[Joe] You know, you ever find yourself backstage around 7:25
on a show day?
We could be discussing collective bargaining agreements
or we could be most likely discussing guitars and amps.
And I always will politely excuse myself.
And around 7:25, I always tell people
and sometimes they get confused when I say it, I go,
"Excuse me, I gotta go become the other guy."
And, um, they always try to write off the blues.
Always write off the blues. Nobody likes the blues.
Well, we'’ve proven that there'’s at least 9,000 people
tonight that like the blues.[crowd cheering]
[blues music playing]
♪ Who killed John Henry♪
♪ In the battle of Sinners and saints♪
♪ Who killed John Henry♪
♪ In the battle of Sinners and saints♪
[man] I don'’t think he wants to be part of the machine.
I don'’t think he wants to be part of major label corporate America
that need to have a pop song to cross over.
I think he is absolutely comfortable and confident
in this genre that he has created
and sub-genre which, by the way, is almost all him now.
♪ I don'’t want Your cold iron shackles♪
This blues rock, blues, rock area that he is number one in.
He has more number one blues albums than anyone else
in blues history, more than B.B. King,
more than Stevie Ray Vaughan
more than Eric Clapton, more than Buddy Guy.
Joe Bonamassa is the number-one Billboard blues artist,
and you can'’t take that away from him.
But ask most people and they'’ll say, "Bona who?"
♪ In the battle of Sinners and saints♪
♪ I'’m a long way From Colorado♪
♪ A long way from my home♪
♪ Gimme the hammer that Killed John Henry♪
♪ '’Cause it won'’t Kill no more♪
♪ Gimme the hammer that Killed John Henry♪
♪ '’Cause it won'’t kill me♪
♪ Gimme the hammer that Killed John Henry♪
♪ '’Cause it won'’t kill me♪
[Joe] Hi. Hi.
[birds chirping]Okay, so now,
I received a letter from you for an outstanding bill
for $100 which I paid
even though it was against my better judgment.
On my birth certificate I was born
in New Hartford, New York,
May 8, 1977.
It was reportedly to be a painful birth,
because my original due date was May 5, 1977.
And I decided to spend an extra three days
um, interned,
and I think they were just about to go in
and, you know, manually remove me by force,
and I decided to come out voluntarily.
[interviewer chuckles]So, that'’s the story.
Like, what do they say? The old saying, "What starts bad ends bad."
[blues music playing]
[Kevin] It'’s been interesting to watch him with the suit thing
because he'’s also gone through periods,
and I'’m not sure how much he sees it.
But he went through a period when he started getting recognized more and more.
And it took him a minute to
learn how to deal with the success
that was coming his way.
And he'’s managed to deal with it by
being sort of bipolar about the thing.
He is Joe, with his baseball cap on and his blue jeans
and at 7:25 he puts on the suit for an 8:00 show.
And he slicks his hair back. He puts on the sunglasses.
And then he has a glass of wine.
And Joe Bonamassa the recording artist comes out.
And then he'’s a different guy.
Then he becomes a little bit Howard Hughes.
He becomes a little standoffish.
He becomes a little isolated.
And it'’s great. We just let him be like that.
[drums playing][crowd cheering]
[Joe] The other guy is the guy in the suit and the sunglasses.
and that whole persona.
And it'’s not only just that outfit,
it'’s a stage persona in the sense that, like,
when I suit up, and I go out and play,
that'’s a different side of my personality.
That'’s-- That'’s not, you know--
I'’m not that outgoing offstage,
I'’m not that confident offstage.
[Kevin] And then at the end of the show,
he normally dresses down quickly,
puts on his baseball cap, puts a backpack over him,
and he walks straight through the crowd
that have watched him play all night
and they don'’t know this guy is going out.
And he walks through them and onto his bus,
and no one stops him.
It'’s fantastic. He really is two people.
He'’s two-faced.
[crowd cheering]
[big band jazz music playing]
[Joe] My family has been into music for a long time.
My great-grandfather played trumpet.
He was a very talented young trumpet player,
who could have done great things,
but for the fact that he had a family.
So, in order to make money,
he would teach trumpet and play local gigs.
My great-grandfather, "Buddha" Bonamassa, really lived by that.
He took care of business, and he took care of his family.
There'’s also a rumor that he ran numbers for the Mafia,
which being Italian-American descent,
at the time, in the town that I grew up in, makes sense.
[music continues]
His son, Leonard Sr.,
played trumpet, followed in his footsteps,
played big band jazz.
And my father, being a product of the '’60s,
played a Gibson SG.
[man] And Joe kind of followed in step.
He saw the passion I had for music
and wanted to play like Dad.
It didn'’t take him too long to learn how to play like dad.
And he walked right by me
when he was six and a half years old.
And then I knew that he had
an amazing gift, a talent.
[blues music playing]
[Joe] And then, I blindly followed all three of them
into the music business
when I was 11, just about to turn 12.
I convinced my parents that I wanted to be in a band
be in a blues band, play guitar, you know?
I just wanted to make some money so I could buy a Fender amp.
I think I did okay.
[blues music playing]
I started playing at the age of four.
My father put a guitar in my hand.
We got him a Chiquita guitar,
um, which is a short and scaled-down model
of a solid body electric guitar
actually designed for airplane use.
And I think it was the perfect guitar for him,
and he was able to play it.
And by the time he was five,
five and a half years old,
he was playing chords on a guitar.
And he never looked back from that point.
[Joe] When I was 11 and 12,
I was sitting in with a lot of national,
internationally well-known blues artists.
It'’s where I met B.B. King.
This is when I met Albert Collins and Buddy Guy.
Anybody who would have me. I was a little kid
that crashed the party in upstate New York.
"Oh, here comes Joe with his Telecaster."
He was 13 years old. What can you expect?
He'’s fantastic. He'’s fantastic.
We got a call and asked if Joe would like to open up for B.B. King
in downtown Rochester.
and there was like 8,500 people at the show.
That was his first big show.
And it was the day before his 12th birthday.
And he opened up, and he just took the crowd.
It was just amazing to see the response from the crowd.
So after that happened, we get a telephone call from NBC.
It was the Jane Pauley people.
They wanted to do a segment on him.
There was a show called Real Life with Jane Pauley.
It'’s about ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
The fantasies that 13-year-olds have
about what they'’ll do when they grow up
involve everything from playing major league sports
to playing in a big-time band.
Bill Schechner has found one young man too busy for fantasy.
He'’s living it.
[school bell ringing]
[Bill] In the hallway of a crowded school,
there is no reason to notice Joe Bonamassa.
He'’s simply another 13-year-old
at an awkward stage of life.
[Young Joe] Oh, shoot. That could cause a problem.
-X. -[teacher] Good.
[Bill] Often doing well.
-One hundred. -[teacher] Terrific.
Sometimes messing up.
No, I had to find my report.
I had to rummage through all that.All right.
'’Cause I dropped my folder and it doesn'’t...
[Bill] Just one more kid, until he picks up a guitar,
and the boy lost in the crowd
becomes the performer drawing a crowd:
Smokin'’ Joe.
[blues music playing]
[Young Joe] I feel secure with a guitar in my hand.
A lot of people say you have to say something
when you play guitar.
And I feel that my hands are doing the talking
instead of my mouth.
I feel really comfortable,
'’cause I have something in my hand, you know,
something I'’ve always had in my hands
since I can remember.
[music continues]
[B.B.] Playing blues music,
it'’s timing.
You don'’t always know where the children get this from.
You don'’t really know. But all I know is he got it.
I think that'’s the best I can say. He does have it.
[blues music playing]
♪ Thrill is gone♪
♪ Thrill is gone Away from me♪
[Len] After the Jane Pauley show aired, we received many phone calls
from a lot of different professional management firms.
We heard from Stevie Ray Vaughan'’s manager,
the New Kids on the Block'’s law firm.
They were hot at the time in the early '’90s.
Um, Columbia Records flew us down to New York
and they wanted to talk with Joe.
And so, a lot of things were happening
from this little tiny village of Yorkville, New York.
And my wife and I go, "What do we do here?"
It was a very confusing time to know what to do for him.
And what he wanted to do.[Len] Yeah.
After the Jane Pauley show aired,
this is where the Weismans came in, Joe'’s management.
And they flew up here and talked with us,
and they'’re great people.
And Joe is still with Roy Weisman,
and they'’ve been together ever since.
