UNFINISHED BUSINESS
WHEN JOE BONAMASSA was a budding blues guitar prodigy, Danny Gatton took the youngster under his wing. Nicknamed both the Telemaster and the Humbler, Gatton was an immensely talented player who worked a muscular fusion of blues, rockabilly and country he called “redneck jazz.” Gracious to a fault, the elder guitarist not only gave his 12-year-old charge numerous one-to-one lessons and tips but even brought him up onstage to perform with him. Footage on YouTube shows a young teenage Joe demonstrating the kind of chops and improvisational creativity most guitarists spend a lifetime trying to achieve, and today the guitarist credits Gatton’s attention and influence as factors behind his skill and success.
Though Bonamassa has frequently acknowledged the debt he owes Gatton, he’s never explicitly demonstrated the elder player’s influence in his music, until now. On his latest album, the instrumental (J&R Adventures), Bonamassa turns in a batch of guitar-centric tunes that replicate the diversity of material—and, of course, the stunning guitar work — that Gatton typically featured on his own albums. Credited to the Sleep Eazys, features Bonamassa’s touring band, including Double Trouble keyboardist Reese Wynans, bassist Michael Rhodes, drummer Anton Fig, trumpeter Lee Thornburg and saxophonist Paulie Cerra, among others. Joining the crew are harmonica player Jimmy Hall and guitar great (and multi-instrumentalist) John Jorgenson, who lends his signature fretwork to nearly every track []. The musicians cover a host of guitar classics like Link Wray’s “Ace of Spades,” Jimmy Bryant’s, and the Frank Sinatra standard “It Was a Very Good Year,” on which he and his band put a spaghetti-western spin on the original Nelson Riddle arrangement.
