Joe Bonamassa, the hardest-working man in Blues, has announced details of a new studio album, Time Clocks, and shared a video for the album’s second single The Heart That Never Waits.
Produced by long-time collaborator Kevin Shirley, and mixed by industry legend Bob Clearmountain, Time Clocks is described by the guitarist as “probably my most adventurous and involved record to date.”
The album was recorded in New York at Germano Studios/The Hit Factory, with Bonamassa joined by Steve Mackey (bass), Lachy Doley (piano), Bunna Lawrie (didgeridoo), Bobby Summerfield (percussion), and Anton Fig (drums and percussion), along with Mahalia Barnes, Juanita Tippins, and Prinnie Stevens on backing vocals.
The guitarist reflects, “Twenty years ago, I recorded a record of covers that eventually was called Blues Deluxe. It was recorded at Bobby Nathan's studio in Manhattan. It captured an energy and purpose that always stuck with me as an artist.
"I lived in New York City at the time and times were pretty tough. My weekly routine was a combination of hustling sessions, gigs, and opportunities that seemed few and far between. I was hungry. Literally and figuratively. The music business is tough, very tough. Especially back in those days when major labels pulled all the strings and, in my case, all the punches. I subsisted on a basic diet of peanut butter and jelly and ramen noodles, purchased at the bodega on the corner of 83rd and Columbus Avenue."
He adds: "Cut to 2019 and I find myself back in New York and inspired by the city again. My living conditions had changed dramatically in the subsequent 20 years, but the energy that makes New York City great still remained.
"In February 2021, we found ourselves at Germano Studios, cutting music as a trio (but not trio music) and having to invent ways of making records when your lifelong producer is stuck in Australia due to travel restrictions. Kevin Shirley came up with a way of linking continents and consoles to where we had literally zero latency. Add Steve Mackey and Anton Fig to the mix, a few masks and curse words and we have the ‘New York Record’ aka Time Clocks.”
Time Clocks will be released on October 29 through J&R Adventures in North America, and Provogue/Mascot Label Group in the UK and Europe.
The track list for Time Clocks is:
1. Pilgrimage
2. Notches
3. The Heart That Never Waits
4. Time Clocks
5. Questions And Answers
6. Mind's Eye
7. Curtain Call
8. The Loyal Kind
9. Hanging On A Loser
10. Known Unknowns
