The title song on Joe Bonamassa’s latest studio record, “Blues of Desperation,” has a vaguely Middle Eastern flavor — think Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” on energy drinks.
Bonamassa has a guitar tone that can bring to mind Stevie Ray Vaughan, with serious sustain, expressive bends and slippery-fast runs. Bonamassa plays the blues, but he tricks it out with metal and arena-rock flourishes. He can summon up references to Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix, as you might imagine.
Bonamassa is, like many American guitarists, an interesting example of how styles can ping-pong around and alter their DNA slightly: he grew up listening to the British blues of players like Jeff Beck and Peter Green, people who had studied Chicago blues and given it their own spin.
If guitar heroics are your thing, Bonamassa will do some face-melting shredding on his Flying Vee all while sporting shades.
Joe Bonamassa plays the Bushnell’s iconic William H. Mortensen Hall, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford, Monday, Nov. 21, at 8 p.m.. $82.50 to $128.50. 860-987-5900, thebushnell.org.
