Joe Bonamassa has released a video for the title track of his forthcoming album Royal Tea.
Inspired by his love of British guitar heroes Jeff Beck, John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, Eric Clapton and Cream, Royal Tea was recorded at London‘s Abbey Road Studios, and is set for release later this month. Jools Holland, former Eurhythmics man Dave Stewart and ex-Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden have writing credits on the album, which was produced by Bonamassa’s long-time collaborator Kevin Shirley.
“I’ve always wanted to make a British-style blues rock record, like my heroes, in London,” Bonamassa says in the new issue of Classic Rock magazine, which goes on sale on October 13. “I did the last two [Redemption and Blues Of Desperation] in Nashville and they have a sound: I hear Nashville in there – the studio, the writers, I think I even said ‘Y’all’ at one point! I wanted to live here, write the album here, record it here, and my hope was that the DNA of London and that sixties British blues boom I love so much would permeate the album. And I think it has.”
“I was the kid who wished he’d been born here in 1945, so I could be running around London in 1965, a Les Paul in one hand and a Bluesbreaker combo in the other. To see John Mayall live, Fleetwood Mac, Zeppelin, Cream – to be on that scene, that perfect storm where Hendrix shows up – it must have been extraordinary. At that point this city was responsible for changing music. And we’re still talking about it fifty-five years later. It’s unrivalled, unsurpassed.”
Royal Tea will be released on October 23 via Provogue/J&R Adventures.
