Joe Bonamassa - Black Rock

180 Gram Vinyl! Featuring Guest Artist B.B. King! Includes 5 Originals + Covers of Otis Rush, Leonard Cohen, John Hiatt, Willie Nelson & More!

As Joe Bonamassa grows his reputation as one of the world's greatest guitar players, he is also evolving into a charismatic blues-rock star and singer-songwriter of stylistic depth and emotional resonance. His ability to connect with live concert audiences is transformational.

In May '09, he played to a sold out crowd at London's Royal Albert Hall, arguably the most prestigious concert venue in the world. During the show, Bonamassa's hero, Eric Clapton, joined him on stage for a joint-performance of Clapton's hit "Further On Up The Road." London's The Independent said about the show, "The man has arrived, and there's no turning back."

In 2009, Joe was awarded the Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award at the U.K.'s prestigious Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards and Classic Rock magazine has said, "They're calling him the future of blues, but they're wrong – Joe Bonamassa is the present; so fresh and of his time that he almost defines it." He was also named Best Blues Guitarist in Guitar Player Magazine's 2009 Readers' Choice Awards for the third consecutive year. Guitar Player writer Matt Blackett has said, "He's an old soul, and that comes through in his bends, vibrato, singing voice, and note choices, which – with each passing year – get more restrained and refined."

2009 also marked Bonamassa's twentieth year as a professional musician, an extraordinary timeline for a young artist just into his '30s. A child prodigy, Bonamassa was finessing Stevie Ray Vaughan licks when he was seven and by the time he was ten, had caught B.B. King's ear. After first hearing him play, King said, "This kid's potential is unbelievable. He hasn't even begun to scratch the surface. He's one of a kind." By age 12, Bonamassa was opening shows for the blues icon and went on to tour with venerable acts including Buddy Guy, Foreigner, Robert Cray, Stephen Stills, Joe Cocker and Gregg Allman.

"It's a sign of Joe Bonamassa's increasing profile that he got blues legend B.B. King to guest on his eighth album Black Rock -- and if what you're doing is good enough to rope B.B. in, there's not much reason to change, so Bonamassa doesn't tinker with his formula here, retaining a little of the folky undertow of The Ballad of John Henry, but with its remaining roots in a thick, heavy blues-rock more redolent of '60s London than the '50s Delta... [H]e retains a healthy respect for all manners of classic blues... Bonamassa has an ear for non-blues writers too, cherrypicking Leonard Cohen's 'Bird on a Wire' and John Hiatt's 'I Know a Place,' tying it all together with beefy lead lines, but the provocative moments on Black Rock are all self-penned, whether it's the clattering stomp 'When the Fire Hits the Sea,' the British folk lilt of 'Quarryman's Lament' and 'Athens to Athens,' or the droning dramatic epic 'Blue and Evil.' These are easily the most intriguing songs here." - Stephen Thomas Erlewine, allmusic.com

Features:
• 180 Gram Vinyl
• Import LP

Selections:
Side A:
1. Steal Your Heart Away (Bobby Parker)
2. I Know A Place (John Hiatt)
3. When The Fire Hits The Sea (Joe Bonamassa)
4. Quarryman's Lament (Joe Bonamassa)
5. Spanish Boots (Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, Ron Wood)
6. Bird On A Wire(Leonard Cohen)
7. Three Times A Fool (Otis Rush)
Side B:
1. Night Life (Willie Nelson, Walter Breeland, Paul Buskirk)(sung with BB King)
2. Wandering Earth (Joe Bonamassa)
3. Look Over Yonders Wall (James Clark)
4. Athens To Athens (Joe Bonamassa)
5. Blue And Evil (Joe Bonamassa)
6. Baby You Gotta Change Your Mind (Blind Boy Fuller)