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The Ballad of John Henry ReviewI've been a huge fan of Joe Bonamassa since I discovered his music about 5 years ago. To this day, my favorite albums of his are 2003's "Blues Deluxe" and 2006's "You and Me", his first work with uber-producer Kevin Shirley. Joe himself says that he considers "The Ballad of John Henry" to be his finest work to date. Whether you agree with that is going to depend on which 'era' of Joe's music you prefer.
Joe Bonamassa in 2009 has come a long way from Joe Bonamassa circa 2000-04. At that time, he was a young guitar slinger. He played with a 3-piece band that showcased his absolutely jaw-dropping guitar skills at the forefront. Songcraft was secondary to musicianship, and not necesarily in a bad way. He simply relied more on taking older blues standards and interperting them in his fiery, high-octane style. In late 2005, he met producer Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Journey, The Black Crowes, Iron Maiden) who was suitably impressed with Joe's guitar skills and voice, but was convinced that to broaden his audience, Joe needed to work on more solid songcraft, polish his singing, and tone down the guitar heroics. Two friends and I were actually at the show in October 2005 where Shirley saw Joe play for the first time. (We accidentily stole his reserved table until a bar employee informed us we couldn't sit there because Mr. Kevin Shirley was coming in! lol.)
His first offering with Shirley twirling the knobs was "You & Me" in 2006. I believe this (along with "Blues Deluxe") is Joe's finest work to date. It showcased all facets of Joe's talent (raw blues, Jeff Beck-like instrumental excursions, 70s-British Zeppelin/Free style blues-rock), and the guitar soloing was still plentiful. He ditched his longtime band and replaced them with more seasoned studio musicians. Next up was '07's "Sloe Gin". This record took the focus off Joe the guitar hero and went for a more song-oriented, laid-back approach. While it contained some great tracks and nothing on it was unenjoyable, what seemed to be missing was the spark, the boogie. Everything on the album was slow-to-mid tempo, only once (On John Mayall's "Another Kind of Love") did we see any sign of the hyper-shredding boogie monster that used to blow the doors off small clubs across the country with his 3-piece band, and even that track didn't match the energy of things like his versions of "You Upset Me Baby", "Travellin' South", "Burning Hell", and "Never Make Your Move Too Soon".
His new album "The Ballad of John Henry" continues on this path. The good news? It's a better album than "Sloe Gin". It's less patchy and feels a lot more cohesive. Joe penned 7 of the 12 tracks himself (in the past typically only about 3 tracks per album were original compositions), and his songwriting is obviosuly developing under Shirley's tutelidge. "John Henry" feels much more like a complete work than did "Sloe Gin". However, with that progression comes another step away from the rollicking boogie blues monster that Joe was a few years back. Some of the longtime fans of this style are going to be disappointed at the slower tempos and the lack of fiery guitar histronics as compared to his early-mid 2000's albums. And that's my criticism of this record: he's gone too far in the opposite direction. "You & Me" was so good because it straddled the line perfectly, allowing Joe to mature while still being what he is: one absolutely-fooking-amazing guitar player. Almost everything on "John Henry" plods along. The songs are long, slow, and heavy. While they're all very good, the playing is fantastic, the band is tight, and Joe sounds like a million bucks, there's something missing. You keep waiting to hear that up-tempo, fiery, bluesy boogie track that never comes. You're looking for that blazing, 100 MPH guitar solo, and Joe honestly just doesn't seem interested in doing that anymore. It's almost as if he feels he took that genre as far as it could go. I admire him for not wanting to repeat himself and to mature as a musician, but I feel like if his next album continues this trend, he's going to fall into a rut, which is exactly what he was trying to avoid a few years ago. He felt like he was stagnating, so he moved onto to a new producer and a new sound. Now he's in danger of stagnating with THAT sound. Kevin Shirley has taken him a long way, but it may be time to look for another new producer when it's time to record "John Henry"'s follow-up. All that said, "The Ballad of John Henry" is a very, very strong album, and any fan of Joe's or of the classic blues-rock genre in general will certainly find a lot to like. Old school fans looking for blazing guitar work a la "Blues Deluxe" and "Had To Cry Today" may be somewhat disappointed, so be warned. Fans of "You & Me" and especially "Sloe Gin" will eat this up.
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