They were a family operation,
and I think we could relate to that
and appreciate that.
[Roy] My father was the manager to many of the great
stars from the original era of the record business.
He managed people like Frank Sinatra,
Liza Minnelli and Paul Anka, Sammy Davis.
I got to meet most of those people and spend time with them.
I stayed at Frank Sinatra'’s house.
I got to fly on the plane with him.
It was cool.
Well, I don'’t know if he was working for me,
or I was working for him.
I'’m not quite sure.
I mean, that'’s debatable.
[Roy] I saw a lot of shows from the wings, with Sinatra.
And, I mean, he was the ultimate professional.
He loved to start on time.
His show was at 8:00, he started 8:00.
And Bonamassa is the same way.
First of all, I saw the tape from the Jane Pauley show.
Anybody involved in music, I mean,
could realize that, at 13 years old,
Joey could play the guitar better than anybody I ever saw at that age.
If you want to do something big in the music business,
you'’ve got to get involved with young artists.
And by de facto, we end up with Bloodline,
which was Berry Oakley Jr.,
Waylon Krieger, Erin Davis, Aaron Hagar,
Joe Bonamassa and Lou Segreti.
All put together and around for Joe Bonamassa.
That was another good idea Roy had,
is, you know, what do we do with Joey
in between the time
he'’s trying to develop his voice, or for us to find out
if he was gonna have one
that would be compatible with his guitar playing.
And I said to him, "What do we do now?"
And he says, "Dad, don'’t worry about it."
By the way had no idea. [laughs]
Definitely, he said, "Dad, don'’t worry about it.
I got these kids, they all have famous parents." Bah, bah, bah...
Anyway, that was a chapter in itself that was unbelievable.
I mean the band ended up getting signed to EMI.
It took three years to get the first record out.
[Kevin] The Bloodline album was released in 1994.
And then the record company had Bloodline
doing all sorts of promotion all over the country
and playing late night television shows like Conan O'’Brien.
Ladies and gentlemen, carrying on the family business
is the name of the game with my next guest, Bloodline.
Features the sons of Miles Davis,
Robby Krieger of The Doors,
and Berry Oakley of the Allman Brothers,
as well as teenage guitar wizard Smokin'’ Joe Bonamassa.
Please welcome, Bloodline!
[blues music playing]
[Kevin] And they even went on Mike and Maty
to play the new single.What are we playing today?
"Calling Me Back.""Calling Me Back"?
And the CD is?[both] Bloodline.
Fire it up guys. Here'’s Smokin'’ Joe. Make us proud.
Here we go.[audience applauding]
Two, three four...
[Joe] We made the record. Phil Ramone attempted to produce the first recordings.
Mark Hudson attempted to produce the first recordings.
Finally, the only guy that really kind of tamed the beast
and could actually get a record out of us
was a guy named Joe Hardy, who lives in Houston,
who produces a lot of the ZZ Top catalog.
And Joe was not a diplomat.
He didn'’t care, and he just needed to make the record.
Joe is, uh...
just this incredible guitar player. I mean, it'’s freakish.
It'’s sort of like a cat on it'’s hind legs or something.
You can'’t believe that this guy can play
so maturely for a 16-year-old.
[blues guitar playing]
During that process, there were a lot of fundamental differences between Joe
who was the prodigy, and the "sons of."
Everyone was great kids,
but the "sons of" didn'’t have the work ethic
that Joe Bonamassa had.
And that was apparent.
All Joe wanted to do was play guitar
and do... make music, you know, do this stuff.
The kids, all they wanted to do, they were a few years older,
they wanted to have fun and didn'’t want to work that hard.
I think everybody is more conscious of what they do
when I'’m around.[all laugh]
Yeah, right.
But--Yeah, but you'’re an old man in a kid'’s body
Oh, that'’s right. I think of myself as an old man in a kid'’s body.
[blues rock music playing]
I understand that some pudgy 18-year-old going, "Hey guys,
let'’s try to make these tunes, something out of these songs.
And by the way, I don'’t wanna play alternative music.
I don'’t wanna do this. We should make it...
And, by the way, I want long guitar solos,"
I understand how that'’s a toxic element to the band.
And then we were about to make the next record
and Berry Oakley and Waylon Krieger come to me
and say that they don'’t wanna be in a band with Joe.
And I'’m like, "Are you kidding me?
We just, we have about five years with this thing.
And you guys wanna... We'’re about to make the second record for EMI,
and you wanna break this up at this point?" And they'’re like, "Yeah."
You know, I could tell with my conversations with him,
he was having a lot of frustration.
Or frustrations with the members,
the egos of these kids,
and whatever problems they had
or whatever medicine they were taking.
And it got to a point where,
you know, it was serious money we had invested already.
And at the end of the day, I let it fall apart.
That was a hard moment for me, because I had to go back to my boss,
who was my father at that time, and say, "Listen, by the way, you know,
this project that our company has a fortune of money invested into?
We got to write that off."
And I went to Roy, and I said to him,
I said, "Listen, you got two choices, okay?
The first choice is okay.
You got to tell Bloodline, all those guys, to get lost.
And your second choice
is whether you want to stick with Joey,
which I think you should, and develop him into an artist."
And that basically was our conversation,
because he realized at that point
that Bloodline was falling apart anyway.
And that, either he went all the way
with Joey or forget about it.
Two things happen when you turn 18. The band breaks up.
Well, that'’s partly my own fault.
Two, nobody cares when you'’re 18.
'’Cause now you'’re just-- You'’ve gone from chosen one
to you are lopped into the same pile of guitar players
that everybody else is.
And I didn'’t sing.
And I was fat.
Not exactly what you call "show business material."
And I have a long last name,
which, to this day, people can'’t pronounce.
My big question, as I said before,
that if he could develop a voice around that talent
he had to play the guitar,
it would be all over.
[Joe] When I was in Bloodline, I had no interest in singing.
I was just a guitar player.
I loved being the guitar player. It was cool.
I was living with my parents.
And I was helping Dad out with the guitar shop.
And I was making demos at the house,
trying to get my voice up.
After Bloodline, a different set of circumstances came about.
I was looking into a new musical direction,
tried to do some stuff.
And I decided, "Well, now or never."
I was 18, I was like, "Now or never."
If I don'’t start singing now, I'’m never going to do it.
And I'’ll always go through life wondering if I ever could.
So I just started singing,
just belting stuff out in my room.
♪ I miss you♪
♪ I hate you♪
I did some work with Little Steven.
[Roy] Van Zandt, from Springsteen'’s band.
And that was his next little thing,
because at that point, there was like nothing going on.
And Little Steven was interested in making some demos with Joe.
And they go off, and they make some demos,
and Joe'’s singing.
And it'’s great to hear him sing.
But...
he'’s got Joe in a direction that'’s kind of like
not really where Joe wants to be.
♪ The subway'’s Temporary grace♪
♪ A pantomime on A cigarette break♪
♪ Norton Fibler Takes his place♪
♪ The politician'’s Got no face♪
Kinda, I didn'’t know what to do.
I didn'’t know what direction.
I'’m in Utica, New York.
Not exactly a place where things are happening.
I'’m at home.
It'’s one of those things where,
even though I had nothing going on,
the pressure of time, felt exhausting.
It felt like I needed to change my trajectory
really, really quick.
And Phil Ramone'’s label
signed me to a development deal.
[Phil] Prodigies come few and far between.
I saw him take an audience apart.
He'’s so musical and untrained,
which I loved, '’cause there was nothing that held him back.
Nothing ever held him back from doing anything.
And we were all set to do some demos
and make some recordings with Terry Manning
in the Bahamas.
And right before I was supposed to get on the plane,
the label shut down.
So I was back to square one.
Again now, a year later, and I was just lost.
And I asked Roy
to call around and see if somebody would hire me
just as a guitar player, you know, go play with whoever.
And I said to him, "If you want me to do that,
I'’m happy to do that, look for a gig for you.
But, if you have any desire to be the man
and the front man,
now'’s the time to go for it,
because you'’re in your early 20s.
And in the end, if that doesn'’t work out,
you still have plenty of time to find another career."
So he starts calling A&R people that he knew in New York,
one of which being Michael Caplan at Epic.
He sent my little cassette demos around, and Michael Caplan hears it.
He goes, "I like it."
And Roy goes, "Oh, so one of your artists needs a guitar player?"
He goes like, "You'’re not hearing me. I like it.
I wanna see about signing Joe."
