Joe Bonamassa - Road Warrior

Between Allen Woody’s death in 2000 and the Allman Brothers Band’s final show in 2014, I often referred to Warren Haynes as the hardest working man in the music business [apologies to the late James Brown]. During that time, Warren was in Gov’t Mule, had returned to the Allman Brothers after Dickey Betts departed, and began a solo career.  When he wasn’t doing any of those three gigs, he slummed with Phil Lesh & Friends.  The Allman Brothers are no more, and Phil Lesh is semi-retired [he’s 81 now].  Warren still has the Mule and his solo gig, but he isn’t as busy as he once was. It seems there is a new “hardest working man in the music business.”  Who would that be?  Joe Bonamassa.

Joe Bonamassa has been releasing albums since he was 23 [he’s 44 now].  He’s been quite prolific.  His recorded output includes:

• 15 studio albums of blues/blues rock under his own name [I have them all];
• 3 studio albums [also blues/blues rock] with American songstress Beth Hart;
• 4 studio albums of hard rock with Glenn Hughes under the name Black Country Communion;
• 1 album with Australian singer Mahalia Barnes;
• 3 studio albums of “jazz” with a group called Rock Candy Funk Party;
• 1 instrumental album with a group he dubs “The Sleep Eazys” [it’s really his road band…].

In addition to all this studio work he also has 18 [!] live albums.  Recording artists like to release albums recorded on their various tours as live souvenirs for their fans, but not all of Joe B’s live albums fit that description.  A good number of his live sets have a specific theme/concept, to wit:

An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House, 2013 & Live at Carnegie Hall: An Acoustic Evening, 2017

After the first time that Joe B had played London’s Royal Albert Hall in 2009, his producer Kevin Shirley had conversations with Joe B about embracing and incorporating world music into the blues. Shirley found a studio on the Greek island of Santorini.  This was an “and now for something completely different” moment.  Joe B and Shirley invited musicians from Athens to record with them.  The album from whence theses sessions came was Black Rock.  Claude Nobs [“Funky Claude” from Smoke on the Water fame] heard the record, liked what he heard and invited Joe B to play the Montreux Jazz Festival.  From this experience came the idea to go “all acoustic.”  Black Rock had its share of electric blues, but Joe B hadn’t done anything that was entirely acoustic before.   He had done some acoustic numbers on his albums previously, but the new challenge was an acoustic show with world musicians from start to finish.  The thought of doing an acoustic live show at the Vienna Opera House had a nice ring to it.  The thought was “maybe we’ll fall on our face, maybe this will be a complete and utter disaster from the first note, or it could be one of the coolest things we ever did.”  As it turns out, the latter was the case.

The date was June 3, 2012; the venue was the Vienna Opera House, the same place where works of Beethoven, Mozart, and Brahms were first heard.  Accompanying Joe B [who was surrounded by ten acoustic guitars and a Dobro] was traditional Irish fiddler Gerry O'Connor, who also plays mandolin and banjo; Swedish multi-instrumentalist Mats Wester on the nyckelharpa, a keyed fiddle; Los Angeles-based keyboardist Arlan Schierbaum playing the celeste, accordions, toy pianos, and other instruments; and renowned Puerto Rican percussionist Lenny Castro.  It’s good to hear Joe B’s music with a different twist.  In January 2016, Joe B did it again at Carnegie Hall, only this time with a different mix of acoustic instruments [cello, ehru (a bowed, two-stringed Chinese vertical fiddle), saxophone, Egyptian percussion, hurdy gurdy] in addition to the banjo and mandolin.  Joe B also brought three Australian singers with him.  Both albums from the Vienna Opera House and Carnegie Hall are superb.

Tour de Force: Live in London, 2014

The Borderline

Shepherd's Bush Empire

Hammersmith Apollo

Royal Albert Hall

Joe B’s manager Roy Weisman had booked four shows in London for Joe B, each show at a different venue [see above].  As Joe B, Roy Weisman and Kevin Shirley were having lunch before the Vienna acoustic show, Shirley asked Joe B what he had in mind for the four London shows.  In his mind, only the hardcore fanatics would go to all four shows.  Shirley suggested a twist – how about four different bands [one for each venue], each playing a unique setlist?  Like a retrospective of his career up to that point.  It’s only sixty-some songs, what could possibly go wrong?  Shirley hit him with this idea as he was trying to remember the words to all the songs he hadn’t sung in public before that he was going to play later that evening with the acoustic band.  No pressure…

The Borderline was a club show with a power trio.  The stage was just big enough for three musicians.  Shepherd's Bush Empire was a “big band” show of Chicago-style blues with horns.  The Hammersmith Apollo show was the “rock” show.  The Royal Albert Hall put a nice bow on the whole thing, with an acoustic first half, Vienna Opera House-style.  The second half of the show was for guitar geeks – Rory Gallagher’s Strat, Gary Moore’s ’59 Les Paul, and the music to match.  The whole week-long event was well done. It was a good way to celebrate the music – old/new, electric/acoustic.

Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks, 2015

This one is an easy tell – almost two hours of music from blues giants Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf recorded at the world’s best outdoor music venue [and my favorite], Red Rocks.  Joe B knows he can’t sing Spoonful like Howlin’ Wolf or Jack Bruce, so he aims for the performance with conviction, and that’s good enough for me.  It’s his way of “keeping the blues alive.”

Live at the Greek Theatre, 2016

This is a tribute to the Three Kings of the blues – BB, Albert, and Freddie.  When Joe B was a kid, BB King was a mentor to him.  Joe B first opened for BB King when he was 12 years old. BB took a liking to him and had him open more shows.

British Blues Explosion Live, 2018
American blues had its Three Kings – British blues had three kings of its own – Clapton, Beck, and Page.  He referred to the three Yardbirds as the students of the Three Kings, and he describes himself as a “student of the students.”  The British guitar gods were Joe B’s gateway to the blues.  This show was recorded in July 2016 at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, London.  He opened with a blast from the Jeff Beck Group [Becks’ Bolero/Rice Pudding], absolutely nailed Clapton [Mainline Florida, Motherless Children, SWLABR, Pretending], and was spellbinding with readings of How Many More Times and a mashup of Tea For One/I Can’t Quit You.  The most pleasant surprises was Boogie With Stu and John Mayall’s Double-Crossing Time.  It takes balls of steel to pay tribute to British artists in Britain.  Audiences there aren’t known for their charity, but this audience loved it.  I wonder if he’ll get around to paying tribute to the likes of Rory Gallagher, Peter Green, and Gary Moore.  Knowing Joe B it could happen.

Tony’s pick - Plynth (Water Down the Drain)/Spanish Boots

Now Serving: Royal Tea Live from the Ryman, 2021
COVID halted touring for everybody, which affected musicians and road crews alike.  As a musician who tours a lot, Joe B was frustrated he couldn’t hit the road to support his album Royal Tea.  Knowing firsthand the problems presented by COVID, Joe B set up a gig at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.  He and his band played his then-unreleased album almost in its entirety to an empty house, but he streamed the show worldwide.  Proceeds from the show [roughly $500,000] went to Joe B’s Fueling Musicians charity to help musicians and their support crews.  I didn’t see the show, but I happily bought the album anyway, knowing that I already had a copy of Royal Tea.