Joe Bonamassa – Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks
Mascot Label Group
http://jbonamassa.com/albums/2015/red-rocks/red-rocks-free-song.php?id=homepage

Rating: A

Joe Bonamassa was born with the blues in his blood.  The one-time child guitar prodigy has grown up and developed into the leading musician for guitar around the rock and blues scene today.  There are many flying the flag for real guitar oriented rock ‘n’ roll and blues these days, but no one does it quite like Joe Bonamassa.  He does it passionately, with perfection and makes it look easy.  He is a true virtuoso on the guitar, as well as the leading force on Earth for keeping the music he loves alive. 

On Labor Day Weekend in 2014, Mighty Joe Bonamassa took his talents to Red Rocks Amphitheater in the mountains of Colorado and recorded a tribute to the two most influential bluesmen of all time, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf.  The result is an amazing musical experience.  The video brings the music to life and the CD drips with raw passion and reverence. 

"They always try to write-off the blues; well we’ve proven tonight that at least 9,000 people like the blues," says celebrated blues rock master Joe Bonamassa, who will not allow the music to die as long as it is under his watch.  The show featured 2.5 hours of masterful musicianship.  The Blu-Ray and DVD also features another hour and a half of bonus footage! 

Rumor has it Joe is going to continue with a series of tribute concerts, making sure his masters and teachers are remembered in the modern day. Joe’s band for the Muddy Wolf tribute concert consisted of Anton Fig (drums), Michael Rhodes (bass), Reese Wynans (piano, Hammond organ), Lee Thornburg (trumpet, horn arrangements), Ron Dziubla (saxophone), Nick Lane (trombone), Mike Henderson (harmonica), and Kirk Fletcher (guitar).

This is an amazing evening of music orchestrated and performed by one of the most incredible bluesman alive on the planet today.  The show raised over forty-thousand dollars for the Keeping the Blues Alive (KTBA), which was founded by Bonamassa. 

The maestro says it all in closing, "It was the gig of a lifetime for me. What you see on this DVD is what it was like to play in front of the largest audience of my career, playing music that I loved, love, and fell in love with again in a much bigger way than I had before.”

File this one under ‘MUST OWN.’   

MUDDY WATERS SET
Mississippi Heartbeat (Intro)
1. Tiger In Your Tank
2. I Can't Be Satisfied
3. You Shook Me
4. Stuff You Gotta Watch
5. Double Trouble
6. Real Love
7. My Home Is On The Delta
8. All Aboard

HOWLIN’ WOLF SET
1. How Many More Years
2. Shake For Me
3. Hidden Charms
i. Band and Introductions
ii. Spoonful
iii. Killing Floor
iv. Evil (Is Going On)
v. All Night Boogie (All Night Long)

JOE BONAMASSA SET
1. Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)
2. Oh Beautiful!
3. Love Ain't A Love Song
4. Sloe Gin
5. Ballad of John Henry
6. Muddy Wolf Credits

BONUS FEATURES
1. Joe and Kevin’s Excellent Adventure… to The Crossroads
2. Behind the Rocks - An Exclusive View Behind the Scenes
3. The Originals - Historic Footage of Muddy Waters & Howlin’ Wolf
4. Rockagram Gallery

By Jeb Wright