Which completely blindsided me.
So I met with Michael at that point,
and he goes, "Okay, here'’s what we'’re gonna do.
You'’re gonna make a demo for me
of '’A New Day Yesterday,'’ from Jethro Tull."
He plays me this song, "A New Day Yesterday."
I was like, "Oh, that'’s cool."
So I had this idea of making it a two-four feel, and I make him a demo.
I send him the song two days later, and he calls me up,
he goes, "Have you ever heard of Tom Dowd?" I'’m like, "Yeah, I know who Tom Dowd is."
[Kevin] Tom Dowd was a legendary record producer
who had produced everyone from Aretha Franklin
to Ray Charles, The Allman Brothers
Eric Clapton and Rod Stewart.
My father graduated Stuyvesant High School,
which was the math and science high school in New York City.
And he was a sergeant in the US Army.
And he was working with the cyclotrons.
[reporter] The energy that generates the heat of the sun
and operates the solar system
comes under the will of humankind.
The blast changes the atomic structure
of everything it hits.
Stone and steel are turned into gas.
[Dana] The Manhattan Project was a web of universities
the government had harnessed together,
so it was all very top secret.
After the United States dropped the bombs in Japan,
he goes back to community college in New York,
and he has to take a couple more physics and chemistry classes
in order to graduate.
So he walks into the first day of class
and there'’s a periodic table on the wall.
[reporter] For years, scientists have tried to
break up this atom by shooting neutrons at its core.
But the whirling electrons seemed impenetrable.
Then finally scientists broke through those walls
with a slow neutron,
releasing 500 million volts of energy
and forming two new atoms,
barium and krypton.
And he knows that there'’s more elements that exist
because he had just helped discover them.
So he dropped out of school.
And there was a newspaper article,
probably in The New York Times,
and it'’s Fischer studios,
and they were looking for engineers.
And he was like, "Hold on a second.
I'’m a physicist and a chemist, and I play ten instruments.
I think I could probably fill this role."
Just about every record that I'’ve grown up with and just love,
he'’s been involved with.
And when I found out I had the opportunity
to work with him on "A New Day Yesterday,"
I was like, "This is gonna be an opportunity of a lifetime".
Joey has no telltale weakness or ballistic
as a guitarist.
He can play blues.
He can play jazz. He is fast.
Next thing you know, we get signed to Epic, make a record with Tom Dowd,
which was a legendary experience for Joe,
to make a record with somebody like that as his first record.
♪ '’Cause I feel you♪
♪ I don'’t want to But I need you, baby♪
[Joe] He took a real interest in my life and career.
He took a real interest in me personally.
'’Cause he saw that unbridled enthusiasm and he knew,
if I kept singing and writing, I would do good things.
And he was right.
I'’ve always kept that notion in the back of my mind.
Just keep improving yourself.
♪ I miss you, I hate you '’Cause I feel you♪
♪ I don'’t want to But I need you, yeah♪
♪ I miss you, I hate you♪
[Roy] Of course, in classic Sony style, the record gets made.
And by the way, the record was supposed to be a record
of no pressure.
We'’re not looking to get on radio,
Joe will sing his songs, and that'’s the end of it.
That was in the year 1999.
And Sony has its first bad reporting
quarter, six months, whatever you want to call it.
And all of a sudden, everything dried up.
It went from everyone'’s excited to promoting this thing
to nobody'’s interested in anything.
So they dropped Joe.
We decided to pick up the pieces as Joe and Roy
and put these records out ourselves.
And from that moment forward,
we started to make our own records
and own our own records.
♪ Woke up dreaming I was gonna die♪
♪ '’Cause my baby said her♪
♪ Said her last goodbyes♪
[Roy] You know, I'’m in the music business,
and I'’m running it like a loser, and the business is crashing.
I mean, the industry is falling apart. It'’s now the year 2001.
I mean, Napster'’s just obliterated the industry.
♪ Reached out for her And she was not there♪
And I ain'’t playing this pop shit anymore.
I don'’t wanna hear about radio.
It was a knee jerk reaction to this being told
that I have to be fit into a certain mold,
have to be a certain type of artist.
I'’m gonna make a fucking blues record, start to finish.
And from that, the idea of Blues Deluxewas born.
And I felt home when I did it.
And I felt like this is how I wanted to make music.
You have to go through the bad experiences
to get to that point.
But once you have the "I got nothing to lose,"
that'’s when you'’re the most dangerous.
[blues rock music playing]
We did Blues Deluxe and we did a record called Had To Cry Today,
which is kind of like in the same vein,
they were both produced by a guy named Bob Held,
who did a very good job on those records.
And it started to feel like we had some traction.
We'’re still in the van.
And we'’re still struggling.
Along the way, while Joe is evolving,
I wasn'’t able to make any money from the project.
So I think the first time I ever got paid
from the Joe Bonamassa project was in the year 2007.
I think at that point, I was--
I had met Joe in 1991.
So, we'’re looking at, it was year 16.
Roy began to feel I was kind of stagnating as an artist,
like just, we'’re still "barroom" at this point,
And I was thinking about changing producers and trying
to introduce maybe another influence to Joe.
And this friend of mine suggested to me,
did I know this producer Kevin Shirley?
And I said, I did not.
And he showed me his discography.
And when I looked at Kevin'’s discography,
and I saw the kind of records that he was making, I'’m like,
"That is exactly the kind of producer I need to put with Joe."
Somebody that understands mainstream rock
from like the '’70s, like real rock, like Led Zeppelin-kind of rock.
And also can maybe take Joe'’s blues influence
and bring it together as well.
So lo and behold, I get Kevin'’s number,
and I gave Kevin a call and introduce myself.
And he'’s at a place in his career
where he'’s looking to make an album with somebody
that was also more organic
than he had been working with at that time.
With the major labels, he was doing a lot of acts.
And we had a conversation. I said, "Well, if you want something more organic,
you'’ve come to the right place. As a matter of fact, it'’s so organic,
we don'’t have money to pay you."
[laughs]
[blues music playing]
♪ Ain'’t no heaven Or burning hell♪
♪ When I die where I go♪
♪ Ain'’t nobody know♪
♪ Ain'’t no heaven Or burning hell♪
[Joe] We have a decent three-piece band
that we'’ve put together with Kenny Kramme on drums
and Eric Czar, we kind of set sail with that.
That was our power trio, and it was--
we were able to get in a van, go out,
couple crew guys, maybe one guy, two guys.
It was lean and mean.
We had to load our own gear, set up own gear,
turn down our own gear, and sell CDs,
and, you know, that'’s honest work.
[blues music playing]
Roy would mention that we were kind of looking
for a change in the production,
and we needed somebody that worked on the big stage.
My initial reaction was, "Why would Kevin Shirley want to produce me?"
Like, Kevin does big-time records,
you know, like Zeppelin and Black Crowes and Iron Maiden.
I was like, "Why the hell was he..."
My opinion was Kevin was gonna listen
to the work up and to that point,
go, "There'’s no way that I'’m gonna do this
under any foreseeable circumstances, whatsoever."
[blues music playing]
♪ I'’m takin'’ the hit♪
♪ Paying the price♪
Anyway, to my surprise,
I find myself being visited by Mr. Shirley
in St. Charles, Illinois.
A random spot for him for our first encounter,
but we needed-- we had a show there at Chord on Blues.
Kevin sees the show,
comes on the tour bus, he goes,
basically, paraphrasing this,
"I dig the playing, the tone'’s good,
songs are bad, band'’s gotta go."
Those were the magic words,
because I had seen the limitations of my group.
So he said okay, and then we made a plan
to go into the studio to do the first album,
and then I brought Jason Bonham in.
And then called me in 2005
to play on You and Me album for Joe.
The first album he produced for Joe.
Carmine Rojas.
You know, we all have history
of all kinds of music, similar music,
'’cause we all have done blues,
we have done rock, we have done jazz,
we have done country.
And Rick Melick and all players
at the top of their game, at the top of their field.
Triple-A session players, amazing live players,
incredible pedigrees, all of them.
David Bowie, Rod Stewart, I mean, the top of the top.
So when we got to the studio,
he finally got to see how it was having a band
of incredible musicians support him.
And I remember thinking
that the guy was setting up these guitars
and I remember going, "Excuse me, when does Joe get here?"
And he looked around, went, "I'’m Joe."
[laughs] I was like,
"Oh! Hi, I'’m Jason. Nice to meet you."
Joe really got to experience for the first time, a producer
that was hands on musically, from what he told me,
that he could relate to.
Somebody that could also get him to do something
that he wasn'’t comfortable doing.
And, I remember after the first record,
after that record was made,
Kevin told me we had a lot of work to do,
but I think I can, over time,
take Joe to a place that would be a place
he could have a very long-term and successful career.
♪ They said you Wouldn'’t believe♪
♪ What a paradise this was♪
♪ Till every Adam and Eve Tom, Dick and Harry♪
♪ Started fighting For what he loved♪
♪ So, we fortified The ramparts♪
♪ And we built The mighty towers♪
♪ But it was plain to see We never were free♪
♪ From the tyranny Of the hour♪
[crowd cheering]
[Kevin] And so, then we got asked to do a second album.
And that was all good and well,
except that I think we got about two days
into the first session, and I got a call from Roy,
who asked me to wrap up the session, '’cause we were gonna call it.
It wasn'’t working for Joe.
He'’d apparently got very upset when I had asked him to do a harmony vocal
on top of a lead vocal,
and he was very uncomfortable with it.
[Joe] We started doing the second album in Malibu, California.
And what I loved about the first album so much
was it was like we played the song and it was done.
And then the second album, it turned out it was like,
because of the nature of the material,
it was requiring more overdubs.
♪ You'’d better stop♪
♪ Before♪
♪ You tear me all apart♪
♪ You'’d better stop♪
♪ Before♪
♪ You go and break my heart♪
♪ Oh, whoa♪
♪ You better stop♪
It was kind of fighting me.
And I was like, "I don'’t know."
I really freaked out in the sense
that I'’m not sure if this is the right idea.
So we did some acoustic tracks,
and then we did another session.
On that other session, we cut a song
that I'’ve played literally every show since that day.
And it'’s one of my big,
you know, show-stopping songs that Kevin had heard
when he was in South Africa.
♪ People would tell me♪
♪ As they pass me by♪
♪ No matter if I live♪
♪ No matter if I die♪
[Kevin] I brought the song to him,
a song that I used to play in a band
back in the '’80s in South Africa.
A song called "Sloe Gin,"
which was a song that Tim Curry and Michael Kamen had written.
And it was one of those desperate blues that I thought
somebody could cover really well.
And Joe seemed to be the perfect person to do it.
It wasn'’t a traditional 12-bar blues structure,
but it was a very down, desperate, dark,
slow bluesy song with quite involved changes.
The chorus had the lyric,
"I'’m so fucking lonely."
At that point in time.
We were still trying to get our records in Walmart,
and we run a family show, so the song was so strong,
I knew where this was gonna be a live staple forever.
So we kind of compromised and we did "I'’m so damn lonely."
And that became the version.
And that was pretty much
the first really big song I had.
You know, it wasn'’t a radio hit, but it was for the fans.
It was something that anchored the ship.
[blues music playing]
After Sloe Gin, we had toured extensively,
comes time to make another album.
I'’m living in California, and I met a girl in Georgia,
who I love dearly,
so much so that I decided,
blindly,
that I was going to move to Georgia.
I wrote this song because when I was moving to Georgia,
there was a new thing called Google Earth
that Kevin had on his computer
and he goes, "Look I just looked up the address of the house
that you rented.
You live in a stone quarry."
[chuckles]
And I wrote the song "Story of a Quarryman"
during that week of being
"Dear John'’d" at the airport in mourning,
but, it'’ll forever be known as the "Quarryman."
[laughs]
[blues rock music playing]
♪ Gonna buy me a bucket And a hammer and nails♪
♪ Board up the windows And head for the trails♪
♪ And that'’s what I get For sticking my chin out♪
♪ Well, a kick in the teeth And a mind full of doubt♪
♪ I brought this on With my own hands♪
♪ Precious disgrace From my own hands♪
♪ If I could freeze time In my own hands♪
♪ Story of a Quarryman♪
And I remember, she dropped me off at the airport
because I needed to come back to California
to finish the album which would become
The Ballad of John Henry.
And I remember getting a text message on the plane
basically confirming what I knew was coming,
that she was showing me the door.
And it was one of the few times
in my life that I was truly heartbroken.
In the sense that I went from
the happiest guy in the world to a hot mess.
It was one of these stories,
he just got swept off his feet.
Next thing you know, he'’s moving to Georgia.
And before you know it, he'’s moving back to LA.
And it'’s like, what happened?
It'’s like, he got it.
And he'’s in love with a woman who'’s in love with a woman.
It was not pretty,
and I shouldn'’t laugh, but nevertheless,
it was a hell of a story. And he came out of that...
I remember starting the record, he was in love.
Ending the record, he was broken-hearted.
And at the end, this record represents, I think, both of that.
And I remember the cast of characters in the studio.
We'’re all living in this big house,
and the console and the room was downstairs.
And it was probably some of the most laughs
and the most tears at the same time.
Because we had Anton Fig, Blondie Chaplin,
Carmine Rojas, Rick Melick.
And at one point in time, 12 bottles of wine
wasn'’t enough for the household.
And this is in a day!
And it was just this inspired, heartbroken
session that I wish I could bottle that series of events
and that type of emotion
because some of my most emotive playing, some of my best songs
came from this heartbreak.
And that record in particular
is punctuated by the happiest I'’ve ever been,
and the saddest I'’ve ever been in two halves.
[slow blues music playing]
♪ Shape, that I'’m in♪
♪ Never let her down A day in my life♪
♪ Dreams♪
♪ All around me♪
♪ As I see the time Pass me by♪
♪ Never trade you For the world♪
♪ Never do the things I used to♪
♪ I guess I'’m not Good enough♪
♪ This I see♪
♪ And I'’ll remember Happier times♪
[Kevin] And Joe was so distraught.
And we'’d been working on "Happier Times."
And I came into the room, and he was crying, he was so unhappy.
♪ Life, it hits me♪
[Kevin] And I remember coming up to him and saying to him,
"Everything that you feel,
I want you to put in this guitar.
And I'’m gonna make a long loop of the guitar solo."
♪ Not the place I wanna be♪
"And just play it. Try and tap into what you have,
and just play it over these changes.
Just play it and play it and play it.
I won'’t stop anything.
It'’ll just go for five minutes, and just play it."
And, you know, to this day,
that'’s one of his most amazing guitar solos I think.
And he doesn'’t remember cutting it.
[Joe] That also was the record that went boom.
It was like, "Okay, now we have something."
And that material, that tour, that band, those songs,
that was what would have been now
leading us up to May 4, 2009,
when we first played the Royal Albert Hall.
That'’s when you arrived on the big stage.
That'’s when I knew I was arriving on the big stage.
Whether I could stay there or not,
that was another question.
[crowd cheering][upbeat rock music playing]
♪ Tell me how high♪
♪ Cotton has to grow♪
♪ Tell me how high♪
♪ Cotton has to grow♪
[Roy] Here we are now,
and we'’ve been touring for four, five, six years in Europe,
and Joe is really starting to generate some traction with the audiences.
He'’s moved from clubs to small theaters.
We just played Shepherd'’s Bush Empire in London.
And the opportunity to book Royal Albert Hall presents itself.
And of course, we were gonna take that opportunity.
How could we not? But I'’m gonna be honest with you,
I had no idea if we could fill that place.
And we had to record it.
You just can'’t--
You can'’t just get a gig like that.
You never know if you'’re ever gonna get back to it.
But it'’s also a quarter of a million dollars.
At that point in time, we were all in.
We had just that amount of money
to keep our company running for the year.
And we went to a bank, and we asked for a loan.
We were declined.
[Roy] This moment was the biggest risk that Joe and I
were ever gonna take in our career. We literally put the house up.
So on one hand, you'’re on top of the world,
you'’re at the Royal Albert Hall on paper,
and life is grand, but behind the scenes,
we could have went out of business.
So we were really at a crossroad with our company,
and we were playing in the big sandbox,
but we didn'’t have big sandbox money.
I remember when I was four, like really taking interest in it,
and my dad would sit me down and, you know, play me records.
He brought home, one day,
the video cassette, farewell Cream concert,
recorded at the Albert Hall.
And I remember so clearly,
watching everything that Eric Clapton played,
and going, "I don'’t know what that is.
But that'’s really cool."
I asked my parents for a guitar, and I would sit in my room
for hours and hours and hours, my parents would have to kick me out,
"Go outside, play basketball,
go ride your bike, do something, get some exercise,"
'’cause I would just be fixated on trying to recreate the sounds
and I made a decision right then and there.
I said, "This is what you need to do.
I don'’t want a real job. I want to be a guitar player.
And I want to play the Royal Albert Hall."
[Lindsay] This has been 20 years in the making.
And this is sort of-- not graduation,
but accumulation of, you know, all these years of hard work
and, you know, day after day, and so we'’re all very excited.
[Len] He'’s been performing in front of people since he'’s been five years old.
He has more miles on a guitar
than most 60 year olds do, that played all their life.
[Joe] So here we are, at age 32
and 20 years in the music business professionally,
and I'’m about to do this.
It is as daunting as it is exciting.
And it'’s as scared as I'’ve ever been, really,
because we can only get one shot at it to make it right.
And I really wanted to make it right.
We have the date 2009, May 4th,
and we had to fill it.
So at the end, we had the whole house of cards on it.
And we didn'’t know what was gonna happen.
[Joe] It weighed heavily on me, '’cause I had to be good.
Well, you could wake up with a head cold.
I mean, I can list 10,000 things that could go wrong
and one thing they can go right.
And it was really, really critical
that not only we perform, but perform well.
[crowd cheering]
[slow synthesizer playing]
[no audible dialogue]
I'’d written Eric Clapton a letter
that Paul Stewart had hand delivered.
And I gave Eric my e-mail.
And it took a few months,
but I got an e-mail from a very strange e-mail address.
And I was like, "I don'’t know who this is,
but I think I know who this is."
And I replied, and it was Eric,
and we'’d come up with the idea of doing
"Further On Up the Road." And nobody knew about it.
The only tell was,
there was a small Tweed amp on stage.
And it was the sixth song.
And I remember very vividly when we were playing,
and I stopped after the fifth song,
and I go, "Ladies and gentlemen, Eric Clapton."
And he walks out and I go,
"I can'’t believe I pulled this off," right?
I mean, this is, like,
if it all ended that day,
you'’d have been like "Man, this is, like, I did it."
Thank you and good evening, London.
[crowd cheering]
Good evening, thank you very much.
My family'’s here, my mom and dad are here.
This is the greatest honor of my life to play this building.
I set out 20 years ago to, you know, play the guitar, and I said,
"One day, if I could ever make it to the Albert Hall,
that would be the coolest thing in the world."
And here I am, so thank you very much!
[cheering continues]
And the first song I ever learned how to play on electric guitar
was "Further On Up the Road," and we'’ve been playing that
on our tours in celebration of the Albert Hall.
So, I'’m very proud to say, the first song
and the man is here tonight,
Mr. Eric Clapton is gonna come out and play and sing with us.
[crowd cheering]
It was all so full circle.
It just was a lifelong dream.
And it really meant the world to me that Mr. Clapton came,
and I can never repay him.
♪ Further on up the road♪
♪ Someone'’s gonna hurt you Like you hurt me♪
♪ Further on up the road♪
♪ Someone'’s gonna hurt you Like you hurt me♪
♪ Further on up the road♪
♪ You just wait and see♪
♪ Gotta reap Just what you sow♪
♪ That old saying is true♪
♪ You gotta reap Just what you sow♪
♪ That old saying is true♪
♪ Just like you Mistreat someone♪
♪ Someone'’s gonna Mistreat you♪
♪ You been laughing Pretty baby♪
♪ Someday you'’re Gonna be crying♪
[Joe] I owe him a debt of gratitude that I could never repay.
The fact that he took time out of his busy life
to come and play, solidified and gave the moment
the weight that I was hoping it would get.
It wasn'’t just the gig that came and went.
It was like the night Eric Clapton came out with me.
Because when we started this thing, and we took that chance,
we had no idea what the outcome was gonna be.
[Joe] You know, a lot of people say,
"You don'’t really know when your big moment'’s gonna come,
and a lot of times, you don'’t even realize it."
I realized it very, very clearly that that was the day.
[Roy] And it'’s turned out to be a turning point in his career, without question.
I mean, after that night, I think the British press saw that as almost like
a handing of the baton.
That was the big moment, and then it came out on DVD.
And it just,
in America, it exploded in the sense where all of a sudden,
I was playing 500 seaters, now I'’m playing 5,000 seaters.
That'’s the story.
But damn, I look like I was having fun on that DVD.
I look back at it and go, "Man, I was having a lot of fun that night." I wasn'’t.
[crowd cheering]
It was pedal to the metal, and I knew...
Thank you!
...that my whole career was on the line.
[cheering continues]
Eric Clapton.
My name is Joe Bonamassa. It'’s been an honor to be in this building.
Thank you very much.[crowd cheering]
One of the great things about working with Kevin Shirley over the years,
and I have this genome as well,
is every so often,
Kevin feels the need, and I second that motion,
feel the need to throw a cherry bomb in the world.
Like, just going, "Well, we'’ve done this,
let'’s do something completely different."
So, we did the Albert Hall. We kept touring.
[no audible dialogue]
I had been having long conversations with Joe
about embracing world music and incorporating it into blues.
♪ It'’s been an Athens To Athens kind of Day and night♪
Kevin had found this studio in Santorini, Greece.
And the idea was to make like more of a world-sounding album.
And we were gonna import some musicians from Athens that didn'’t speak any English
and they were gonna play on these tunes that weren'’t written.
When language and physical expression
sometimes are at odds,
and you can'’t communicate with somebody,
rhythm and tonality all speak to each other.
There is a universal language of music.
You could go in and do the juras and the bouzouki and the baglamas,
all these Greek instruments that we used.
[Joe] And it was great. And it was really,
probably the most fun we'’ve ever had making a record.
Hello, Japan. Greetings from Santorini, Greece.
We'’re just finishing up recording my brand-new CD.
♪ Don'’t cry♪
♪ Anymore♪
♪ It'’s over now baby♪
♪ Don'’t cry no more♪
I was very happy with the results,
even more so when Claude Nobs heard the record,
and was so taken with our approach
to this universal language of music,
which I think he totally got.
And then he invited Joe to play at the Montreux Jazz Festival
and bring the Greek musicians with him.
The first time I heard this, I said,
"One day you have to do an acoustic set."
Well, thank you!I'’m so proud that it will occur.
[Joe] It restarted the conversation about this acoustic thing
that we wanted to do.
And why don'’t we put together a group
of, like, world musicians.
And I remember when we worked on Dust Bowl,
we just kinda huddled in the corner
and just went through a couple verses,
and the band glued itself together in ways--
I was like, "This is gonna be great."
♪ Lifting me up♪
♪ Tearing me down♪
♪ All you give me Is indecision♪
♪ The classic runaround♪
♪ Bringing me higher♪
♪ Keeping me whole♪
♪ Now I feel like I'’m living♪
♪ Living in a dust bowl♪
To say we did an acoustic show live at the Vienna Opera House,
it just had a nice ring to it.
And maybe we'’ll fall on our face.
You know what? Maybe this will be a complete and utter disaster
from the first note.
Or it could be one of the coolest things we ever do.
And there'’s no guarantees in life.
And they could say a lot of things about me.
But they can'’t say we don'’t take a risk,
and we don'’t put everything out there on the table.
And it'’s gonna be something else.
♪ Hard to find true within♪
[Kevin] Rehearsals went really good.
I mean, the foundation of this whole show
is Joe playing the acoustic guitar.
And then we have to introduce all these elements to it,
and so that becomes more three-dimensional.
[man] That'’s the beautiful thing about music is it'’s constantly changing.
It'’s morphing.
It'’s doing things that-- It doesn'’t stay the same.
It keeps you fresh, it keeps your mind sharp
and it keeps you young.
[Kevin] It'’s about music in general.
It really is the universal language.
Even English changes and German changes,
and all the languages change, and they develop over time.
Yet somehow, the music language is the same.
And it goes across the ages.
The same melodic structure has been around forever.
I mean, it'’s different from country to country,
but they get incorporated going back almost to birdsong.
Before music, with the Gregorian chants
and all the music through the middle ages through classical,
they'’re all based on the same thing.
That language never changes. From the beginning of time,
there'’s 12 half steps in the Western scale,
there'’s quarter notes in Indian scales,
but these same 12 notes make up the way everything gets played.
You know, the emotions we get from music
all come from these very basic 12 notes
and thumping something to keep the tempo.
It'’s really...
inexplicably wonderful music.
