For a limited time… you can download “Blue and Evil” from Joe’s new Black Rock CD for FREE.

Click the image to the left, or CLICK HERE to do directly to the download site.

I’d suggest you do it soon, as this offer took Joe’s servers down over the weekend – but as of a few minutes ago… they were back up and running.

Note the promotional code that you must enter is: BNE2010.

If you missed my previous blog posts about the upcoming CD, you can find follow the links below:

Posted January 20th, 2010: Joe Bonamassa’s BLACK ROCK CD Review

Posted January 4th, 2010: Joe Bonamassa Black Rock CD Coming

Jason Bonham, Glenn Hughes, Derek Sherinian and Joe Bonamassa have formed a new super group calling themselves Black Country.

They are in the studio NOW with legendary producer Kevin Shirley.

My initial thought was… “is Joe breaking up the current band?”  Joe responded to that question on his own forum saying “…My solo band has about 140 shows booked this year.. So the answer is nothing will happen with my current lineup.  It means a bit more work for me but I am very happy with the way everything is going on…”

Shirley made the announcement on his website:

“So there it is folks – the cat is out the bag! This is Black Country.

The songs are all original and what a lineup. They are all the very best players in the world, for my money!”

Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin, Foreigner) is a totally unique drummer and a supreme, yet oh-so-tasty powerhouse. Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Billy Idol, Alice Cooper) is super versatile, and is playing mostly overdriven Hammond organ in this ensemble and is the color on the palette. Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Trapeze) plays bass and sings with a range VERY, VERY few can even get close to, and Joe Bonamassa, perhaps the best Blues guitarist around, plays hard riffing guitar as well as adding his signature vocals alongside Glenn.

“You’ll just have to wait – we’re planning to get this out late summer, and it’s promising to be phenomenal!”, said Shirley.

Well Kevin… we can hardly wait!

(note: the photo is a compilation courtesy of GuitarDaddy and TheGuitarBuzz.com and is NOT an official band photo…)

This morning started out as just another day at the office…  I had a full backlog of “to-do’s” that were all part of playing catch-up after a busy NAMM week.  But along about 10am the mailman arrived and neatly camouflaged in a brown bubble envelope was a promotional copy of Joe Bonamassa’s BLACK ROCK CD.

CANCEL ALL APPOINTMENTS!

BLACK ROCK was recorded at, and named for, Black Rock Studios in Santorini, Greece.

“With this album, we wanted to explore a “world feeling”, and this was the inspiration behind going to record in Greece and using some of the best Greek musicians to add a little flavor to a couple of the tracks.  But it’s by no means a “world” album.  We wanted Joe’s usual youthful and energetic tones to play alongside the worldly vibes of the Greek bouzouki and clarino,” said Kevin Shirley, producer (Black Crowes, Aerosmith, Led Zepplin and most recently “The Ballad of John Henry”).

Bonamassa added: “It’s the kind of record Kevin and I wanted to make.  We needed to rock again a bit like on my first album”.  And rocking is exactly what they did.

Joe scored big-time when he signed up blues legend B.B. King for a duet on a rendition of “Night Life” whigh originally appeared on King’s 1967 album, “Blues is King”.

Other tracks include Jeff Beck’s “Spanish Boots”, Leonard Cohen’s poetic “Bird on a Wire” (which I have had on auto-repeat for about an hour…), Otis Rush’s “Three Times A Fool”, Bobby Parker’s “Steal Your Heart Away”, Blind Boy Fuller’s “Baby, You Gotta Change Your Mind”, John Hiatt’s “I Know A Place” and James Clark’s “Look Over Yonder’s Wall” as well as the Bonamassa originals “Quarryman’s Lament”, “When The Fire Hits The Sea”, Wandering Earth”, “Athens to Anthens” and “Blue and Evil”.

Joe Bonamassa has been on quite a roll over the past 2 years with the release of the double CD “Live From Nowhere in Particular”, followed by “The Ballad of John Henry” and then the double DVD “Live From the Royal Albert Hall”.  He was named “Best Blues Guitarist” in Guitar Player Magazine’s 2009 Readers Choice Awards for the 3rd consecutive year and recently awarded the “Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award” at the U.K.’s prestigious Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards.  Guitar World Magazine dubbed Bonamassa “The Blues Rock Titan” and finally… (demonstrating the true measure of musical success in the 21st Century), his single “Lonesome Road Blues” is a part of Guitar Hero V’s New Blues Masters Track Pack!

