When he's not recording or performing, what kind of music does Joe like to listen to during his "down time"? "Depends on the mood that I'm in," he says. "I could just as easily put on Son House as Iron Maiden, Freddie King or Black Sabbath...that kind of stuff." Is there any single musician that he would like to play with that he hasn't yet during his lengthy career? "If Jeff Beck asked me to sing blues songs with him, I probably wouldn't say 'no.' I checked a few people off my list last year...I got Steve Winwood, and Eric Clapton, that was a big thrill."
Black Country
Bonamassa has another trick up his sleeve for 2010 – the formation of a blues-rock supergroup! Bonamassa will provide guitar and vocals for the new band, and will be joined by bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple), drummer Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin), and keyboardist Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater), all three talented solo performers with strong blues and rock backgrounds. They were going to call themselves Black Country, taking the name from the industrial area in England from which Bonham and Hughes both hail, until they found out that another band owns the name.
"I've known Glenn Hughes for about four years," says Bonamassa, "and we just wanted to do something fun so we decided to start a band. The whole reason for the band was so that we didn't make this cheesy, Bonahughes or Hughsamassa quick weekend blues records." The unnamed band has been in the studio with Bonamassa's long-time producer Kevin Shirley, who has also worked with the Black Crowes and Aerosmith, recording tracks for an album to be released in late-2010 or early 2011. The resulting album is going to be a rock record, "Very British in sound and inception, but just a straight rock record." (phone interview conducted on March 10, 2010)
