In the latest edition of My Weekly Mixtape, blues guitar legend Joe Bonamassa dives into the stories behind the songs from throughout his entire discography. He also discusses his collection of over 650 vintage guitars, his approach to cover-songs such as "Sloe Gin" (originally written by Bob Ezrin & recorded by actor & singer Tim Curry) and "Prisoner" (originally recorded by Barbara Stresiand); his latest release Live At The Hollywood Bowl w/ Orchestra, his release of "Better The Devil You Know" (a song he co-wrote with Journey’s Jonathan Cain) to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of his Different Shades Of Blue album, and more.
On His Next Studio Album
Bonamassa: "The world doesn't need another Joe Bonamassa 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 see. 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'm on a tour bus... a music tour bus. There's no CD player in here. You don't even have them in the new cars, so the concept of a 12 song, 59 min record, I'm seeing it become less and less relevant. I think we're back to A and B-side singles, 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 the Spotify thing is. And so you're basically just churning out singles. And then the 12th song or the 11th song is your... that is a full length album. But like, who cares at that point? They've heard most of it. And you're gonna dump the junk at the end. And you're gonna put the good songs first, I mean that's just how it's gonna work. So I don't know. I don't know when the next one is."
On Retiring From Music
Bonamassa: "I don't have many years left in this thing. I'd like 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. You know, let me go enjoy my life and not work every single day. 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."
Check out the interview below or via Spotify here.
In the video clip below, taken from The Collection: Joe Bonamassa, Joe tells Gibson TV host Mark Agnesi about the incredible story behind his 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard, “Lazarus” – a 1959 Les Paul that was painted over in candy apple red by its previous owner, who simply didn’t like the sunburst look at the time.
Watch as Joe retells this incredible story of this once-lost 1959 Les Paul and how he came to own this storied guitar that was originally bought in 1963 for just $100 and painted candy apple red by its previous owner. It was hiding its true identity when Joe and his fellow guitar collectors discovered it. Joe shares how he uncovered this gem at a Christmas party in Sherman Oaks, California, and after identifying the actual year of the guitar via specific sections of the guitar that the original owner failed to paint over, Joe realized that this was a special guitar.
Learn how it was carefully restored to its original glory after making an offer to the new owner who kindly sold it to him, and see why Joe named it “Lazarus” and what makes this guitar so special compared to other Les Pauls in his collection. Not only does it now have a unique finish, but the amount of people it took to restore “Lazarus” and the journey it took to get back to its original form makes it a very special guitar indeed. For guitar enthusiasts, this story is incredible and, as Joe puts it, one of his best discoveries ever.