Amazing.
♪ Devil rises...♪
[Joe] Something I'’ve learned traveling the world,
playing blues rock to everybody from, you know,
people in the UK to Hong Kong to Australia to Russia,
to Tel Aviv, Israel and Mumbai, India.
They clap in the same spots, it'’s uncanny.
And it just blows me away every time.
And you go, "Wow, really, music is a universal language.
It'’s in the DNA."
♪ See that Brown-haired woman♪
♪ Coming back this way♪
♪ Yeah♪
[crowd cheering]This is one of the coolest things I'’ve ever done.
And it'’s one of the coolest things
that a musician can do,
is to take your basically your strong point,
which is basically my guitar playing
and reduce it down to the point where you play a little bit,
but not all the time.
And now you have to sing. Now you have to rely on the songs.
I learned that people will still cheer
if there'’s not a four-minute guitar solo,
at the end of a song. They actually like the song.
[acoustic guitar playing]
♪ Everybody knows you♪
From the top.
[acoustic guitar playing]
[Joe] Since Kevin came in the picture in 2005,
it'’s always been song first.
But this is really now the beginnings of where,
you know, like, "Okay, let'’s try to get the best song."
Yeah, so solo, but we need to go to--
It needs to go to a different place.
Is that going to be fun to solo over, at D minor?
Yeah, you can record that. You can...
Just D minor to A minor.
Before we write it.
Before, you know, I'’m not Mozart.
You know, we'’re not...I'’ve already done it.
We'’re not going straight to disc here. Hold on. Let me...
It'’s gotta serve the solo, melodic solo.
That'’s what it'’s gotta serve.
[Joe] D minor is a good choice.Yeah, I thought it was nice.
[Joe] I can tell you, just having a bag full of good songs
makes the recording process a lot easier
and also makes the process of putting together
a live show a lot easier.
You are Mozart. You just didn'’t realize it.
[laughs]
[Kevin] Yeah.
[Anton] When you play music, it'’s very difficult to be objective
and subjective all the time.
It'’s almost like looking at a puzzle.
You can look at it from above or you can be involved
in the pieces going together.
So when you'’re playing, sometimes you can be too involved
in the pieces to see the big picture.
And that'’s where a producer comes in, '’cause they'’re able to.
♪ Different shades of blue♪
By the riff.Yeah.
I think a riff, and I don'’t think do the retard,
and I think end on the tonic.
Don'’t leave it hanging there.[strumming]
Yeah.[Joe] All right.
Anton, I think that you want the chorus just to be big.
The solo is gonna be monstrous.
It'’s gonna be titanic.
Titanoboa.
[song playing through speakers]
♪ The sun'’s been shining♪[Kevin] How good is he?
♪ Down on me day and night♪
Sounds great.
[Joe] Well, I mean that'’s the nature of blues music
is to play spontaneous and improvise over changes.
In theory, it shouldn'’t be the same way twice, you know?
I'’ve never engineered a solo.
I never liked that.
I never liked doing it that way.
So you gotta be able to push yourself
and try new things and try things that are not
in your comfort zone.
♪ Broke your heart♪
[Kevin] You gotta record the first notes,
when he'’s playing.
Bonamassa doesn'’t like to feel safe. He likes a challenge.
It'’s a rock blues album,
but curved differently.
So that'’s Bonamassa,
'’cause we never do anything traditional.
♪ You won'’t admit♪
♪ But it'’s starting To make you weep♪
♪ When you got Nothing left to lose♪
♪ Might sound good♪
♪ But I'’m not sure That'’s true♪
♪ You carry the pain around♪
♪ And that'’s what Sees you through♪
♪ The different shades Of blue♪
[Carmine] Joe, he searches, he wanders.
You know, he tries many different things.
He tries different kinds of music.
He plays in different kinds of bands.
He'’s always searching, which is actually beautiful.
♪ Tell by the way You hang your head♪
[Joe] I can'’t keep just using the same playbook.
And I have to challenge myself.
If it'’s your playing, can you take it outside?
If you keep doing this and you could do this,
if you have a different bunch of musicians behind you,
how is that challenging? How is that, you know--
Are you getting pushed enough?
The better the musicians are that Joe plays with,
the better he plays.
♪ In my eyes Every way that'’s nice♪
♪ You show you'’ve got a heart That'’s made of ice♪
♪ And I know♪
♪ Fire and water♪
♪ Must have made you Their daughter♪
♪ You'’ve got what it takes♪
♪ To make a poor man'’s Heart break♪
Kevin'’s great about changing up the band every once in a while.
Even the greatest players in the world, if they stare at me long enough,
they'’d be like, "Ugh, he just did this."
♪ Well, my trying♪
♪ Ain'’t done no good♪
♪ I said my trying Ain'’t done no good♪
♪ You don'’t make no effort♪
♪ No, not like you should♪
♪ Lazy♪
♪ You just stay in bed♪
♪ Lazy♪
♪ You just stay in bed♪
♪ You don'’t want no money♪
♪ You don'’t want no bread♪
♪ Ah! Come on♪
[music continues]
[Kevin] One of the things that I really wanted
to have on this album was I wanted to experiment
with two drummers playing.
And I wanted to try and make it a real rhythmical powerhouse
behind Joe playing and I wanted
to cut everything without keyboards.
So it was really about getting some more aggression
out of Joe and having him be quite vital.
♪ On the stone and steel♪
[blues music playing]
♪ Done my fair share of♪
♪ Mountain climbing♪
♪ Whoa Troubles I'’ve got them♪
♪ Mountain climbing♪
♪ Whoa, it'’s blues At the bottom♪
[Anton] There'’s perfect metronomical time.
You know, you put on a metronome.
And then there'’s the human time,
which is like your heartbeat,
you know and...
But when people play,
they tend to kind of push certain sections
and pull back on certain sections, you know?
I always say like time and heartbeat equals feel.
[blues music playing]
♪ Feel like I'’ve been A prisoner♪
♪ Of my own design♪
♪ I'’ve been such A bad listener♪
♪ But I hear you tonight♪
♪ Let'’s drive♪
♪ Into the night...♪
[Joe] You know, sometimes we'’re self-loathing blues rock people.
We question ourselves a lot. We question if what we'’re doing is right.
We question what we'’ve done in the past, has it been right?
Is it right or wrong? It'’s all obviously worked out for me.
I went to him after we came up with a song
that he suggested I write a melody,
I came up with the melody on the spot.
And we recorded it in like two or three takes.
A song called "No Place for the Lonely."
And we were at dinner afterwards and we were just talking about the day,
and I go, "You know what, Kevin? You know what you and I
know how to do pretty well at this point?
It'’s make blues rock."
♪ Someone to hold me♪
♪ Like you used to hold me♪
♪ But there'’s no good place For the lonely♪
♪ '’Cause this place Is no good♪
♪ For the lonely♪
[Kevin] Sometimes I give him a solo, and I'’ll key it up,
and he doesn'’t even know what key it is.
And so I'’ll just say,
"All right, here we go, Joe.
Here comes the solo. It'’s coming in two bars,
and it'’s about that tempo.
And then you'’re in."
And so he'’ll sit with the guitar
and not know what'’s coming in,
what key is coming in.
And then I get...
him without thinking too much, then he has to be reactive
to what'’s going on, '’cause he has so much that'’s cerebral.
I need him to be visceral.
When we get those moments, I love those moments. They'’re amazing.
Like the solo on "No Good Place for the Lonely."
Was voted in the top 100 guitar solos of all time.
And that was a one-take, one-performance, unedited take.
And when I heard that,
I'’m like, "We don'’t have to do that again, we'’ve got that."
And that shows, like, true genius.
[energetic guitar solo playing]
[Joe] But at the end of the day, I mean,
we'’re talking about music that'’s 100 years old or more,
that everybody'’s played and perfected
and the masters perfected it and the British reinterpreted it
and reinvented it and I reinvented or reinterpreted
what the British did and so on and so on.
And then there'’s been all these new kids
that are doing great.
So at the end of the day, what are you gonna do with...
We can do it one, four, five.
You fuck it up. Make it sound...
Make it challenging to the listener.
Make it challenging to yourself to play and come up with
and make it something that can actually...
be listened to, but they also know that
that'’s you.
It couldn'’t be anybody else.
Like, "Who'’s that? Oh, that'’s gotta be Joe.
He'’s at it again.
Messing with tradition and all things
that we hold near and dear to our hearts.