Even with all of that, Joe is not taking a break.  BLACK ROCK demonstrates truly ground-breaking territory for the young blues legend by integrating international sounds with sizzling blues and good old fiery rock n’ roll.

BLACK ROCK will be in stores on March 23, 2010 and you won’t want to miss it!

Joe Bonamassa’s next CD titled: “Black Rock” will be released on March 9, 2010.

Produced by Kevin Shirley, the new material was recorded at Black Rock, a brand-new studio/villa in spectacular Santorini, Greece.

“This is our sixth project together,” Shirley says. “When we started recording together way back when, one of the tenets of our working relationship was that we were going to push the boundaries. I recognize where Joe’s roots are, but we were going to take the blues to different places. So over the years, we’ve gone swampy, we’ve gone eclectic; in our conversations, we’ve recognized that there are different blues genres: Memphis versus Chicago, Delta blues, Appalachian music, New Orleans, and it’s all related — even back to Celtic music. We’ve always wanted to explore blues around the world and see how all that fitted in.”

Shirley went on to say: “The first thing we did was have a session with these two Greek guys, Thanasis Vasilopoulos on clarino and Manolis Karadinis on bouzouki,” Shirley says. “Neither of them spoke English, and it was an interesting way of getting the music going. We actually recorded one track sitting outside on the patio outside the studio. At night it’s so quiet there, the recording was beautiful. These were different elements that we introduced into Joe’s sound.”

Read the entire article from MixOnline.com by CLICKING HERE.

POST UPDATE – CLICK HERE

I don’t usually add three posts to the blog in one day but I just scored front row center seats to see Joe at the Orpheum Theatre on March 19, 2010!

My view should look something like this…

Please forgive me…

My review copy of Joe Bonamassa’s “Live at Royal Albert Hall” DVD arrived 10 days ago and I have been so addicted to watching it (over and over) that I have not taken the time to sit down and write about it.

There’s a ton of Joe Bonamassa video footage on YouTube (thanks to Joe’s very liberal “video-recording-with-your-digital-camera-is-allowed-at-my-concerts” policy).  Unfortunately, much of it lacks in cinematography and sound quality and will only appeal to die-hard JB fans… like me.

With the release of the “Live at Royal Albert Hall” DVD, we FINALLY have a professional quality, 5.1DTS Sound recording of the Joe Bonamassa concert experience. Believe me when I say… you have never seen anything like this before.

The band members have completely changed since the last DVD (3 years ago) and for this concert there was an added horn section and a 2nd drummer, Anton Fig, who played in perfect sync with Joe’s regular drummer, Bogie Bowles.

The “dual drummer” show was like a concert within a concert.

I could honestly recommend that you buy this DVD for the drum playing alone… but as good as the drum playing is, that’s not the best part.  You simply do not want to miss Joe Bonamassa playing live at the Royal Albert Hall with Eric Clapton and Paul Jones on what was clearly the best night of his entire life.  This show was the realization of his childhood dream.

The DVD starts with an interview with Joe, his parents and his sister.  They share how Joe got started playing the guitar at age four, and why playing the RAH was so important to him.  There is a great deal of “backstage footage” to enjoy of Joe and the band getting ready… and then… the concert begins!

The set-list is mostly from “The Ballad of John Henry” CD with a few additions that Joe plays on his current tour, and a spattering of all time classics — can you say “Mountain Time”?

My highlights from the DVD set:

• Joe begins the concert by playing the opening riff to Django offstage, then walking out to a thunderous ovation.  It gave me chills.
• The 2 drummers, Bogie & Anton, “syncing up” following Joe’s opening solo of Django — the sound will make your heart pound.
• The wicked integration of a Moog Theremin into “The Ballad of John Henry”
• Eric Clapton joining JB for killer rendition of “Further Down the Road” – Dear God, I hope this is not the only time they play together.
• Joe stunning the 4,500 people in attendance with his unaccompanied acoustic guitar solo — it makes my fingers hurt just watching it!
• The guys in the luxury box playing the Pink & Yellow Axes during “So it’s Like That”
• Joe tossing his $500.00 sunglasses into the crowd — Oh, how I wish I had been there to catch them!
• The dozens of shots of 50+ aged guitar lovers in awe of what they were watching.
• Counting all of the guitars Joe used throughout the evening (there were nine!)
• The candid interview on the tour bus where Joe talks about the origin of his songs, his inspiration and his influences.
• The DVD insert. Even though Clapton only played on one song, he was given dressing room #1 at RAH.  I guess that’s what happens after 150+ shows at a venue…

This is must-have DVD for any Joe Bonamassa fan and frankly, any person who plays the guitar and appreciates instrumental mastery at work.  Joe Bonamassa is to the guitar what Liberace was to the Piano. He’s a 6-string maestro.

