SOD: Joe Bonamassa & John Hiatt "Down Around My Place" (and then some...)

I was watching Palladia last night (what else is new), and they played an hours worth of footage from a Joe Bonamassa concert at The Beacon Theater. I have a lot of respect for the mans skill, but personally, I'm not a huge fan. Now granted, I'm not well versed in his entire collection, but as far as Guitar Virtuoso's go, the buck pretty much stopped at Jeff Beck for me. I've listened to "Cliffs of Dover", but not much Eric Johnson outside that. I've listened to more Steve Vai, but not consistently. Joe sings also which makes him more unique to the others, but his voice always sounds very "created" and unnatural to me. Almost too cleanly raspy, like they went in and edited out all the inconsistencies. That's not what the blues are about, and he is by trade, a blues man.

But I digress. I watched the entire program, and he had some special guests come on at different points. John Hiatt sang "Down Around My Place," which included a pretty epic guitar solo, and harmony bridge. I like Joe's voice in that capacity and this song was a highlight for me. I can't say I'm a huge John Hiatt fan because I really don't know him well enough. But I respect him as a great American singer-songwriter, and I do love his voice. I learned from his wiki page he's been covered by damn near everyone, and that's only intrigued me to look a little deeper into his catalogue now. And though they're of two different schools, Bonamassa and Hiatt complemented each other well. Somehow it just worked, on that song at least. Just like Dr. John and Dan Auerbach (Black Keys). But you'll never know if you don't take the chance. Give collaboration a shot.

Then Paul Rodgers came out to sing a few tunes. I couldn't watch. I mean I could listen, he actually sounded quite able. But I couldn't look at him. It was uncomfortable. Everything around his face has aged. Which makes his face look absolutely ridiculous. His face has aged too, but then it was contorted by whatever cosmetic procedure(s) he's had done. I'll save my speech on acting and looking your age for another time though. You see, here's a guy who could really benefit from something new. Paul Rodgers is completely trying to recreate his days with Bad Company or even Free. But he doesn't understand it can't happen. Those days are over man, don't you see?

Paul Rodgers still has a voice though. And no matter what he's done in the past, that's the only thing he has going for him today. If he could get himself linked up with a young act, and contribute some vocals on an album of theirs, well that would be the best thing I could think of for Paul. To use his voice to contribute to something new and meaningful, instead of trying to raise the dead. Granted that's easier said than done, but somethings gotta give. He's up there looking like a parody of himself. Swinging the mic stand around, gesturing towards the audience, fist pumping, all at an arthritic and silly looking half speed. So then, to me, it becomes comedic. If he stood up there, tapped his toe, and sang his heart out, it would have been a lot better. He was trying to say, "Hey Mick, you're not the only one who can still move in his old age." What he wound up showing us was that Mick is in fact one of the only ones who can still move in his old age.

I realize I have compiled many ideas into this one post, which was not my original intention. Seeing Joe play a live concert (albeit on television), showed me that he has a great tone both on record and in concert, but I never expected anything less. I'm not sold on his voice, but hey, that happens. I'm not particularly fond of Mike Mattison's voice either, but I still love all the Derek Trucks albums. Joe is a very skilled guitar player, and he's shared the stage with the biggest and best (including Trucks). For me, his guitar does all the talking. Still, Bonamassa has not been someone I regularly seek out, but team him up with the likes of a John Hiatt, and suddenly you've got a combination there that creates a sound I can get on board with immediately. When I heard them play this song together, I didn't think about it, I simply reacted to it. Something worked. And I know I keep mentioning the new Dr. John album, but I had the same reaction to that. It just worked, you could feel it, even in the first pass through.

Artists can be by nature, isolationists. But if that mold is broken, or never conceived in the first place, it opens the door to a endless world of possibility. Though the creative process may be a solitary one for many artists, the performance end of it doesn't need to be. And sometimes, if you let your guard down and allow interference and collaboration from your peers, you may just wind up with the next best thing  right there in your lap. I'm hoping that kind of mentality becomes more the trend, and less the exception.