Joe Bonamassa loves every aspect of the guitar, including its rich history. This musical trek has most recently taken him to the historic Abbey Road recording studio, with Joe B even walking the famous cross walk on the Beatles’ famed album while playing new material with old chums Anton Fig/dr, Michael Rhodes/b, Reese Wynans/org, Kevin Shirley/ag-perc, Paulie Cerra/ts, Ron Dziubla/bs, Lee Thornbug/tp and guest vocalists such as Jade MacRae and Jaunita Tippins.
Most of the time, the songs are delivered in a stripped down quartet environment, but there are some surprises, such as the George Martinish orchestration provided by Jeff Bova on the dark rocker opener “When One Door Opens” and Joe B does some nifty mandolin picking with a Cumberland gapped bluegrass rocker on “Savannah”. There’s also a fun boogie-fest with the horns as Joe B swings hard on “Lonely Boy” and Bonamassa puts his wah wah pedal to the metal on a snarling gallop of “I Didn’t Think She Would Do It.” The sound here is BIG, with the title tune hitting like a Floyd Mayweather punch and Rhode’s intro on “Lookout Man!” leading to some searing harmonica by Errol Litton. A stark and noir “Beyond the Silence” and blue shuffle “High Class Girl” display rich guitar textures, and as always, Joe B is one of the most underrated blue eyed soul singers around. Joe B lets it be.