Joe Bonamassa on the surprising tones behind Blues Of Desperation and being "the most overrated guitar player in the world"

by Matt Frost (Total Guitar) June 16, 2016

"I sold all my Dumbles" - Joe Bonamassa

Introduction

Joe Bonamassa’s new album, Blues Of Desperation, is arguably the biggest-sounding, tonally-rich set of tracks the blues-rock virtuoso has released to date.

Hooking up with producing consigliere Kevin Shirley for the eighth time in the studio, Joe shook things up by bringing in not just one, but two drummers into the hallowed surroundings of Nashville’s Grand Victor Studios - formerly Chet Atkins’s famous RCA Victor facility.

In just five jam-packed days, Joe, his drummers, and the rest of the band thrashed out the album’s 11 original tunes. And, as can only be expected from a renowned gear collector like Bonamassa, Grand Victor was suitably overflowing with a veritable bevy of beautiful guitars and amps during the sessions.

We chat with the man himself to find out exactly how he nailed Blues Of Desperation’s spectacular tones. Over to you, Joe…

A power quartet

Did you have an over-arching musical vision when writing Blues Of Desperation?

“Well, I knew who was showing up for the sessions. It’s been a while since I got back to just straight-ahead blues-rock, which quite frankly is probably what I’m best at.

“I wanted to make a heavier record but I also wanted to make another all-original record. And, once I got my head around it, it was a really fun experience to write for this group because you could do anything with this band. We jammed a lot of the tracks. A lot of them hadn’t heard [the songs] and it would just take them usually second or third take.”

There are two drummers, Anton Fig and Greg Morrow, across the tracks. How was it playing with two drummers in the studio and what impact would you say it had on how the finished songs ended up?

“With two drummers, it becomes like a power quartet so that was an interesting combination of things. I think Kevin [Shirley, producer] kind of put the two drummers off their game a little bit at the beginning.

“Usually when you have two drummers, somebody is doing the meat and potatoes and then the other drummer is doing stuff on top. And Kevin flipped things around. Anton is used to doing the meat and potatoes but Anton became the guy on top and Greg was the one doing the meat and potatoes.

“Once it settled, it was awesome. Having the two drums was just such an anchor to solo over. It’s like the time’s not moving and it’s just a big train and it just makes the notes sound bigger. That was really inspiring.”

You’ve been working with Kevin Shirley since 2006’s You & Me. Could you sum up how your relationship works in practice?

“We’ve been working together for 11 years and, you know, the same deal that we cut in 2005 is the same as it is today. When we first started, Kevin was like, ‘You have to trust me that I have your best interests in mind.

“I may lead you into things that you wouldn’t instinctively do but trust me that it’s going to work out!’ I said, ‘Okay, great!’ and, 11 years later, we still have that exact same deal.

“We just did the acoustic tour and we cut a DVD at Carnegie Hall a couple of weeks ago… and [Kevin] was like, ‘I’ve got a cover song for you to do’. I was like, ‘Sure, I’ve got one, too… How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?’ - which is an old folk song and Ry Cooder did a great version of it.

“He said, ‘Oh cool, I like that… here’s mine, Bette Midler’s The Rose!’. I’m like ‘What the fuck are you saying? Bette Midler?’ He goes, ‘I had our friend Doug Henthorn demo it for you, so listen to his version… don’t listen to Bette’s version!’ So Doug demoed it in a key that he thought was right for me and I’m like, ‘I can do this!’ And it turned out to be the star - it was the encore song at the Carnegie Hall DVD and people loved it!

“That sums up my relationship with Kevin Shirley right there. It’s his ability to find stuff or put me in situations that initially make me either want to run away or feel very uncomfortable, but once I get my head around them, they turn out to be great. That sums up what a great producer really is, challenging the artist to get the best out of them…”

Source: Music Radar