Blues-rock’s superstar musician JOE BONAMASSA has shared perhaps his most extraordinary rock euphonydium to date, with an intricate ballad titled: “When One Door Opens” via J&R Adventures.
The track was co-written with long-time producer Kevin “The Caveman” Shirley (Journey, Iron Maiden, Rush, Led Zeppelin) and composer Pete Brown (“Sunshine of Your Love”, “White Room” “I Feel Free”).
In a personal video message, Bonamassa shared his excitement for working with Shirley and Brown, as he told fans “This is the first track off my new album and I’m very excited for everyone to hear it...”
Although Bonamassa disclosed this as the first song from a new album, the actual release date and track listing have yet to be revealed.
Recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studio in London, the new number brings the conserved potential energy — the awesome history and culture of those much-revered studio walls — their ancestral quality and their redolent euphony, and absolutely captures the essence of it all in one song.
“When One Door Opens” comes packed with textural “colliery band” style horns, evocatively orchestrated strings, and a melancholic guitar riff that glimmers like a lucky sixpence in the hand of a chimney sweep’s apprentice… who offers the silver to his new girlfriend as “something old / something new.”
The verse is somewhat lachrymose, without coming across as mawkish — until it flourishes into something that is not only impressive but also majestic… keen listeners will notice, for example, the Bolero by Maurice Ravel (or is it Beck? Ha!) a brush with Cohen, and a nod to the prog-brilliance of Jon Lord. You may also hear George Martin inextricably intertwined with Kiss‘s 1977 “Love Gun”… in other words, this is the epitome of elegiac songcrafting.
With this release, Bonamassa also brings a new music video, to allow the public a special vision into one of his recording sessions.
Joe Bonamassa’s new single “When One Door Opens” is available to stream from all platforms via https://joeb.me/StreamWODO
Purchase the single from https://joeb.me/WODOS
Words: Neil Mach
Main photo: Adam Kennedy