Let me give it a one-star review on Amazon.com."
[sharply crescendoing music]
[rock music playing]
I'’ve always had an affinity for the blues.
I always default to the blues.
I always love the blues.
But I'’m not a blues musician, in the sense that
I'’m too musically adventurous
to just stick to those paths.
So that'’s why making records
with Black Country Communion was so exciting
because it allowed me to play music
that was in my wheelhouse
but didn'’t fit in my wheelhouse as a performer.
It allowed me to be unapologetically
a rock and roll guitar player.
[rock music playing]
♪ It'’s cold on the mountain♪
♪ It'’s cold in the wood♪
♪ My life is a fountain♪
After we worked in Greece, I had met Glenn Hughes
and we had jammed together at this Guitar Center thing.
And Glenn came out and played and we did "Mistreated"
and it was fun.
And Glenn was great.
And we figured out real quickly
that he and I played off each other very well.
And in the audience that night,
was Joe'’s manager, Roy Weisman,
and Kevin Shirley.
I remember coming off into the dressing room
and I heard the unmistakable foot stomping
of Kevin rushing down into the dressing room to announce,
"I got it!
We need Jason Bonham,
and we need
Derek Sherinian. Okay?"
And we were like, "Uh, okay."
So, I saw Glenn and Joe performing on stage, and they were really good.
It was actually great. I was knocked out. I was like, "Wow!"
There'’s a rock thing going on with Glenn'’s voice
and Glenn'’s great bass playing.
And then Joe is such a talented musician.
He could have been playing in a bluegrass band
or a soul band or whatever.
I mean, he'’s really got all of these elements
in his guitar playing and they'’re all in his head.
And I saw him playing this rock stuff and I was like, "Wow!
We have a real opportunity here
to open up the fan base."
The English radio and press,
I knew would eat him up if he started playing rock.
[blues music playing]
[Joe] And before you know it, we did one album
in like four days.
Half the time we were waiting for Jason to show up.
It'’s just my inside joke of always being late.
I'’m never on time.
And for a drummer that has bad time,
it just shouldn'’t happen.
Which actually kinda gave us the opportunity
to get our shit together, song-wise.
Like so many of these bands that are made up,
they are four unique characters.
Glenn has got this history of classic rock.
But since the '’70s, he'’s been doing everything from funk to metal.
Jason is, you know, obviously rooted in Led Zeppelin
and has played with them
and he'’s a great exponent of the kind of style
of drumming of his dad.
And then I'’d known Derek Sherinian
from my days when I produced Dream Theater.
And I'’ve always been wanting to do something with him,
because I love the technicality of his playing.
Well, it'’s rare that you can find a band, four people,
that all have that same skill to hear the song, learn it,
and to not only learn how to play the song
in preparation to record it,
but to come up with cool parts.
And the sounds that are gonna be on the record.
Some of these songs, they just started as little ideas and Glenn did his thing.
He has this great way of words.
He'’s got this great swagger.
He'’s a true rock guy. It'’s like I pretend to be that,
but he is that guy for sure.
Bro, I don'’t think I should do this.
I just said it to Kevin.
It'’s so like Seven Dwarfs shit.
It'’s so metal.[laughing]
♪ Oh♪
It'’s so not me to do that.[Joe] Don'’t do it then.
I'’d rather just let the audience figure it out.
[vocalizing]
It'’s the whitest thing in the world.
We really finished up the first record
and it was sort of an experiment to see if it would work.
It really took me by surprise, when we first get it
and I saw where it charted on the first album.
Yeah, I think that the band was skeptical
until the record came out and did so well.
Especially in England. It was the number-one rock record.
And when it did so well,
I think they realized that there was a market for it
and was something that was serious.
[Joe] We did the second one at a studio on Sunset Boulevard
called East West and we had a great time.
You know, Kevin is the fifth Beatle.
Yeah, he'’s the fifth Beatle in that band,
because really, he helped put it together,
and he really is a member of the group.
[Kevin] They each have their own solo careers.
And this is one of those things where there is
an idea for the band,
it'’s like, "Let'’s be a classic rock band."
If you left each of them to make the decisions,
it would be a different band and that'’s where I come in.
I'’m sort of, I channel all these brilliant musicians
into like a toothpaste tube with the red and the whites
and the blue and the green, and put them all onto the brush,
and then it becomes the toothpaste, you know?
To brush the teeth of the rock world.
[chimes]
It'’s a band full of sergeants
but we do need a general sometimes
to kind of make a decision.
[upbeat drum solo playing]
We then toured the following summer in 2011.
And we did nine weeks.
And, as I put it, about seven weeks too many.
The nature of this group is it really is great in small doses.
[blues music playing]
For me, after the second week, it became hard work.
And after the third week,
it became really hard work.
After the ninth week,
it was like, I was ready to go.
There were some great nights of music
and then there were some average nights of music,
and it just couldn'’t...
A lot of factors had to line up for it to be a great night.
So I returned home,
armed with a high dose of burnout,
and a high dose of, I don'’t wanna even look at the guitar.
So much so, that I didn'’t play the guitar when I got home.
But we had a session booked to finish Dust Bowl.
And I remember sitting at the village in Santa Monica,
blowing takes and blowing solos
that I normally could play in my sleep.
It'’s just because I just...
It wore me down.
That was just the universe telling me I was doing too much.
And that was the universe telling me
that I shouldn'’t be in a band, at that point.
You know, it was just the universe telling me
a lot of things, that you can'’t be all things
to all people and you have to prioritize
and kinda slow it down a little bit.
Downshift a gear and be happy with that.
And I learned a lot of good lessons
in the summer of 2011.
And it was very difficult to keep perspective.
♪ I'’m looking for redemption♪
♪ Love'’s hallowed ground♪
♪ Yeah, I'’m praying For forgiveness♪
♪ And I'’ve searched around♪
♪ But there'’s none To be found♪
[Kevin] The history of blues music
is very closely associated
with the "Crossroads" and Robert Johnson
who was a performer in the 1930s.
He used to crash all these juke joints looking for a gig,
and mostly people didn'’t think he was very good.
And then he disappeared for a year or two
and no one knows what happened to him.
And he came back and started playing in these places
with a style and technique that no one had even seen before.
He apparently sold his soul to the devil
at the Crossroads for a life as an incredible musician.
[crowd cheering]
And these 29 or 30 recordings that we have of him,
stand as like the benchmark for all blues music
as we know it today.
♪ I got stones in my passway♪
♪ And my road seem Dark as night♪
[Joe] We went down to the Crossroads,
and it was kind of a pilgrimage
to come down to the Mississippi Delta
and see where the forefathers of the blues,
the music that you love so dearly
and play every day and listen to, see where it all began.
[music continues]
And you start thinking about it in terms of this place,
and while we'’re here, it'’s Robert Johnson,
Mississippi John Hurt, Charlie Patton, Son House.
All these guys, you know,
they'’ve been covered and talked about and revered and loved.
All this mystery basically started,
basically where I'’m standing.
[music continues]
♪ I got a good woman That I'’m loving hard♪
♪ She don'’t mean a thing♪
Right now, I'’m looking at Highway 61.
You know, a sign for Highway 61.
And it'’s like, you know,
I learned how to play slide guitar
from listening to Johnny Winter.
And doing the Dylan cover of "Highway 61 Revisited."
I mean, there'’s something about this part of the world musically
that'’s mystical, and the Crossroads represent...
where blues began.
♪ Stones all in my pass♪
When you go down to Rosedale,
and you go down, there'’s one street,
a strip of buildings, and then there'’s levees,
and you go, "Okay, this is where Charlie Patton wrote about '’High Water Everywhere.'’"
This is where it all felt right
and it all book-ended from myth to story to music,
but this feels authentic to me.
This is where they said Robert Johnson sold his soul.
But, you know, in our world, Kev,
this is where it all started for Robert Johnson,
who paved the way for guys
like Muddy Waters and Howlin'’ Wolf
the generation later.
[Kevin] The story was that if an aspiring blues man
waited by the side of a deserted country road
in the dark of a moonless night,
then Satan himself might come
and tune his guitar,
sealing a pact for the blues man'’s soul
and guaranteeing a lifetime of easy money, women and fame.
And this is where they said Robert Johnson
sold his soul to the devil, right there at the Crossroads.
Wow.Is there anything attractive about fame,
women and money that you'’d sell your soul for?
