Joe Bonamass is only in his mid twentys but he's been playing professionally since his early teens.
This is his third solo CD after an earlier release with a band called "Bloodline". His last two releases leaned heavily towards classic rock with a blues subtext, but "Blues Deluxe" is a solid blues CD containing Joe's interpretations of various blues songs by the masters of the blues and three songs that are self penned. Influences on this CD include B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy, Elmore James and Albert Collins and Robert Johnson. That covers quite a bit of blues territory by itself. In each case Bonamassa makes the song his own.
The CD opens with 'You Upset Me Baby', inspired by a B.B. King recording with a great shuffle grove to it. Joe sings this song and the others with great conviction. John Lee Hookers 'Burning Hell' gets a basic opening, pared down as Hooker would do it. About half way into the song, Bonamassa and the band open it up and really rock out with heavy guitar licks and rockin slide and drums. 'Blues Deluxe', the title song was written by Rod Stewart (really!!!) and inspired by Jeff Beck's recording on his "Truth" album. This is a slow blues in the tradition of SRV's 'Texas Flood'. 'Man of Many Words' is a Buddy Guy tune done with a bit of funkyness. 'Woke Up Dreaming' is a medium tempo acoustic blues tune written by Bonamassa with Will Jennings. It incorporates some folk elements along with some fleet guitar fingering provides a great driving beat to it. This almost sounds like a solo guitar piece with its basic sound and minimal backing. Great stuff. 'Wild About You Baby', an Elmore James tune, uses a boogie beat and slide to great effectiveness. This guy is very good on slide. 'Left Overs' is an Albert Collins tune that Joe does without the biting treble that Collins has. It's the only instrumental tunes on the CD. Robert Johnsons 'Walking Blues' gets an update but still maintains a classic old time sound to it. It avoids the overly raw style of the original and has a full sound even tho it's stripped down.
Bottom Line: This is one kick assed blues rock CD which pays tribute to the old blues masters and yet sounds fresh and new. Bonamassa is likely to become one of the future stars of the blue genre. His musicianship, vocals, emotions, and range of styles is excellent. To top that off, he can do it in a live setting. His guitar playing is great and anyone who digs great guitar work should like this CD. People who get into vocals should dig it also as he has a great voice. This guy is the real deal even though he is very young. I give it five stars out of five and I don't do that with very many CD's.
Joe Bonamassa - Guitar & Vocals
Eric Czar - Electric Bass
Kenny Kramme - Drums
Benny Harrison - Hammond B3
Jon Paris - harmonica
Web site: www.jbonamassa.com
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