Joe Bonamassa - Blues Deluxe Vol.2.

Joe Bonamassa
Blues Deluxe Vol.2
(J&R Adventures)
By Paul Davies
            Blues lovers travel hopefully scouring back catalogues for hidden gems or smart reinterpretations of classics whilst always keeping an ear out for new artists and original tunes. As this genre’s hard-earned prime mover, Joe Bonamassa does all of this and much more as his Journeyman label, production duties and guiding hand in helping artists garner exposure continually prove. He’s a modern-day blues fairy godfather; a wizard even. The blues gushes out of every pore like his creative plumbing is working overtime and can’t be contained. This twenty-year-in-the-waiting follow-up to Joe’s inaugural Blues Deluxe album sums up all of this in his chosen tunes and in the exquisite fashion that they are rendered.

             The ten carefully chosen tracks are beautifully shaped into Joe’s image as he lets himself, and his crack band of players, loose as they explore the backwaters of the blues. To listen to all the musicians, swamp their skill set all over these blues immersions is a repeated joy. Take the opening track, Bobby 'Blue' Bland's Twenty-Four-Hour Blues, Joe moulds this song into a blues-rock fusillade of licks and tricks replete with a whip-smart horn and string arrangement. It's like an once favourite but slightly neglected jacket that’s been re-tailored into something new but with all its past features and comforts fitting just right.

            Each re-casted track can be pored over with wordy garlands such as Guitar Slim's Well, I Done Got Over It or the Albert King performed You Sure Drive A Hard Bargain. Joe's and Tom Hambridge's original song, Hope You Realize It, again fits tailor-made into this collection. Not falling into the obvious song choice trap, this selection of songs digs and delves deeply into the blues hinterland giving a major fanfare to the fun vibes of Pee Wee Crayton's Win-O and Ronnie Earle & The Broadcasters I Want To Shout About It. And this is exactly what Joe & Co. do with controlled and delightful abandon.