I mean, when you put it in those terms, it doesn'’t seem like a bad deal.
And you get your guitar tuned.
By the way, I'’ve sold out for much less in my career.
[both laugh]
[Kevin] Just a mile down the road, there'’s a farm...
There'’s the levee. I can see the levee.
They said the levee'’s around here...
And so the idea came up to celebrate the music
of Muddy Waters and Howlin'’ Wolf.
I was born in a little town called Rolling Fork.
I was raised up in Clarksdale...
raised up out on the Stovall Plantation.
And finally in 1943, I moved to Chicago.
[Joe] The first concert, we pay tribute to two of the seminal
figures in Chicago blues.
Two huge influences on me
and, really, my conduit into the British blues,
which I really got into when I was a kid.
The program begins with Muddy Waters.
♪ I put a tiger in your tank♪
[Joe] One of the things I'’ve always noticed
about the blues forefathers, our heroes,
there'’s a dignity to their life.
It wasn'’t that they were rich men.
They were destitute and poor, but there was a dignity,
it was a quiet dignity that they all carried themselves with.
♪ I put a tiger in your tank♪
♪ I like the way You'’re looking♪
♪ Love your little car♪
♪ But the tires are too slow♪
♪ They can'’t go very far♪
I found with the tribute shows in the last three years,
my limitations as an artist and singer, especially,
have given the music a different twist.
You know, I can'’t walk up there and sing "Spoonful" like Howlin'’ Wolf.
I can'’t walk up there and sing "Spoonful" like Jack Bruce.
But I can sing it like myself
and do it with my utmost conviction.
♪ Want you to feel good So you jump and you shout♪
[blues music playing]
[Anton] Yeah, we were actually on the bus kinda studying
some of the old tapes, and it'’s just classic.
And they had such style and grace,
the way Muddy Waters and Howlin'’ Wolf
and a lot of the other guys were playing.
It'’s just so beautiful and so it'’s kinda really
like an honor to be playing the music.
You know, the thing about Joe is that he has been able
to take the blues and put it on a stadium level.
So it'’s like really, like huge.
It'’s almost like arena blues.
♪ I would rather be dead♪
♪ Sleeping six feet In the ground♪
[blues music playing]
♪ How many more years♪
[Roy] That'’s a big opportunity for Joe and for us in general,
to be able to celebrate other people'’s music,
do it in a way that supports a whole category of music known as the blues.
And ultimately it is a tribute to my influences,
but it'’s also done under
the Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation.
And the idea is to not only bring the blues
to another generation,
but it also is to raise money
so we can get kids some instruments in schools.
And if you give one kid the seed
and it grows and it comes out
to be the next big blues rock star.
Then I go, "You know what? I'’ve done my job."
I'’ve done what I set out to do so many years ago.
Not only have I developed a little career for myself, but I'’ve also helped others
the same way B.B. King helped me when I was 12 years old.
So that'’s kind of full circle.
Unfortunately, the funding for that stuff
has really dried up.
And if you don'’t keep the blues
somewhat in people'’s minds and in their hearts,
you know, it could easily fade away.
♪ Don'’t you know We'’re riding with the kings♪
[Roy] And consequently from that, the Three Kings was born.
And you know, this is a really interesting
opportunity for Joe, because talk about three artists
that really meant something to him,
in that, at the soul of who he is.
[blues music playing]
♪ When your down and out♪
♪ And you feel real hurt♪
♪ Come on over♪
♪ To the place where I work♪
♪ And all your loneliness♪
♪ I'’ll try to soothe♪
♪ I'’ll play the blues For you♪
[crowd cheering]
♪ If you'’re down and out♪
♪ And you feel real hurt♪
♪ Come on over♪
Freddie, Albert and, of course,
a mentor of mine, Mr. B.B. King.
And by paying tribute to them is not saying I'’m one of them.
It'’s music that I'’ve adored and loved and worshipped,
and to get the opportunity to play
in front of people with these great giant bands,
you know, 7-piece, 8-piece, 11-piece.
♪ Just come on in♪
♪ You might run across♪
♪ Some of your old friends♪
♪ All your loneliness♪
And the third concert, we paid tribute
to more on the guitar side,
Eric Clapton,
Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck,
book-ending it. The difference being the people
that Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page learned from,
we were tributing at the front.
And by the time, three years later,
we got to the students.
And I'’m a student of the students.
And that'’s one of the biggest things
that'’s not lost on me is the fact that this music
is passed down.
Almost, you know, it takes on a different form
every time it'’s passed down.
[rock music playing]
And every so often,
you kinda have to shuffle the deck of cards
and bring the blues back into the forefront,
or at least attempt to do that.
And that'’s what the whole Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation is designed to do.
It'’s designed to give away instruments and money
and promote all things blues in whatever, what style
of blues you like or what background or culture you'’re from.
I mean, it'’s like, that music moves people for a reason.
It has been for 100 years.
And it'’s all done without the help of computers
and it'’s honest, and it'’s honest music.
And whether it stacks up to what stuff'’s supposed to sound like today,
I don'’t care.
♪ I get lost in alibis♪
♪ Sadness can'’t prevail♪
♪ Everyone knows Strong love can'’t fail♪
♪ Don'’t be pretending♪
♪ About how you feel♪
♪ Don'’t be pretending♪
♪ That your love is real♪
♪ Don'’t be pretending♪
[Roy] I sometimes wonder myself, how hard is it to do this day in and day out?
And there'’s nobody more passionate than Joe Bonamassa.
when it comes to playing an instrument as a living.
There'’s no question in my mind that he loves what he does.
But you gotta wonder, still, how hard is it to do that
day in and day out?
To pick up an instrument,
and to give yourself to an audience in a way
where you'’re leaving every bit of emotion and soul
that you have on the stage when you walk off.
I mean, I don'’t think most people understand how hard that is.
♪ Pretending♪
[Joe] The next generation of the blues is gonna look
completely different than what it does now,
and what it did in the '’60s,
and certainly what it sounded like in the '’20s.
The youth of this generation
has access to an infinite amount of information,
an infinite amount of music,
an infinite amount of influences that will be mixed up
and it'’s gonna sound completely different
than how people like myself and my contemporaries
who are now in their early 40s listen to it.
I can say I played slide at the Crossroads, there you go. There'’s a bucket list thing.
So I'’m very interested to see where the influences are gonna come from,
and how the blues is going to be interpreted
in the next 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years.
After I'’m dead, I don'’t care.
[interviewer laughs]
♪ Who draws the crowd And plays so loud♪
♪ Baby, it'’s the guitar man♪
♪ Who'’s gonna steal the show You know, baby♪
♪ It'’s the guitar man♪
♪ He can make you love♪
♪ And he can make you cry♪
♪ He will bring you down And then he'’ll get you high♪
♪ Something keeps him going Miles and miles a day♪
♪ To find another Place to play♪
♪ Night after night Who treats you right♪
♪ Baby, it'’s the guitar man♪
♪ Who'’s on the radio♪
♪ You go and listen To the guitar man♪
♪ Then he comes to town And you see his face♪
♪ And you think you might Like to take his place♪
♪ Something keeps Him drifting...♪
That was in that photo.
It'’s what? Four?
Four generations.Four generations.
That trumpet is from about probably
the mid-1920s to early 1930s.
But it started the whole--
Yeah, it started it.
The whole musical thing.
♪ You want to get The meaning♪
♪ Out of each And every song♪
♪ So you find yourself A message and the words♪
♪ To call your own♪
♪ You take them home♪
But you can'’t be in Rosedale, Mississippi without...
stopping here.
One of my favorite Robert Johnson songs
is a song called "Hot Tamales."
And here is most likely the inspiration for that song.
And oddly enough, it says Joe'’s.
So, White Front Cafe, Joe'’s Hot Tamale place.
So there you go.
You can'’t come all this way not say
a little something about that.
And it'’s a Mississippi historical preservation site,
as it should be.
See, just a gem.
There you go.
♪ Something keeps Him moving♪
♪ But no one Seems to know♪
♪ What it is that Makes him go♪
♪ Then the lights Begin to flicker♪
♪ And the sound Is getting dim♪
♪ The voice begins To falter♪
♪ And the crowds Are getting thin♪
♪ But he never Seems to notice♪
♪ He'’s just got to find Another place to play♪
♪ Fade away♪
♪ He'’s got to play♪
♪ Fade away♪
♪ Got to play♪
♪ Fade away♪