JOE BONAMASSA on how his career nearly ENDED with Blues Deluxe, not compromising for Vol 2

Hey guys, this is Jonathan Graham for Guitar Interactive Magazine and we're here on the Keeping the Blues Alive cruise here in the Mediterranean with the captain of the ship, Mr. Joe Bonamassa. Thanks, I always meet the captain because I have to smear him a little so that when we play he slows down the boat so the wind doesn't hit me. You feel it. I mean there have to be some real challenges that are different than playing in a fixed location. Well, you know, the Mediterranean is much friendlier than sometimes the Atlantic Ocean. When we go out to the Bahamas and we do the United States ones and we go to the Bahamas, they are particularly challenging because even if you stop the boat, it will still be windy.

I mean, you can see that it's windy here and you know it's a challenge in the sense that you have to navigate these, you know, conditions, you know, and it's not an indoor stage, so if it rains, it's going to rain on you. you and your team. and, you know, you have to really sail, you know, play in strong winds. I will say this, a Gibson ES-335 is not the best choice for high wind guitars. Oh, okay, the new challenge is there. That's a sale. That's literally all. I've had them kind of blown away, like when I'm singing and the guitar literally turns almost 90 degrees and I'm like, I didn't do that, you know, and I'm holding on to the neck.

You are literally hanging on for dear life. Become a wind instrument. Yeah, and you know, we play at 8 o'clock and, you know, especially in the summer, the dew point, it's, you know, the stage, even if it's not raining, the stage is wet, so you have to be careful where you walk and, you know, thank God I haven't gone down yet, but there's always tomorrow. Now, you know, something that happened last night that we have to talk about because you mentioned it on stage, 35 years of doing concerts all over the world, in different places, you've seen broken strings, you've seen people collapse, you've seen everything and you've never seen that, right?

What happened? So you can live five lives on stage and never see a Hammond B3 swapped out on the third song. I was sure it was part of the, because it was very soft, you know, you were in the middle of the solo. I thought this is interesting. I have a very good team. We traveled with our own Hammond and something like that, the line was checked, it sounded good and then something happened in that half hour where it didn't make a sound and I have a legend on keyboards, Reece Winans, who not only made his life and

career

with a Hammond B3, debuted his new Reece Winans t-shirts that say Mr.

B3. So he needs a B3, you know, it's not a Nordic gig for him. You don't miss an opportunity for fantastic marketing, so create a small ad out of that and then display the merch. I had the whole Mr. B3 t-shirt campaign planned out, I had it all planned out on stage and I said, this is the biggest marketing campaign we could come up with to sell Reece t-shirts. You know, I mean, I'm very blessed, we have a wonderful touring team that's been with me for years and they're skilled enough, low-key enough that at first it seemed like a complete disaster, it was just three songs without the Hammond and then we finished the last seven with the spare B3 and it's like that never happened in my life, I've never seen it happen to others on stage and like I said, you could live five whole lives, 20,000 hours on stage.

And you will never see that, that was the first, hopefully the last. So this, you know, Run A Cruise as you've done, you mentioned it right before we started filming, this is the twelfth, it's the third in Europe and this is the first time we've gotten to experience it and what an incredible event it is. this. Could you explain to us how this initially came about? Because there's some fantastic groundwork you do around it too. Yeah, and you know, it's no mistake that I'm wearing this hat. Our foundation, Keeping The Blues Alive, has helped many musicians and schools, not only in Europe and the UK, but also in the United States, and one of the things I am most proud of in my life is when the work stoppage in May. 2020 or March 2020 and a lot of my contemporaries, peers and, you know, people in the scene really started to freak out because most artists make most of their living in the summer months playing festivals and concerts like that and I said Well, I've been very lucky in my life and in my work and I could just suck it up and sit at home and mope or we can get to work and start raising money and our foundation, with the help of people like, ya You know. , Volkswagen and Fender and Gibson, Guitar Center, Ernie Ball, Music Man, Chicago Music Exchange, I mean, a lot of very generous companies and artists who donated songs for our stream marathons.

You can see the wind is really blowing today and we raised almost a million dollars and we gave away, I think to this day it's almost 400 or 500, $1,500 packages to musicians that you know and, you know, because, you know, $1,500 is It's not life-changing money, but it did help at a time when the bills had to be paid and there was so much uncertainty about whether we would be able to go out and work again and, you know, it's not like 30 years ago when, You know , records are sold and royalties are earned and things like that, like most artists depend solely on, 100%, live concerts and merchandising sales at live concerts.

