Joe Bonamassa Names His Rock God, Talks Why He Stopped Seeing His Therapist

During a recent radio interview, Joe Bonamassa was asked to single out his rock god. The guitarist opted for Paul Rodgers, the frontman of Free and Bad Company, also known for his stint with Queen:

"My rock god is Paul Rodgers. Paul Rodgers, to me, epitomizes what a frontman in a rock band should be - a wonderful singer, wonderful musician, wonderful songwriter”.
"I've been lucky enough to work with Paul Rodgers when he was gracious enough to come to New York City and sing with my band for a DVD that we did at the Beacon Theatre”.
"And, you know, we all live in a very spoiled world of rock stardom and great monitors, good catering, whatever - tour buses, the light...”
"And he walked out with a wireless microphone, no monitors, took control of 2,500 people, both nights. We did some Free stuff; we did 'Fire and Water,' we did 'Walk in My Shadow.'
"He blew the crowd away, not a single thing in the monitor, and not a single note out of tune - that's a pro. And I never forgot that”.
"The minute I always think about, 'Maybe the monitors are not quite right,' I go, 'Nah. Paul Rodgers doesn't need a monitor, so just sing.'
"So, it was a great lesson, and it was a wonderful honor to be onstage with him. He gets out there, he owns it, he has one of the greatest voices rock has ever known, and he's one of the nicest people you'll ever meet”.
"And to me, that's a definition of a rock god."

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During a separate conversation with Danny Stoakes, Joe said when asked about "the most important aspect" of his new album "Royal Tea" (transcribed by UG):

"The most important aspect of 'Royal Tea' for me is that it's a very personal record that I wrote about real events that I didn't sugar-coat - I didn't protect the innocent. "And I needed to make a record like that - you need to connect with yourself, what you want to say, how do you want to say it."
It was recorded in London's Abbey Road Studios, and I'm led to believe that some of the orchestra musicians were somewhat puzzled at some of the volumes you were playing, is that right?
"One of the things is - I play loud in a studio. I like to move air, I like the sound of loud, and even if you're listening back in the control room at a low volume, there's an intensity.
"I use my entire live rig, there's four amps, we only mic two, but all four amps are on because what we're trying to do is create a sound pressure in the room, and you can hear it through the walls.
"I bet you some of the cello players were, like, 'God...' Anyway, that's what we do, it's rock 'n' roll, it should be dangerous."
You've got some real rock 'n' roll icons on this one, you've got Pete Brown, Jools Holland, and you've got Bernie Marsden. Those are three very different musicians and songwriters - what's the connection?
"Bernie Marsden and I connect on a guitar level. We love Free, we love Les Paul, we love old guitars. I love Bernie's playing, I love his writing, his singing, he's one of my best friends in the world, but he's also I think one of the most underrated musicians that anybody could ever be in a room with.
"He's got a great melodic sense, he's got a wonderful way of playing the guitar, and he's very British. I was asking him, like, we were writing something, 'Bernie, what would you do, how would the British play it?'
"And he'd play like the Minor 3rd - 'Alright, exactly,' so he has this sensibility. He also loves the blues, and he also loves rock, and he's a great collaborator.
"Jools is wonderful, we wrote that boogie together, he's just one of the most outstanding musicians and icons of British music - he's just fantastic, love that guy."

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