Not even 50 years old, Joe Bonamassa is arguably the most important white blues guitarist of the modern era. Although the New Yorker often cites English guitar heroes Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Paul Kossoff and Peter Green as key influences, their Irish counterparts Rory Gallagher and Gary Moore were equally vital to his development.
Next summer, during a typically busy 12 months, Bonamassa pays tribute to Gallagher with three shows in Cork, Ireland. Here he explains to Classic Rock why.
What’s the story behind these tribute shows to Rory Gallagher?
The idea came from the Gallagher family – Dónal [Rory’s younger brother and manager] and Daniel [his nephew and archivist] – and a gentleman from Ireland named Peter Aiken [promoter] who wanted to do something to celebrate next year’s thirtieth anniversary of Rory’s passing. When they reached out I said: “You had me at hello.” Then I thought about it and went: “Shit, what did I just sign up for?”
You’ve said the shows will be “the biggest honour and challenge of my musical life”.
And they will be. But we’ve put together a great band featuring [bassist] Aongus Ralston, [keyboard player] Lachy Doley and Jeremy Stacey [drums, King Crimson and Sheryl Crow]. Before starting rehearsal I told Dónal, Daniel and Peter: “I’m not Rory; I don’t want to be a tribute act that replicates all the little glitches and mistakes. I’m going to be myself.” And they said that’s exactly what they want. Having heard that, I could relax. It’s proven very popular, and from two shows it became three.
Why does Rory mean so much to you?
I never thought I would be forty-seven years old – forty-eight by the time the shows happen – and doing a set of Rory based on [the legendary double live album] Irish Tour ’74. And doing it in Cork. But here we are. Let’s boogie. It won’t be perfect but it’ll be the best I can. It’s like all of the tribute shows I’ve done, with The Three Kings [blues legends Freddie, Albert and BB] and the one to Clapton, Beck & Page, you just have to go in there with conviction and show the fans how much the music means. But that’s me, I’ll never back down from a challenge.
You would have been eighteen when Rory died in 1995, so you most likely never met him.
Nope. I never saw him live either. I wish I had.
If you were able to talk to him now, what would you like to ask him?
I would ask how he got so deeply into the blues. You can hear his Celtic influences, and there was a swing that he put into everything, but Rory really was the sum of his parts. He soaked up everything and put it all out in his own way. The further we got into rehearsals, I began to realise that I was more deeply influenced by Rory even than Clapton. I went: “Oh shit!” I will also include some acoustic guitar songs, because Rory was beyond brilliant at that. Even his mandolin playing was next level.
The advert says: “One-time only”. So this is never to be repeated?
We’re not going to tour it. I’m so flattered that the Gallagher family would ask this of me… [pauses]. I’m not going to take this to Des Moines, Iowa, though there’s every chance of a couple of Rory songs being Easter-egged into my live set. But the whole show? No.
Presumably it will be documented.
Oh, I’m sure [producer] Kevin Shirley will have a [recording] rig.
You do a more traditional five-date solo tour of the UK in the coming spring.
I’m moving in, man. We arrive there in late April, and with my solo dates, an orchestral date in Holland and the Black Country Communion shows, I won’t leave [Europe] until the end of August.
It’s three years since Time Clocks, your most recent album of all-original material. What can you tell us about any plans you have for a new studio solo album?
That’ll probably take a couple of years. For the first time in my career I just don’t feel the overwhelming need to make a solo record. We’ve so many things going on. My orchestral record Live At The Hollywood Bowl is out, and I’ve just made a new album with [jazz-funk side project] Rock Candy Funk Party that will be out next summer, and I’ve just produced an album for [blues veteran] Larry McCray. I’ve got some individual songs, but as far as an album goes I need to recharge my batteries.
Black Country Communion have announced gigs in Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany. Will the band also playing in the UK?
Jesus Christ, I hope so. [Laughing] The band is named after a damned region of your country. I would be excited by that. It’ll be the first time since 2011 that we have played a bus tour together. Honestly, the band is playing as good as it ever has done, and we’re getting along better than ever. We’re older and wiser. We’re having fun. As far as I’m concerned the last record [V, released in the summer] is possibly our best so far. Love us or hate us, we’re unapologetically a band that really would have been fucking big back in 1976.
Joe Bonamassa’s arena tour begins on April 21, and he plays his Rory gigs in Cork on July 1, 2 and 3. Get tickets.
