Joe Bonamassa - Royal Tea

Royal Tea is the fourteenth solo studio album by American blues singer songwriter Joe Bonamassa, released in October 2020 via J&R Adventures in the US and Provogue in Europe.

Joe Bonamassa is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter.

When he was only 12 years old, Bonamassa opened for B.B. King. In the last 20 years Bonamassa has released 14 solo studio albums through his independent record label J&R Adventures, of which 11 have reached #1 on the Billboard Blues charts.

Bonamassa has played alongside such artists as Stephen Stills, Eric Clapton, Blondie Chaplin, Foreigner, Buddy Guy, Steve Winwood, Warren Haynes, and Derek Trucks among others. His career highlights include performances at the Royal Albert Hall and a Grammy Award nomination in 2013 for his collaboration with Beth Hart on the duo’s sophomore album Seesaw. In addition to his music career, Joe Bonamassa runs a nonprofit organisation called the Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation, whose mission it is to further music education by funding scholarships and providing music education resources to schools in need.

Royal Tea is inspired by his British guitar heroes Jeff Beck, John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, Eric Clapton and Cream, and was recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. A single has been released from the album; “Why Does It Take So Long To Say Goodbye.”

Bonamassa in a press release said: “This whole adventure,” admits Joe, “was a bucket-list thing for me.” This album reconnects the 43-year-old with the guitar-slinging kid from upstate New York, who stumbled across the best of British blues music in his dad’s vinyl collection – whose influences have shaped him to be the player he is today. “I would have been about twelve years old, and it was the sound I heard in my head. Like, ‘OK, I’m in. That’s what I want to be’.”

The ten original tracks on the album were co-written by Joe and a cast of homegrown notables including former Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden, ex-Cream lyricist Pete Brown and national-treasure piano man Jools Holland.

“Writing this record in London has done its job,” reflects Bonamassa. “It really does sound inherently British. Bernie and I, we finish each other’s sentences. We’re cut from the same cloth.”

Bonamassa’s long-standing producer Kevin Shirley and regular touring band flew in for the recording sessions, which included Anton Fig (drums), Michael Rhodes (bass) and Reese Wynans (keys).

This double album 2LP record set is on 180 gram black vinyl housed in a gatefold sleeve with download code, pressed in the US via J&R Adventures.