DISC-1

1.The Road to Royal Albert Hall
2. Django
3. The Ballad Of John Henry
4. So It’s Like That
5. Last Kiss
6. So Many Roads
7. Stop!
8. Introducing Eric Clapton
9. Further On Up The Road
10. High Water Everywhere
11. Sloe Gin
12. Intermission

DISC-2

1. “I first met B.B. King …”
2. Lonesome Road Blues
3. Happier Times
4. Introducing Paul Jones
5. Your Funeral, My Trial
6. Blues Deluxe
7. Story Of A Quarryman
8. The Great Flood
9. Just Got Paid
10. Mountain Time
11. Asking Around For You

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Woke up Dreaming
• The Bus Interview

ORDER “Live from the Royal Albert Hall” by CLICKING HERE

Last week, Joe Bonamassa treated some of his fans to an evening of music and dialogue at the Guitar Center in Hollywood, California.

A lot of the session was recorded and posted on Guitar Center TV & YouTube.  You can FOLLOW THIS LINK to see the entire video list.  My favorite session was Joe playing slide and talking about his major influences like Ry Cooder, David Lindley, Johnny Winter and Warren Haynes.

Check out this wicked slide playing:

Those of you who visit this blog often know that The GuitarDaddy is a huge fan of Joe Bonamassa. It is hard for me to go more than a couple of weeks without posting something about Joe and his amazing guitar skills.

This video appeared on YouTube two weeks ago and the quality is so stunning that I have to share it with The Guitar BUZZ readers.  Be patient as it will take a while to download… once it does, click full-screen HQ then sit back and enjoy. 

This is almost as good as seeing Joe live! FROM THE FRONT ROW!

NOTE: Information in this post is courtesy of MASCOT RECORDS.

Joe Bonamassa: Live From The Royal Albert Hall on DVD!

When Joe Bonamassa took the stage at Royal Albert Hall in May 2009, he fulfilled a dream he’d held since first picking up a guitar as a kid in upstate New York. The sold-out concert—fresh off the release of his album The Ballad Of John Henry—marked Bonamassa’s headlining debut at arguably the most prestigious concert venue in the world. “May 4, 2009 was a day 20 years in the making,” says Bonamassa. “I have never been so honored in my life. It was truly larger than the sum of its parts.”

The two decades he’s referring to began when—at age 12—he first opened for blues icon B.B. King, who said, “this kid’s potential is unbelievable.” King’s words are as fitting today as they were then. Bonamassa averages 200 shows every year, and with each gig, he comes more into his own as a virtuoso and a vocalist. At the Hall, Bonamassa had the added honor of being joined onstage by the legendary Eric Clapton. The Times of London cited Joe’s “searing excellence and showmanship,” and Planet Rock said, “The sight of two of the world’s best guitarists trading solos was more than a little thrilling.”

This two disc digipack DVD, which also features an exclusive interview with Bonamassa, presents that magical night in full—for posterity, and for all the fans that couldn’t be among the roughly 4,000 concertgoers filling the seats. The twelve-camera high definition, surround sound shoot was produced by Bonamassa’s longtime collaborator Kevin Shirley.

“Joe Bonamassa is a big star amongst his peers,” says Shirley, “garnering awards and magazine covers all around the globe. While he has a devoted audience that’s growing worldwide, his rejection of major label deals in favor of paving his own musical path has left the mainstream largely unfamiliar with his extensive repertoire and skill. Hopefully, this incredible performance—featuring Joe accompanied by an incredible band in addition to a guest appearance by Eric Clapton—will put an end to that. Directed by groundbreaking filmmakers Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen, this concert experience will become the benchmark for the genre. But pigeonhole Bonamassa at your peril—sure, the blues is the anchor, but this virtuoso refuses to play inside the box. Any box. Enjoy!”

The DVD is expected to be released on September 21, 2009. You can pre-order the DVD from Mascot Records HERE

The official trailer from the DVD has been posted on YouTube:

Joe Bonamassa, the 31 year-old kid from Utica, New York, has been playing professionally for over 20 years. He is a true “Guitar Hero”, and in my opinion…plays the blues as well as anybody ever has.

Check out this studio video from the recording of “Stop!” — my favorite track from his latest CD titled: “The Balad of John Henry”, which was released in February: