Hi, this is Joe Bonamassa, and you're listening
to My Weekly Mixtape with your host, Brian Colton.
Welcome to My Weekly Mixtape, a podcast that
takes the classic mixtape approach. to building
a modern playlist. I'm your host, Brian Colburn.
Back in 2003 at a CD listening station at my
local record shop, I discovered this evening's
guest and was instantly hooked. A few weeks later,
I took a group of friends and my now wife to
the Mexicali Blues Cafe in Teaneck, New Jersey
to catch this gentleman's power trio live. promising
my friends and family an evening of blues music
they would never forget. And I'm happy to say
that promise was beyond fulfilled. Now, here
we are 20 plus years and 27 number one albums
on the Billboard Blues chart later. It's my absolute
honor to welcome modern blues legend Joe Bonamassa
to my weekly mixtape. Joe, thank you so much
for joining me, man. Well, you know, interesting
about Mexicali blues. It was a blues club. They
did jam bands. They served Mexican food. And
it was run by a Jewish guy who loved the blues.
Yes. Eli. And if that doesn't tell you that music
is multicultural and is the universal language,
I don't know what else to tell you. That place
had everybody represented. And yeah, those are
fond memories of those gigs there in Teaneck,
just over the bridge. Yeah, we're not too far
from there right now. I'm in Port Chester, New
York tonight. The legendary Capitol Theater.
Two nights here, and then we have five more to
go after that. So we're almost done. Not done
yet, but almost. Well, I'd like to start by asking
you the question I ask all of my first -time
guests, and that is, what does the word mixtape
mean to you? Back in the 80s, because we used
to... One kid would have a cassette, and then
it was the dual tape deck, and you could copy
one song into the neck, and you were basically
getting the music for free. It was a very analog
Spotify. And, you know, it really is the definition
of compilations. Maybe you don't want to listen
to a whole album. Maybe you want to listen to
25 of your favorite songs. all in a row. Now
you have the opportunity. You could just, your
playlist could be endless, literally infinite.
But you have, I think on a cassette you had,
um, what, maybe 20 minutes aside, 30 minutes
aside. And, uh, yeah. And that, that was, that's
how, that's how we did it. And you trade them
and you'd be like, Hey, I got some, you know,
I got, I got a Stevie Ray Vaughan live track
and some Robert Cray and some whatever, you know.
And that's how you discovered music. And that's
how you consumed music back then. Well, it's
no secret that you're a guitar connoisseur of
sorts. And while some people might call it a
collection, I'm going to refer to it as an army
of guitars, which at this moment sits at over
500, if I'm correct. It's definitely a collection.
I think the amount of guitars is past 650 by
number. Wow. But, you know, the thing about collecting
is you, I always tell people, you collect what
you like. You never want to have, don't let anybody
else spend your money. So if you like a certain
type of guitar, if you like those kind of esoteric,
weird guitars from high school, Japanese guitars
from the 70s, and if you're surrounded by that
kind of stuff and you really love it, then there's
nothing wrong with it. Never let anybody tell
you, like, well, you really, you need one of
these, one of these, if you don't have any interest
in it. My interests are, you know, I like...
Fender and Gibson solid body guitars from the
years, probably 1950 to about 1965. And that
makes up those 15 years of both Gibson and Fender
make up the majority of my collection. So then
my follow -up to that is when you're in the studio
recording, how do you decide, you know what I
want? to go with this sound for this guitar.
Do you record several tracks using different
guitars to try to find the right tone? Certain
songs are just obvious. You know what I mean?
Like, you need a Strat for this, or if I'm producing
a record with Josh, you know, he'll be the Tele
guy, I'll be the Gibson guy, you know, and we'll
play rhythm on those tracks. And it just, you
know, the maturity of my collection is museum
grade, meaning that it's completely unmodified,
completely in mint condition. with no changes
whatsoever. Some guitars didn't have the original
strings. Now those guitars don't need to be disturbed
and beat up for anything. And, you know, but
I have stuff that I do play, you know, the stuff
that's on the road and it's on, you know, I play
that. And then there's also the stuff that, you
know, isn't in mint condition that you just go,
you just grab it and you're like, this is going
to be killer. And it sounds great. And it, but
it plays well, you know, and it's got frets and
it's, you know, so you have to, you know, you
have to, if you're just a collector of things.
And then you want to buy the cleanest, most original
example of whatever you're collecting, because
that will always hold a value. If you're a player,
you don't want to drive a race car with bald
tires. So, yeah, I have to toe the line. I can't
just go on a collector and, you know, whatever,
and never play any of it. But I have to have
some of it that is modded, or not modded, but
just, you know, maintained, meaning that there's
new frets on it. you know, everything works.
Well, back on episode 60, I was fortunate enough
to talk with a friend of yours, Walter Trout.
Nice. And we talked about your collaboration,
Clouds on the Horizon, for his Full Circle album.
And during our sit down, Walter and I talked
about something that I've always been blown away
by, and that's the technique of volume swells.
And it's actually what drew me to purchase. The
copy of Blues Deluxe 21 years ago was your use
of volume swells in the title track. I'd love
to know your mindset behind volume swells in
songs, because I feel like it's something that
impacts the song so much. Well, I mean, it takes
the guitar out of the guitar world, meaning that
it sounds more like a cello or a violin. And,
you know, I learned from watching people like
Walter Trout, who's wonderful at it with a strat.
He has a really cool technique where it's really
fast and it's almost like a tremolo. And then
there's people like Danny Gatton and Roy Buchanan.
And those are the, you know, so when I do the
volume, it's generally on a telly. And you can
channel that, but it just puts it in a different
realm. It just brings you to a place where. people
lean into it. You know, you want, there's parts
of the show you want people lean into. Then there's
parts of the show you want to pin them in the
back of their seat. And it's usually, it's a
very dynamic way of delivering a solo. And I've
used it my whole life. And again, I learned by
watching Walter and Danny was a mentor of mine.
And I didn't never met Robbie Cannon, but I certainly
heard, you know, Livestock and Town Hall in New
York. And, you know, that version of Roy's blues
is haunting. And it's all because of that, that
volume swell, you know, and it's like, you know,
something dark, there's some dark demons in that
man. You know what I mean? Like that's, that's,
he's not projecting, you know, he's, he's, or,
you know, he's not acting. He is that, that those,
those are the, he's summoning the demons. Well,
I am, and it is no shock to anyone that listens
to this show on the regular, a huge fan of cover
songs and reinterpretations. And something that
has impressed me over the years throughout your
career is your choosing of cover songs, songs
that you're going to take and put your own stamp
on. And two of my personal Mount Rushmore covers.
are both your version of Slow Gin, which was
originally recorded by actor and singer Tim Curry,
as well as Prisoner, which was originally recorded
by Barbra Streisand. What makes you say to yourself,
that's a song that's a great cover to add to
my arsenal? Slow Gin was Kevin, Kevin Shirley,
my producer. And Prisoner was also Kevin's idea.
But Slow Gin was a hit in South Africa. He heard
it in South Africa. And it was written by Bob
Ezrin, legendary producer, and Michael Kamen.
And I know Bob. And I said, Bob, when were you
aware that I had cut Slow Gin? He goes, when
the royalty checks started coming. I was like,
well, fair enough. And I was like, okay. He goes,
somebody cut Slow Gin? And it's a great desperate
booze. Same thing with Prince. It really inherently
is a death threat. Somebody stinging their ass
off trying to get themselves out of emoting.
But yeah, I mean, the thing is, all of us are
interpreters. There's not many people that you
can really, especially modern ones, that have
never done a cover, that have never recorded
anything other than their own music and never
co -wrote with anyone. So we're all interpreters
in some way, but it's not, you know, I mean,
look at the jam band circuit. I mean, the bands
will learn the entirety of the Beatles' White
Album and then play it at a night, and then the
next night they're doing something else. And
it's like, you're taking your fans on a journey
that is, you know, worth it. And that's knowing
how to read your fan base, for sure. And that's
something that you do a lot in your live shows
because I own. probably more Joe Bonamassa live
albums than I do any other artists. And that's
because every single time you release a live
album, it's a completely different experience
going back to when you used the Royal Albert
Hall, where you use the Doobie Brothers dual
drummers approach. You had the four night tour
de force where each night you did a different
venue in London. You've done acoustic evenings.
