Joe Bonamassa to release new live album Now Serving: Royal Tea – Live From The Ryman
You can take a look at the performance of High Class Girl now.
Image: Kit Wood
Joe Bonamassa has announced a new live album: Now Serving: Royal Tea – Live From The Ryman. The record documents the blues star that Bonamassa live streamed during the COVID-19 pandemic, filmed and recorded at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.
- READ MORE: The Big Listen: Joe Bonamassa – Royal Tea
Bonamassa spoke highly of the venue, saying: “Our band has had the honour of playing there now 8 ½ times over the past 10 years. The audience is always alive and electric, hanging on every word and phrase. It feels like the greatest, most intimate gig you will ever do but there are 2,300 people sharing this joy and musical journey. I love the place as it is a national treasure and selfishly close to my house.”
The show, due to pandemic-related restrictions, had to be filmed without an audience, and so Bonamassa explained what he meant by saying the band played there “8 ½” times: “We missed you. As great as it is to be on that stage in any capacity, you the fans make it special. You are part of the show and a big part of it. As this show was being filmed live, almost 100,000 eyes were on us in various forms around the world in front of TVs and computers alike. But you were not in the room with us.”
Ahead of the release, Bonamassa has also released a video of the performance of High Class Girl, which you can see below.
The album will arrive digitally, and on CD and 2-disc clear vinyl on 11 June. Video of the performance will also arrive on DVD and Blu-ray that same day. All formats can be preordered here, and the album’s tracklist is below.
- When One Door Opens
- Royal Tea
- High Class Girl
- Lookout Man!
- Why Does It Take So Long To Say Goodbye
- A Conversation With Alice
- I Didn’t Think She Would Do It
- Beyond The Silence
- Lonely Boy
- Cradle Rock
- Walk In My Shadow
- A New Day Yesterday / Starship Trooper – Wurm