Photo: Marty Moffatt
By Tom O’Connor
Imagine Danny Gatton was your guitar mentor at age eleven. Imagine you were opening for B.B. King at twelve. Now imagine it’s a few decades and about a dozen albums later. I’m guessing you would feel like you don’t have much to prove to anyone: fans, record label executives (if such creatures still exist) or online record reviewers.
It can be tricky to transition from talent-touched child prodigy to middle-career guitar killer, but Joe Bonamassa continues to expand, explore and deserve every accolade that comes his way.
The album, Blues of Desperation, bounces between a couple of clear markers. On the one hand, Joe reminds us that he is, first and foremost, a blues man. On the other hand, we are treated to some forays into singer-songwriter territory that carry some obvious country flavor.
The blues come screaming in on a couple of tracks that take full advantage of some reliably standard blues imagery: Locomotion. Opening track, “This Train,” jumps out of the blocks and down the line in four quick minutes with a pulsing beat and crisp guitar work. Later in the album, “Distant Lonesome Train,” again uses that same iconic railroading vibe to take listeners on another relentless (and deeper) blues journey.
“You left me nothing but the bill and the blues” is a rave-up of a number built around a scuttle-buttin’ shuffle that lets you know from note one that you’re not fixin’ to hear a heavy tune. This is the sort of song that seems to magically play just when a party needs to get kicked into the next gear.
But this isn’t a party album.
The blues come down heavy in a couple of longer, standout tunes. “No Good Place For The Lonely,” the album’s longest track, is one of those rare eight minute tunes where you’re left thinking it would have been ok if he’d gone for ten or twelve. The slow and slippery noir feel leaves plenty of room for long solos, with long spaces between the notes, that decidedly don’t feel like excuses for guitar pyrotechnics. As already stated, Bonamassa has nothing to prove to anyone at this point. He isn’t breaking new sonic ground when he starts digging deep into the pentatonic during the extended lead break, but it really feels like he’s trying to take the listener with him to some emotional destination. You’ll be happy you’re along for the ride.
That tune is immediately followed by the album’s title track. Another mid-tempo workout, “Blues of Desperation” makes good use of its six and a half minute running time. Joe’s usual lead tone lays neatly over a rhythm that’s tied tightly to the big beat drums. I found myself coming back to this track over and over, listening closer with each repeat.
The country, perhaps even gospel-leaning vibe first appears, along with the first acoustic guitars, on “The Valley Runs Low.” This solid tune pairs nicely with later track “Livin’ Easy” that adds a vamping saxophone to the mix, just to let you know that the gospel only goes so far when there’s neon lights reflecting off of wet asphalt on a night made for drinking in that bar you swore you would never walk into again.
The collection closes with, “What I’ve Known for a Very Long Time,” which sounds (to me) like a Chicago Blues slow burner with its horn section and splashes of warbly and warm electric piano/organ chords. A familiar sound with a universal message in service of another guitar break that reminds you why you bought the album in the first place.
If I have any quibbles with this collection it would be that, occasionally, Joe’s lyrics veer from the universal themes, so important to the blues, into sometimes vague and almost generic territory. But even in those cases, his strong musicianship always manages to get the songs’ main points across to the listener. All in all, a strong collection from a seasoned pro who sounds like he is still headed in the right direction.
Blues of Desperation can be found:
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/2ZR4ieeFQTOH3NqKRT8i4h
Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.com/Blues-Desperation-Joe-Bonamassa/dp/B01AOF7TT0
Website: https://jbonamassa.com
Spoken so well as a wordsmith knowing music and the rythm of write.
Thanks for the kind words.
Thank you very much for the kind words. Almost a review of a review.