyl! Featuring Guest Artist B.B.

Joe bonamassa bird on a wire