Working Man

He May Be the Hardest Working Man in Show Biz, and 2017 Looks to Be No Different for Joe Bonamassa. Here, the Blues Ace Details His Numerous Plans for the Coming Year and Sheds Some Light on How He Simplified His Approach to Tone.

- Andy Aledort

WHAT RECORDING PROJECTS DO YOU HAVE PLANNED FOR 2017?

BONAMASSA My most current release is Joe Bonamassa: Live at the Greek Theater, which is our tribute to the “three Kings,” Albert, B.B. and Freddie King. Beginning January 3rd I’ll be in the studio with Black Country Communion, my rock project with Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham and Derek Sherinian. So far, Glenn and I have written about 14 new songs, and we are going to try to bang out another half-dozen before we start to do the record. Ideally, what we are trying to do is to make an “all-killer” album, so if we have 15 tracks we like but 10 we really love, let’s just focus on the 10 strongest tunes. And if it fits on a vinyl record, even better!

Glenn and I spoke after his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year [as a member of Deep Purple], and part of the impetus is that I realized that it’s been five years since we’ve made music together. He and I work well together—we finish each other’s sentences, musically speaking. Life is too short to put things off indefinitely, so I reached out to everyone and they were all into it. We make good music together and it’s fun, and I am really looking forward to it.

You have always pulled from a lot of different styles and sounds in your own music. Can you put into words what makes it special to work with someone like Glenn Hughes?