Of course. So, that's why we do these cruises and why we've been doing them successfully for 10 years and I'm proud of the whole team because, you know, the amount of work and the moving parts that go into hiring 30 or 35 bands on a ship like this, bringing all their gear here, the logistics, the venues, all the other events that happen outside of the gigs, it's monumental and, you know, hats off. To the people in my office who now work tirelessly twice a year and to Six Men who are our partner in this and do a wonderful job and make my life easier.

I have the easiest job on this ship. I have to play twice and meet and greet. Well, you know, none of this would happen unless you were playing these shows, of course, you know, you're putting it all together. Now, you're talking about, you know, releasing records and how records are consumed and all that kind of stuff. Now, of course, you have a fantastic new album about to be released, Blues Deluxe, Volume 2. 20 years in the making, I would say, this one, obviously it's a good follow-up to the first part, but can you? Just talk to us a little bit about, you know, 20 years is a good number, but why now for Volume 2?

Alright, I wanted to do something special for Volume 2. So, just to start this conversation, when we did Blues Deluxe, there was probably more than an 80% chance that that was the last straw, the last chance or the last time I could. , you know, make a record. You know, my

career

was dead and no one wanted to help me, get involved, anything, and my manager of 35 years, you know, and I pooled our money together and it was about a little less than $10,000, I think it was like $8,900 or $9,000, and We made this album in 7 days, mixed and mastered. We cut it all, we sang it all, we mixed it all, we mastered it and we put it out through a small distribution company in South Florida and we started selling these records out of the back seat of our car or our truck, and in At that time, I had met a guy named Ed Van Zyl who had just bought or had just bought records by the mascot, Provo, and was interested in licensing the record and its follow-up, and we met him maybe a year after the record . he left.

But I had the opportunity to open for Peter Frampton and the record came out and we were selling hundreds of these CDs a night, which self-financed the whole tour because we were literally, literally, making $100 a night trying to stay on the show. way, you know, which, you know, was crazy. We left knowing that we could go out of business mid-tour and have to go out of business if we didn't sell CDs. And there was something about that record and something about playing that, those songs, that resonated with whoever was in that audience, and obviously with Peter it was a much larger audience than the one I was attracting, I was attracting dozens of people at that time. moment. .

But something resonated, it was the first record I made, it was my third album, and a solo album, and something was a success. And I can answer why, it was the first time I made a record where I had a skill set that was growing, because on my first record with Tom Dowd, I was like this 19-year-old kid, like I couldn't sing, I could play the guitar, but it was an overwhelming experience and I wish I had more skills and, you know. And at that moment you are also leaving another situation, of course. Yeah, I was on Sony Music and all that, so it was the first time the record really resonated and it was because I just did it, I had no choice but to move on.

My back was against a brick wall, there was nothing to give, there was nothing like, well, if this doesn't work, we can adapt the sound for the next one. There was no next. Next thing you know, we're doing it independently and selling what we sold that year and then we go out and think, wow, we actually made a profit and we have enough money to follow up and move forward. and continue touring. And then in 2004 I came to Europe and we found that there was a lot more awareness of what we were doing here, especially in the UK, than in the US.

So we continue working in Europe and we continue working in America. Step and repeat, step and repeat, and then in 2005 I met Kevin Shirley and Kevin Shirley produced You and Me and that was, he took Blues Deluxe and its follow-up, which was Had to Cry Today, and literally put it on steroids. . I was in the big leagues with a big league producer and a different band, a different approach, just different. And then in 2008 we did the Ballad of John Henry and we played the Albert Hall for the first time in 2009 and then we blew up. And that's it, it all started with Blues Deluxe.

So when, long story short, we got to the 20th anniversary of Blues Deluxe, I said, well, there were no bonus tracks because we only had the budget to do what we did. The master recordings are literally on hard drives that don't sync to anything now, so that's another thing, making backups of your backups. So it's one thing to say, okay, maybe we'll remaster it, okay, big deal. Maybe repackage it, okay, big deal, who cares? It is a non-event. So I asked my friend Josh Smith to produce Blues Deluxe Volume 2, which is a second set of songs, in the spirit of the first album, and was designed to ask two questions.

One, people, you know, can I, you know, what does

blues

really mean to me, how, you know, what is my life in

blues

or blues-based music, because I'm not really a blues? , blues boy. And two, the most important thing, I made the first album when I was 25 years old and the second album was made when I was 45. Have I improved? Have I gotten worse? Can I still sing? Will I be able to continue playing as well as I did then? And boy, I won't give a not-so-humble opinion, I think I'm a better singer now, I think I'm a better guitarist, I think I'm a much better artist, because the songs we tackled on Blues Deluxe Volume 2 couldn't have been tackled 20 years ago. years.

