Jo Bonamassa is a Man on the Move

It used to be said, quite rightly, that B.B. King was the hardest-working blues artist around. He played more gigs in America and around the world than any of his fellow blues contemporaries. Since his death, that level of playing and performing had been confined to the history books. That is until Joe Bonamassa came along, producing award-winning album after award-winning album, and constantly touring all over the globe. He’s currently playing in Europe, before travelling back to America for a few gigs, then venturing back to Europe to board the Mediterranean Blues Cruise.

It is twenty years since the release of his third album, Blues Deluxe, a career-defining album that showcased Joe’s blues roots, twelve blues classics that catapulted him into the blues stratosphere. Blues Deluxe Vol 2 sees yet again Joe’s ability to produce a mind-blowing album of iconic blues songs, along with a couple of original tracks. I recently caught Joe amid his hectic schedule to chat about the album, gigs, and the impending Blues Cruise.

“Blues Deluxe Vol 2 was a challenge you know, for me, it was like, can I pull it off again, am I a better singer, am I a better musician than I was twenty years ago? I really didn’t know the answer going into it, if you know what I mean”

Blues Deluxe Vol 2, in my opinion, proves beyond all doubt that Joe Bonamassa has indeed become a better singer and a better musician than he was some twenty years ago. When I first heard the original Blues Deluxe album, I could not envisage Joe needing to become a better musician, he was a breath of fresh air in the blues and blues/rock world. But we all need to keep moving forward to some degree, and Joe, his band, and the producer, have brought to the fore a more rounded and harder edge to his voice allowing his musicianship to blossom. A reminder that blues music and Joe Bonamassa go hand in hand.

“These are big songs, by big artists and I wanted to do something to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of Blues Deluxe. I didn’t want to just remaster it, or add a bonus track, I wanted to do a whole new set of songs. I think that Josh (Smith) did a great job of producing it; we actually did it in six days in total”

The band of musicians accompanying Joe on the Blues Deluxe Vol.2 is by and large the band that tours with Joe. Listening to the album you get a feel of the tightness that exists within the band that can only come from them touring constantly, so they bring that live energy into the studio. Josh Smith not only plays on the album, but he also writes one of the original songs and co-writes another. Twenty years ago, the original Blues Deluxe, had an element of, ‘ this is what I’m all about’ to it”. I was keen to know if that same feeling had prevailed.

“Yeah, well, every ten years or so, I feel the need to remind everyone that I am a blues guy. We kind of go off on tangents and do a lot of stuff that would be considered not blues. And, it’s nice to get back to your roots, it’s nice to get back to where it all began, and go back and live there for a minute.”

When doing an album of this nature, some people would label it as an easy album to make, with old songs, and no writing involved, just get into the studio and play. This could not be further from the truth, you have to pick the right songs, not the kind of songs that people have heard a million times before. This, for me, is what makes Blues Deluxe and Blues Deluxe Vol 2 so good and so special. A carefully chosen bunch of blues tunes, not necessarily always on the tip of your tongue, but blues tunes of some standing, given a new lease of life.

“Josh and I chose the songs, we both had lists, and we both had songs that we wanted to do. So we had to see if they would work, and you know, everything that we picked worked. We didn’t have one that we failed on, so it was all good. When you are singing a Bobby “Blue” Bland song how can it not be a challenge? The songs that you choose kinda dictate what you are saying, so Twenty-Four Hour Blues from his album Dreamer, I thought, was the perfect song to pick, and it’s from probably his finest album.”

Over the years, Joe has produced his own albums and produced albums for other artists, and has had Kevin Shirley produce his live albums and DVDs. On this latest release Josh Smith took over the role of producer, and as the album proves, it is one of the finest pieces of work from Joe. Working with a different producer will inevitably throw up a different approach.

“He’s been playing in the band for over two years now. it’s a good collaboration. We all brought something different to the album, very different from the way Bob Held worked. The original Blues Deluxe was done in seven days, we didn’t pre-production anything. We went into the studio, played half of our live set, then played the rest of the songs. Blues Deluxe Vol 2 is a lot more sophisticated. We’ve got two of the songs from the album into the live set, Twenty-Four Hour Blues and, I Want To Shout About It, we are going to work out most of it into the live shows when we go out on the road in the fall (Autumn) when we go out for twenty-six shows.”

“The album started its initial process in the spring of 2022 That’s when we started to formulate everything, it only took six days to record the whole record. We did four days in L. A and two days in Nashville, and it was done, it was quicker than the first Blues Deluxe. We cut eight songs in four days, and then we cut four songs in two days, and that was it. It was nice to re-visit the original record and to try and beat it.”

Listening to the album, I’m reminded of these blues classics that I hadn’t heard in many years, all of them still relevant today, a new lease of life breathed into each song. One particular song stands out for me as one of my all-time favouite blues tunes, Win-O, originally recorded by Pee Wee Crayton back in 1954. The original tune is exquisite, this new rendition certainly does it justice. On here, you can tell how much Joe’s vocals have altered to become more earthy and raspy with guitar work to match, it is a masterpiece.

“I Like, Twenty-Four Hour Blues and, Well, I Done Got Over It, and I Think, I Want To Shout About also came out well on the album,” says Joe.

Once again, Joe is headlining the Mediterranean Blues Cruise, with a cast of blues artists and bands second to none. Each year it seems to grow in stature attracting bigger and bigger audiences. As well as more established names such as Joe, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Blackberry Smoke, newer artists are appearing, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Vanessa Collier, and Dom Martin, to name a few. I was interested to find out how this wonderful idea came to fruition.

“It was something that Sixthman brought to us, we wanted to make a point where there is a charitable component to it. It has been almost ten years since the first one, and luckily it’s been very successful. Unfortunately, there won’t be a Mediterranean cruise next year because the ships needed to accommodate a concert cruise are not going to be in the Mediterranean so we are doing one in the spring of next year which will be the Caribbean cruise. Picking the artists and bands to be on the cruise is a kind of collaboration of us, Sixthman, the agents, all of us get together. Our people in the office pick a lot of the new talent that maybe I’m not aware of. A lot of familiar faces are coming back which helps to make it a nice little community. It’s a good hang for the artists, a good hang for the fans.”

The Blues Cruise is, without a doubt, one of the live highlights of any year, with forty bands appearing at gigs from noon to ten on the main deck, and some gigs being played at two in the morning. This is another part of the Joe Bonamassa live shows that keep him touring relentlessly, bringing new talent to the blues world, and helping to keep the blues alive with albums such as Blues Deluxe Vol 2.

Blues Deluxe Vol 2 is released on October 6th along with its predecessor Blues Deluxe on J & R Adventures.