Description
Royal Tea is Joe Bonamassa’s 45th release since he began his solo career 20 years ago, and you don’t have to be a mathematical genius to know that – even including live albums and various side projects into the mix – that’s a serious clip for any artist.
The central concept of Royal Tea, demonstrates the unconventional way that Joe’s mind works, and perhaps explains why he manages to be so prolific while still keeping his army of fans enrapt album after album. Joe has become a master of changing things up to keep it fresh – whether that’s the situation, the concept, the personnel, or in the case of this album, all three.
For this album he decamped to London for five weeks at the start of 2020 and set up in the iconic Abbey Road Studios to write and record the record. Joe also called up old mate and Whitesnake legend Bernie Marsden to add a dash of songwriting panache to proceedings, plus the talents of Cream lyricist Pete Brown, as well as Eurythmics legend Dave Stewart and arch piano-mitherer Jools Holland. With regular JoBo backing band drummer Anton Fig, bassist Michael Rhodes and organ man Reese Wynans also in the mix, plus the ever-present Kevin Shirley behind the desk, it’s a potent assemblage of talent.