I have to say, congratulations, I mean, when 24-Hour Blues arrives. Maybe it's the cigarettes I'm smoking. No, when it comes to 24-Hour Blues, and you know, like that vocal performance that's happening there, now I talked to Josh about it, and he told me that, you know, he wanted to sit down. with Joe, hanging vibe that he's seen, captured. And I mean, I've never had to date you, but if that's what it sounds like, then I'm like, damn, man, that sounds fantastic. You know, Josh is now on his 200th show with us, you know, so he's seen a lot of concerts, he's been there on stage with me and, you know, we just sang during them. in the studio, and I said, okay, that's the right key, he was singing, and I said, okay, that's the right key.

And then we'd go into the studio, Sunset Sound, we'd record three takes, all the solos were on the track except one, you know, and then we'd record like four or five songs the first day, and then we'd sing them, and then we'd do another three, I think we cut eight in Sunset Sound, and we did it in about three days, which is actually less time than the first one, which was a good sign, it means, you know, and we didn't do it. There's no commitment, but this time we had all the time we needed, we had a budget, so there's real horns, real strings, no canned horns, no canned strings, I mean, 20 years ago, it would be like, horns. ?

We don't even have enough money for a slice of pizza. Don't you think it's super interesting with all the kind of remixes that are being done now with records, sometimes some sounds that worked in the '90s and early 2000s, suddenly now... they don't age well? Once you remix it, suddenly the keyboard sound sounds a little Casio, or... Well, you know, you have to look at it in terms of radio, like 25 or 30 years ago, radio was a big factor. And radio has always been homogenized, so if you want your song to be played on the radio, you have to sound like someone else, you can't belike this unicorn where, you know, there's only been a few unicorns, Hendrix, Nirvana, you know what I mean?

They just changed the sound of the radio, so most people were like, well, if it's the '80s, if you want to listen to the radio, everyone uses the DX7, well, you put a timestamp on it, you know? With real trumpets and strings, quality arrangements and excellent musicians, it's a timeless combination, it doesn't get old, it's just honest, you know, and I'm happy to say that we've always kept that honesty, you know? You said I have to jump on it, you said you're not really a blues guy, what do you mean by that? Well, tomorrow night when we play it'll be the blues set, but I could, you know, we've played at Download, and we've played at big rock festivals, and there's no way I'm going to come out with the slow blues, I've got enough material from rock, so I'm like a blues-based guitarist, you know, I'm a blues-based guitarist, you know what I mean?

I'm not a traditional blues player by any means, you know? My avenue and gateway to the blues was through London, not Mississippi or Chicago, and I got to the original masters, you know, through people like Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Alexis Corner, John Mayall and the Blues Breakers. He should be in the Hall of Fame. You know, Rory Gallagher, Gary Morse, all those people I first heard when I was 11 and 12, they were like, this is what I want to do, this is what I want to do. And then I met B.B. King, and then I heard Live at the Rio, and then I heard Sun House, and Howlin' Wolf, and Muddy Waters, and all that, but my introduction to the blues was almost as a kid in the 1960s, listening to Led Zeppelin and wondering, what is all this love business about?

And then you're like, oh, it's a Howlin' Wolf song, you know? Of course of course. You know, I'm kind of a product of my musical influences, my upbringing, my geographic location, just like anyone else, you know? You just listen to what's around you and, you know, my dad played Jethro Tull as religiously as he played guitar. And I'm sure you're still hearing new things that inspire you. Yeah, you know, I think what inspires me most today, more than anything, is that there are so many new, young, great talents in the guitar business. It's like, it's like, I mean, and I don't know if it's just because there's something in the water, or access to information through the Internet, you know, or, you know, tutorials, because in the '80s, when was learning, it was like you had to drop the needle in the right place, you know, rewind the tape, take a step, repeat, take a step, repeat and, you know, just use your ears to try to figure out these riffs.

Now you can go online and say that someone has figured it out and can teach you precisely. So you're seeing kids all over the world, both men and women, who can play like they're young, much better than me or anyone else, you know, and they're just, wow, the knowledge is way ahead and it's way ahead. deeper, and I had, you know, I'm a philosophical man, if anything, I just say, well, why is this? And you say, it's because, you know. , you have the entire Encyclopedia Britannica on your phone and you can search whatever you want, you are only limited to your imagination.

Which can be a good and bad thing, I guess, you know, too many options. Just talking about some of the young talent, because there's a lot of young talent in the ship, could we see someone like Chris Buck or Chris Stone, you know, take the stage with you tomorrow night? We're going to have that, we have a stellar jam that Jimmy Vivino, the great Jimmy Vivino, curates, and he has organized all of that. He was going to ask a bunch of people to come on stage with us, but I don't want to take your breath away, no pun int

ended

, from the all-star event, because that's when it really happens.

