Superstar blues musician JOE BONAMASSA will release his highly anticipated new studio album “Breakthrough” via J&R Adventures on Friday July 18th 2025.
Kevin Shirley (known for his work with Beth Hart, Black Crowes, Joanne Shaw Taylor, and Black Country Communion) produced the album, which was recorded in Greece, Nashville, and Los Angeles, to create a vibrant, genre-bending collection of sounds that draw inspiration from around the world.
a positive blast into a vital future!
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The album’s super-powerful title track forms the core of this inspirational call to arms. The stirring piece delves into the mental fortitude that’s needed to endure a life spent in the dizzying vortex of the rock ‘n’ roll world.
“Breakthrough” begins with a powerful blues-rock riff, followed by a verse that’s set against a pensive bassline. A super-gleaming chorus is lit up with bright guitar and lively organ notes. And the dazzling fretwork is hyper-dimensional and squelchy. Breakthrough is a positive blast into a vital future!
“Trigger Finger,” a collaboration with Tom Hambridge, is a powerful, high-energy track that explores perseverance, renewal, and the fire that’s always alight and forever stoked, and sits behind any artistic growth.
In “Trigger Finger” you’ll find hard-working guitar, straightforward rhythms, a touch of melancholy in the riff, and fearless vocals. The passionate delivery of this track showcases this album’s bold explorations.
“I’ll Take the Blame” is a rough and bumpy ride along a rutted highway. It’s an exhausted, dusty road crawl, and every rut along the way is filled with apology, regret, and perhaps even self-lament. Heads will nod sympathetically as they listen to these woes, while the bass moans and the keys tinkle. Yes, this is oldfangled blues, but crucially, yes crucially, it is beneficial: so needs to be taken in sips of humble appreciation!
Deftly escalates into a rush of yearning, confirmation, and welcoming…
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“Life After Dark” features tortoiseshell vocals, bulbous bass notes, and a comfortably squeegeed guitar, to create a beautiful arc of articulate languor. The composition here deftly escalates into a rush of yearning, confirmation, and welcoming.
“Still Walking With Me” is a lively tune brimming with energetic enthusiasm and a swinging rock ‘n’ roll feel. The song shimmers with buttery guitar, happy keys, and a wonderful vocal delivery.
Awesome stuff from the coolest blues bossman on the planet! Yes, we share your pain, Joe — but we also need your emotion. Keep doing what you have to do!
Words: © Neil Mach
Main photo: © Mike Savoia
The JOE BONAMASSA Breakthrough album is released by J&R Adventures on July 18th and is available from https://lnk.to/JoeBonamassa (UK) and www.jbonamassa.com (USA).
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