“The first one is literally just a three-piece band, hot off the road, bash it out in the fucking room, shout in key, the end,” Bonamassa told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay during a recent phone call.
He says that while there are melodies on Vol. 2 that he couldn’t have pulled off writing earlier in his career, it was the way his singing voice has improved that stands out most significantly to him. “I couldn't sing ’24 Hour Blues’ 20 years ago,” he added.
UPDATE Due to illness, Bonamassa rescheduled his March 16 concert at The BayCare Sound. Ruth Eckerd Hall says Tickets will be honored on the new date, Sunday, March 24 at 7 p.m. Ticket holders will be notified with more information. Options will be provided to ticket holders unable to attend the rescheduled date.Earlier this decade, he was also asked to play a guitar part for Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits’ upcoming, guitar hero-loaded single, “Going Home,” which releases this Friday. The track—which has been compared to “We Are The World” in terms of its lineup—features contributions from David Gilmour, Ronnie Wood, Eric Clapton, and, in his final studio recording before his death last year, Jeff Beck. It was a bit of a confusing venture for Bonamassa, though. Producers told him to play along with a recorded part and just “do his thing.”
“And then I realized that everybody’s going to interpret this thing differently, and then, the producers are going to wave through all these takes to get everybody on,” he told CL Tampa.
His gig at The Bayfront Sound comes after years of playing electric mini-residencies in town, and even a socially-distanced power trio performance just as COVID-19 vaccines were first distributed.
“I’ve been working with those guys over at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Bobby [Rossi], and everyone, forever,” Bonamassa recalled. “As long as there's no like, freak snowstorm in March, I think we’re gonna be good.”
Read our full Q&A with Joe Bonamassa below.
Thanks for letting me pin you down for a chat today, Joe. Are you in California?
No, I’m in Nashville right now. We have rehearsals starting this week, so I’m just here getting the band ready.
Anton Fig is still in the band, right?
No, Lemar Carter plays drums. Carter, Calvin Turner on bass, Reese Wynans on keyboards, Josh Smith on guitar, Jade MacRae on vocals, and Danni DeAndrea on vocals. It's a mighty seven-piece.
Definitely, and I’m glad to hear that Jade is still in the band. She’s an amazing vocalist.
She is an amazing vocalist and amazing musician honestly, because she plays keys, she writes killer songs. Same thing with Danni! Danni DeAndrea. I'm lucky to have solo artists in my band, you know what I mean? They’re not just background singers, they’re fuckin’ solo artists like me. They’re just nice enough to come and help me out.
Totally. And it’s crazy, but I remember a guy named Steve Mackey used to play bass for you. Last year, he gave me a hell of a scare because Pulp’s bassist, who was also named Steve Mackey, died. And it was really early in the morning when I heard that news, so the first thing I did was check your social media to see if you had written a tribute or anything. A few hours later, I learned that they were two different guys.
There were two Mackeys, that’s right. And they both played bass. Odd world. I knew he didn't die because we were on a session when it happened. I was like, “Steve was just here.”
Did you freak out for a second when you heard the news?
No. I mean, obviously, when anyone passes away, it’s bad, but I knew it wasn’t our Mackey.
Gotcha. So, this venue you'll be playing in Clearwater is called The Sound, and it opened less than a year ago. Do you remember the last time you played a venue’s opening season?
Not offhand, but I'm sure I have. But the weirdest one was when I was the first show back at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, which was celebrating their 90th season, which turned out to be the 91st season because there was the lost year where they didn’t have shows. So I was the first to reopen the Greek after whatever that thing was in 2020. So, no, I've never been part of an opening season, but I will say this: I’ve been working with those guys over at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Bobby [Rossi], and everyone, forever. We've done tons of shows at Ruth Eckerd, and this is their sister venue. I think they also have something called the Capitol Theatre as well.
That’s right.
And they're like, “Hey, let's try one outside.” I'm like, “come on, it’s Florida.” As long as there's no like, freak snowstorm in March, I think we’re gonna be good.
If only.
You never know, though. I mean, Nashville got eight inches of snow, and my house in California? Last week, we got a year's worth of rain in 36 hours. When you get 12 inches of rain in Laurel Canyon, you’re like, “Uh, this is not good.”
Definitely. So, you're promoting Blues Deluxe Vol. 2, an album that you describe as a way of seeing how far you've come as a musician in the last 20 years. What are some things that you managed to accomplish on that album that you can't see yourself having done really well 20 years ago?
Singing. You know? Singing, straight up. I couldn't sing “24 Hour Blues” 20 years ago. Couldn’t do that, and…just, straight up. I mean, I recorded Vol. 2 when I was 45, I’ll be 47, so it’s been a year-and-a-half. And, I recorded Blues Deluxe, the first one, when I was 25. The first one is literally just a three-piece band, hot off the road, bash it out in the fucking room, shout in key, the end. I couldn’t ever have pulled off some of the melodies and kinds of things I did on the second one, and that’s what I was trying to prove to myself. You know what I mean? Like, “Am I a better singer? Am I a better guitar player?” And I think the answer is yes.
Cool. What drove you to select Josh Smith to produce and even write something on this album?
Josh and I produced a lot of records together. We did two of Joanne Shaw Taylor’s, we did Reese Wynan’s solo album, we did Mark Broussard’s solo album, Eric Gales’ solo album, Joanna Connor…there are probably a dozen records that we’ve done together. We’ve done Mike Zito, we did the Blood Brothers, but anyway. I had a very specific vision of what I wanted to do, blues-wise.