And Josh and I, historically, with Jimmy's, the all-star event here on the cruise is that I'm a member of the band, so I back everyone up. I'm not there to solo, I like to play chords, I wear this hat and I don't have to dress up. And, you know, but, you know, Chris Stone, every time I see him, he gets better. And what really surprised me about him yesterday is that his guitar playing has always been fantastic. His voice is starting to catch up to his guitar and he has become a very rich, deep and soulful singer.

And his songs are really moving forward, and like I told him yesterday in the interview, I mean, man, if he was going to lose an ounce for anyone, I'm glad it's you. Joe, how many more albums do you think we'll see from you? Because we talked just before and, you know, the business is changing, you know? Yeah, I mean, I'm 46, about to release 47 albums. That's a lot for a 46-year-old. That's where the trick question comes from, you know? That's a lot. You know, I don't feel the need to make records until I have a reason to do it, until I'm inspired to do it.

It's not like before, you know, it's like, you know, you have to keep the air in the balloon, and, you know, it's been like that since the '60s, you know? I think Aretha Franklin put out four albums in one year, one year, like in the '60s. It was just part of it. Those Alice Eplin records, you know? They would be beaten once a year. And so, you know, I think after my next solo album, I have to reevaluate where the record business really is and say: Aren't we really pretending that we're not in the singles business?

And because streaming is so powerful, and it's not coming, it's not, you know, everyone says, you know, the new thing now is cassettes. I'm like, yeah, I know, I had cassettes, I had it, we had everything, okay? I don't know if one day we'll all wake up and collectively say, you know, Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, no, you know, I'd rather go back to paying $16.99 for a record. I don't see that. No. It's like, once you give away the free samples, it's hard to get, you know, the marginally free samples. It's a subscription service, you know? But it feels like a free sample when your streaming royalties are .003 or .005, and then you have to pay the writers, and then you have to pay, you know, it's like the cost of making records hasn't been enough.

It hasn't changed, the studios still charge $2,000 a day, the musicians still, last time I checked, still needed to pay their bills and, you know, the only thing you don't have now is the cost of the tape, you know, which Was $300 per reel, now costs $400 per reel. So the cost of making records hasn't changed, it's just the return, the return in the business world, they call it ROI, return on investment, everything in the business world is always like an acronym for something, and it's Like, what did he do? you say? Just say the words, it's not that hard.

So, I think after my next studio album that Kevin and I are currently working on, and I may be wrong, we can evaluate it and maybe put out a couple more full-length records, but there will be a time, I say, when Next five years we will have to make that decision of, really, what are we doing here? You know, and maybe go in and record five songs and release one single a month, maybe go in and record ten songs and release nine singles and a full-length album, we're in uncharted waters. The good thing is that the captain has a satnav, he has a piece of clothing up there to make sure we are okay.

Last question, you've shared the stage with so many great artists over the years, who is someone, living or dead, that you would love to play with? Oh, you know, I mean, I never, I never got to meet Albert King, when I met all the blues guys at the same time, I met BB, I met James Cotton, I met all these great, you know, blues guys. , and being able to see them, you know, they were still at the peak of their powers, but they were at the end of their careers and unfortunately some of them in their lives, but I never got to meet them.

Albert King, and if you ask Warren Haynes, he says it best when he says Albert King, also known as Albert Nelson, who by the way was a drummer, you can look this up, he played drums with Jimmy Reed, he was the most immaculate. conception of the blues guitarist, maybe of all time, in all genres, because when you listen to the way he played, there was nothing that you could identify and say, well, this is where he got it from, there is no one who be it, it's like, well, where did you get it from? He played, he strung the guitar backwards, you know, he was left-handed, so he would play the high string on top, tune an open minor chord, you know, kind of like Albert Collins. , and there was just nothing, you can say, well, there's nothing in his playing that was derived from anyone else, and then when he came on the scene, everyone copied him, those bends and, just the attack on the guitar, and then his singing and then those great classic songs that he had, so.

I have so many things I would love to ask you Joe, I hope we can continue this in London when you are there in April, you know, please bear with us any announcements we have, we won't publish this before. you do. I think we're back at the Albert Hall, I mean. Yes we hope to see you in April Luke, have a fantastic rest of the cruise and thanks for having us. No problem, thanks for doing it, thanks for doing it and thanks for supporting, keeping the blues alive, it's not just me, it's a lot of people who benefit from these things, so.

Thanks Joe, I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Thank you.