And then the two songs we mentioned, Slow Gin
and Prisoner are on your latest release, which
is. live at the Hollywood Bowl with an orchestra.
Are there other live avenues that you feel like
you want to tackle in your career? Because I
feel like each time you put out a live album,
it's truly a unique and different experience
for the fans. Well, we're running out of ideas,
to be honest with you. It's the Hollywood Bowl.
And yeah, there's only so many live adventures.
I mean, we will revisit the orchestra at some
point. I want to do an ancient Greek amphitheater
one day, like a theme show. We have this thing
coming up next year that we're doing in Ireland
that's yet to be announced, which will be really
exciting. And maybe that's it. I don't have many
years left in this thing. Maybe a decade before
I just retire. I've done this 36 years. We're
taking this thing up to maybe a 45 -year career,
and that's great enough. We go enjoy. my life
and not work every single day you know and that's
and everybody goes no you're still a young man
you can go for another 35 40 years that's not
me that is not gonna happen there's only so many
pitches in this arm and use them wisely from
here on out well digging just a little bit deeper
into the orchestra album watching that blu -ray
and seeing that show unfold That truly brought
a unique level of dynamics to the songs that,
while it's there on the studio album, is even
more amplified in that setting. What was that
like rehearsing and getting the orchestra ready
for that show, for that performance? It was union
-rific. We rehearsed the day before. We had the
charts. We had been doing shows with Jeff Bova
and his Bova Orchestra, as he calls it, a keyboard.
He's got all these crazy sounds in there. And
he orchestrated a bunch of the Hollywood Bowl.
And he was nice enough to come tour with us.
Jeff doesn't tour. Yeah. He just doesn't tour.
I go, how do you get Jeff Bowler to come on?
He asked him. And we've been working together
almost 20 years. So we had the grid. And then
just putting the orchestra. Then it was the challenge
of getting the volume. The volume right for the
orchestra is very difficult. They don't like
loud guitars. I'm kind of a loud guitar band.
So I think we definitely. came to a good compromise.
And you hear it on the film. You know, I mean,
it's wonderfully mixed by Kevin, and it was just
a major project. Like, even over a year ago,
we did this. And so, yeah, that was a big show.
Now, I actually have to bring up back in the
90s when Metallica did the first S &M tour with
an orchestra. I went to the Madison Square Garden
show. And the one thing I remember was the challenge
you talked about, because during the first set,
nobody heard the orchestra because the band was
so loud. And then during the second set, they
had figured it out. You guys had one crack at
this and you guys really nailed it. We nailed
it. These DVD things, there's always something
that's going to go wrong on the night that never
has happened before in 35 years of touring, especially
when you have all the money on the line. And
luckily, we did a thing with the orchestra where
I opened for myself at the Hollywood Bowl. The
Hollywood Bowl required us to have an opening
act. And I said, well, we don't usually have
an opening act. And we have a lot of lines out
and it's critical all these get recorded. We
didn't really want to move anything, especially
at that gig. So I said, you know what? Narcissism
101. Who better to do it? So we opened for ourselves.
So we went out there, did 45 minutes of just
like straight seven piece and then took a half
hour break and then came out and played 90 minutes
with the orchestra and called it a day. Unbelievable.
Well, your latest studio album is the companion
to Blues Deluxe entitled Blues Deluxe Volume
2. It's now a year old. So I have to ask, as
somebody who's constantly putting out new material,
are you in the studio right now working on the
follow up to Blues Deluxe Volume 2? I mean, we
have tracks recorded, but I don't know when it's
going to come out. I don't know when it's going
to be finished. The world doesn't need another
Giovanna Monster record right away. So we got
the Hollywood Bowl. We had Blues Deluxe last
year. We'll put out some singles this year or
maybe next year, and then we'll just date. I
mean, I don't know how many albums I have left.