I've been working with Kevin Shirley for almost 20 years, and I had this very, very specific vision. And if I know anything about making records, it’s that when you have a very specific vision of what you want, it is much easier to do it yourself than try to explain to someone what you're not hearing. It’s nothing against Kevin because Kevin and I work great together. But I could hear it and I could envision the cover, so I was like “Josh, just come and let's do this,” you know what I mean?
And we did. The weird thing about it was I would always brag that Blues Deluxe only took seven days, right? Well, this one, Blues Deluxe Vol. 2, took six. It was done in six days. I mean, there was an extra horn day, but that was light. But we could have released it on the seventh day, and that was a really cool experience.
Well, when you have the right people around…
Yeah, and it's just one of those things where I'm just thrilled that it worked out. And originally, we were gonna put it together as a compilation and make like, a Blues Deluxe 20th anniversary remastered package. But the record was so strong that we decided to put it out on its own, and I think it's one of the best things we've ever done.
There are some really deep cuts on this album too. I mean, “Lazy Poker Blues” isn't really a track that comes to mind when you think of Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac. Could you hear your own version of that song, or anything really, in your head before you record it?
Oh absolutely, but I also know how to do British blues pretty well. I speak that language. And one of the greatest shuffle blues drummers you'll ever find on this earth is a guy named Mick Fleetwood. His shuffle is second to none, and that was pretty much how it works. You know? And I mean, just break out the Les Paul and the Marshall, and that’s the sound.
Sweet. Do you remember off the top of your head what guitars you used on Vol. Two?
That was two years ago, I don’t remember. It’s probably listed on the album.
When you're in the studio, or even in rehearsals, how do you select which guitar you're going to use for your song? Like, do you just go through as many as possible until find a tone you like?
No. It’s like when you're fixing your house. It's like, “I need a flathead screwdriver, I need a Phillips screwdriver and a hammer. I need a drill.” It’s like, what approach do you want to take? An approach for a Strat, or a full-on Les Paul? Do you want a cleaner Fender tone with the amps, or do you wanna make it thick and brown? You know, maybe use a thimble or something like that. That’s just kinda like, “What character do you want to be in this play?”
That makes sense. Do you think we'll hear a Blues Deluxe Vol. 3 in 19 years? Kinda like how Paul McCartney released his self-titled trilogy during years that ended in zero.
Well, then that’ll make me 65. I don’t know. AARP version, maybe. But I don’t think so. I don’t think I’ll be doing this when I’m 65. But you know, you never know. Some people get a second wind.
We’ll play it by ear.
We’ll see. Let’s just get through this bit of an era.
On another note, can you tell us anything about this new Mark Knopfler single with like 60 guitarists that everyone's been talking about?
Yeah, I did it a while ago. It was in New York, and I did it at The Power Station maybe in 2021, or early ’22. We were on tour, so I remember Josh was there when I did it. I was given this instrumental and nothing else, and I was told, “Hey, I want you to do this thing with Mark Knopfler.” And I said “Great. What do you want me to do?” And the producers said, “Aw man, just do your thing!” And I’m like “Let’s narrow that down to some specifics.”
And so, I’m told to just play through the whole track, and they're going to cut it up. I didn't realize it was going to be every single guitar player currently holding a union card. I think it's really cool, but I didn’t have an idea of what they were going for. And then I realized that everybody’s going to interpret this thing differently, and then, the producers are going to wave through all this takes to get everybody on. My hats off to whoever edited that thing, because that takes a lot of work. At least a lot of wading through and storyboarding things. So, yeah, that was it. But, it's out…the worldwide release is March 15.
Cool. And I guess that answers my next question because it's being compared to “We Are The World” a lot, but I guess you guys weren't all actually in the same room at the same time.
No, I was at The Power Station in New York with a Les Paul and a Twin Reverb, calling this guy in London going “What the hell you want me to do?” *laughs* None of the collaborations man, it’s not like it was before. I mean, it totally started in the '90s. They had the “fast ethernet” whatever thing, that was like, Bono could be in L.A. and sing on Sinatra’s record in New York, or vice versa, in real time. The days of the “We Are The World Video?” It’s so hard to line everybody up.
Sure. I want to give you a little bit of breathing room here, so I have one more question. When you were a kid opening for B.B. King and jamming with Crosby, Stills, and Nash, you were pretty much living the dream. But what's one piece of advice you wish someone had given you as a kid that you learned a harder way later in life?
There are no guarantees that any kind of success will happen by a certain time, OK? The worst thing you can do is say, when you’re like 18—or in my case, 12—“Well if I'm not a success by 30. I'm just gonna quit and do something else.” Well, my biggest moment that launched my entire modern career for the last 15, 16 years was May 4, 2009, which was four days before my 32nd birthday. Now, we’d had some success when I was in my early-30s, but not to the point where we are now, still struggling to pay the bills.
If you put those time limits on things, you're never gonna get to where you want to be, especially if you bail too soon, because you're just gonna spend the rest of your life going “What if?” There's a lot of soul-searching internally when it feels like nothing's transpiring, or nothing's going to transpire, and you either get really, really down on yourself and never recover from that, or you go “fuck it, I’m gonna make something that kills me,” and that’s kinda what I did.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
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