Joe Bonamassa’s mission to keep blues guitar alive and kicking continues apace with the release of the latest single from his forthcoming studio album, Blues Deluxe Vol 2. This time out, Bonamassa is putting a quintessentially British blues spin on Guitar Slim’s Well, Well, I Done Got Over It.
The track is the third to be shared ahead of the 6 October release of Blues Deluxe Vol 2, following covers of Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters’ I Want To Shout About It and Bobby Bland’s Twenty-Four Hours Blues.
Blues Deluxe Vol 2 is produced by Bonamassa’s good friend and production partner Josh Smith, and comprises eight covers and two original tracks.
Bonamassa credits his old man for turning him onto Guitar Slim. But it also didn’t hurt matters that Slim was holding a Gold Top on the front cover of the album – another vintage electric guitar we can credit for giving Bonamassa the bug in a big way.
“My father introduced me to Guitar Slim a long time ago, back when I was a kid,” says Bonamassa. “There was a compilation album called Best of Guitar Slim and it was him on the cover and he was cradling one of these Gold Top Les Pauls and I was a fan ever since. He has such a velvety smooth voice, and he had such a way of delivering a song.”
By the sounds of it, Bonamassa turned the clock back to 1962 for his tone and consulted the Nerdville archive for dig out an Bluesbreaker tube amp.
“We did a very British take on this Guitar Slim song, it’s like the Blues Breakers meets Guitar Slim meets Joe Bonamassa, Josh Smith and company,” he says.
Slim was born Eddie Jones on 10 December 1926, in Greenwood, Mississippi, and did not have it easy. His mother died when he was five. He was raised by his grandmother, working cotton fields before finding his calling on the guitar. That look he had on the cover Bonamassa references is one that could only be described as deep affection; he was cradling that Gold Top, all right, and he knew just how to make it sing.
Slim's most famous tune was The Things That I Used to Do, which he tracked in New Orleans in the company of Ray Charles. The next generation of players where paying close attention. Jimi Hendrix was paying attention. And with the generation after that, so too was Bonamassa.
Bonamassa’s Blues Deluxe Vol 2 also features covers of Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac, Albert King and more. It is available to preorder now and is out on all formats on 6 October through J&R Adventures. You can stream the new single here. See Joe Bonamassa for more details.