I mean, it's like how many – I'm not even sure
if the album format is going to be relevant in
10 years. It's like who's making CDs? Who has
a CD player? I mean, I'm on a tour bus. Music
tour bus. There's no CD player in here. And it's
like I don't have one on my computer. I don't
have one out here. You don't even have them in
the new cars. 59 minute record i'm seeing it
become less and less relevant you know so i think
we're back to you know a and b side singles you
know because even the general notion when you're
dealing with a streaming kind of business you're
releasing 10 of the 11 songs anyway before the
album comes out to keep the algorithm or whatever
spotify thing is and and and so you're you're
basically just turning out singles and then the
12th song or the 11th song is your that was a
full -length album like Who cares at that point?
They've heard most of it. And you're going to
dump the junk at the end, and you're going to
put the good songs first. I mean, that's just
how it's going to work, you know? So, I don't
know. I don't know in the next one. Well, I know
you have recently released Better the Devil You
Know, which is to mark the 10th anniversary of
your Different Shades of Blue album. This was
a song you co -wrote with Jonathan Cain, A Journey.
I have to ask, it's such a wonderful song, and
I hope this doesn't come across as flip, but
how did this song not make the original cut of
the album? I don't remember. I truly don't remember
the thought process. I think it may have been
just redundancy of groove. you know we got one
that sounds like that or one that's in the same
kind of you know whatever uh every record has
extra track and sometimes you regret not putting
them on there and sometimes you carry them over
and i think that's been our you know i mean there's
never a record that doesn't have an extra track
or two there's some i want deleted but but yeah
Well, along with recording and touring, you recently
launched Journeyman LLC alongside of your longtime
manager, Roy Weissman, which is a one -stop shop
with the goal of building awareness for independent
artists worldwide. Can you talk about stepping
out of the role as the musician and performer
and kind of going into this role as kind of bringing
up and fostering new up and coming talent? Well,
we've always done that. Journeyman is basically
my career. applied to somebody else the vertical
integration of it all you do your own merch you
do your own records you do your own touring you
do your own marketing and you know we're doing
that with robert john in the rack and we're doing
it with joanne shaw taylor and it's been working
out you know things are happening and joanne
feels like she has the wind in her back you know
for the first time and that's that's a great
feeling she's really a super talented artist
and same thing with robert john on the rack you
know that you put some marketing money into this
thing and And hopefully, you know, they get it
to the point where they can start popping good
numbers on the road and self -sustaining, pay
for it all. And then, you know, make a profit
and build a career and a business. You know,
it's really a business building event. Not as
much as a situation where you can, you know,
you can't apply it to everyone, but it does apply
to more artists than you think. Because recently
I did an episode with a female blues guitarist,
Jax Hollow, on modern blues artists. And there
are so many out there that are making a name
for themselves. There is a blues scene out there
that continues to thrive. And I'd like to know,
do you have your eyes on other artists to maybe
bring on to Journeyman moving forward? We're
concentrating on two, you know, because when
we came up, when I came up, we had our entire
mechanism was concentrated on one artist. And
it was me. And it really does take a lot of people
to do that, you know. And, you know, our office
is 22 people. And we're bringing on more people
to run these things. And it just becomes, you
know, we want to make sure that nobody falls
through the cracks. So less is more. Well, Joe,
this has been an absolute honor. Been a fan for
so long. I love what you're doing out there.
Thank you for keeping the blues alive. And thank
you so much for joining me on My Weekly Mixtape.
I appreciate it, man. Thanks for doing this.
And for those of you listening, I've created
the ultimate Joe Bonamassa playlist, at least
in my humble opinion, that you could listen to
over at myweeklymixtape .com. And remember, you
can also find My Weekly Mixtape on all the social
media haunts at My Weekly Mixtape. You can also
head to myweeklymixtape .com to check out the
full catalog of My Weekly Mixtape episodes. And
if you like what you're hearing on the show,
you can help me out by either telling a friend,
leaving the show a five -star review wherever
you're tuning in, or becoming a Patreon mixtaper
at patreon .com forward slash myweeklymixtape.
That's all for this week. Thanks again for listening.
And until next time, enjoy the tunes.