Joe Bonamassa [2022]

<p>After moving back to New York City, Joe Bonamassa spent some lockdown time in Germano Studios in Manhattan’s NoHo neighborhood, tightly winding the music for his latest album,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.premierguitar.com/artists/guitarists/joe-bonamassa" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Time Clocks</em></a>. His longtime producer Joe Shirley had to work with the powerhouse guitarist remotely, from his home in Australia. Yet the result is as seamlessly Bonamassa as ever, with riveting guitar work that has echoes ranging from Africa to Led Zeppelin. “My ADD transcends into my musical life,” the other JB told longtime&nbsp;<em>Premier Guitar</em>&nbsp;contributor Joe Charupakorn in our December feature. “It’s a very different record for me. It’s not a blues record, for sure. I just try to make records that don’t bore me all the way through—we’ve got this groove covered, we’ve got that groove covered, let’s put a sorbet in, something out of left field.”</p><p>They don’t serve sorbet at Nashville’s hallowed Ryman Auditorium music hall—although I’m putting that in their suggestion box. But Bonamassa did dish out plenty of guitar flambé at his August 2 headliner there. And melded the music of&nbsp;<em>Time Clocks</em>&nbsp;with a selection of some of his favorite classic and original blues.&nbsp;<em>PG</em>’s JB—that’s me—connected with Joe onstage before the show, where I also did a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.premierguitar.com/gear/rig-rundown-joe-bonamassa-2018" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rig Rundown</a>&nbsp;with that other guy with my initials in 2018.</p><p>This time, there were some new members of Bonamassa’s ever-growing-and-shrinking collection of gear—which he spoke about at length earlier this year with Cory Wong on the rhythm guitar kingpin’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.premierguitar.com/podcast/wong-notes/joe-bonamassa-interview-podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wong Notes podcast</a>&nbsp;for P<em>G</em>—pressed into service, including some recent-arrival Les Paul