AEROSMITH's BRAD WHITFORD Guests On JOE BONAMASSA's New Album

April 4, 2012

On May 22, internationally renowned guitar superstar Joe Bonamassa will release a brand new solo album, "Driving Towards The Daylight" (J&R Adventures) — his "lucky" 13th CD. The effort was produced by Kevin "Caveman" Shirley (BLACK CROWES, AEROSMITH, LED ZEPPELIN) at Studio At The Palms in Las Vegas, Nevada; The Village Recorder in Los Angeles, California; and The Cave in Malibu, California.

According to a press release, "Driving Towards The Daylight" is a balanced back-to-basics album that highlights Bonamassa's signature style of roots blues with rock-and-roll guts, while honoring the traditions of the original blues musicians. "We've taken some really traditional old blues songs — the HOWLIN' WOLF song 'Who's Been Talkin'?' and the ROBERT JOHNSON song 'Stones In My Passway' — and we've tried to imagine how they would do them in a rock context," said Shirley. "It's a very exciting return to the blues in a very visceral way. It's vibrant and it's gutsy and it's really, really rugged."

To challenge Joe and move him out of his comfort zone, a unique group of musicians was gathered, including AEROSMITH guitarist Brad Whitford, Blondie Chaplan (guitar),Anton Fig (drums and percussion),Arlan Schierbaum (keyboards),Michael Rhodes (bass),Carmine Rojas (bass),Jeff Bova and THE BOVALAND BRASS, Pat Thrall (guitar),and Brad's son Harrison Whitford (guitar).

Brad Whitford, speaking from the studio in Vegas, said, "This is definitely more influenced by the stuff that the guys and musicians in this room love, early '60s English and American rock and blues. I guess we'll never get that out of our system and its fun to come in here and find our own path down that highway."

The album features four Bonamassa-penned originals, including the bruising opener "Dislocated Boy", the road warrior title track (and first single) "Driving Towards The Daylight", "Heavenly Soul" and "Somewhere Trouble Don't Go". Other tracks include Bonamassa's versions of TOM WAITS' "New Coat Of Paint", "Lonely Town Lonely Street" by Bill Withers, "A Place In My Heart" by Bernie Marsden of WHITESNAKE, and "I Got All You Need", by Willie Dixon, widely considered the "father of modern Chicago blues." On the album closer, Australian rock singer Jimmy Barnes sings lead vocals on his 1987 hit "Too Much Ain't Enough Love".

Continuing each week for ten weeks is "Countdown to Daylight", the new reality series of 3-4 minute webisodes featuring interviews with Joe and his band as well as behind-the-scenes footage of the band recording "Driving Towards The Daylight" in the studio. Tune in every Friday for a new episode on Joe's official YouTube channel.

"Driving Towards The Daylight" track listing:

01. Dislocated Boy
02. Stones In My Passway
03. Driving Towards The Daylight
04. Who's Been Talkin'?
05. I Got All You Need
06. A Place In My Heart
07. Lonely Town Lonely Street
08. Heavenly Soul
09. New Coat Of Paint
10. Somewhere Trouble Don't Go
11. Too Much Ain't Enough Love (w/ Jimmy Barnes)

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).