Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa "Don't Explain" - review & solo tour dates

 "Don't Explain" is the first cd to feature Los Angeles based singer/songwriter Beth Hart and, surely the hardest working man in music, Joe Bonamassa.
It is released in the UK and Europe on Monday the 26th of September on Provogue Records.
Produced by Joe's right hand man and producer of the moment; Kevin Shirley, "Don't Explain" is an intimate hand picked collection of soul cover songs as performed by celebrated artists such as Ray Charles, Tom Waits, Bill Withers, Etta James and Aretha Franklin.
Joe brought the band that produced the 2009 cd "The Balld Of John Henry" to play on the cd which was Anton Fig on drums, Blondie Chaplin on guitar,Carmine Rojas on bass and Arlan Scheirbaum on keyboards.

Recorded in only 4 days, the cd showcases two  talents that work so well together.
Beth's emotive soulful voice shines throughout and it also gives us a chance to see Joe doing yet another style of music.
After the hard rock of BCC this shows he really can do it all. It is a real struggle to pick out highlights in a cd that is full of them. "Sinners Prayer"and "Chocolate Jesus" has Beth at the fore and she makes the songs her own especially at the end of "Chocolate Jesus" where you can pretty much see the sweat on her brow as she gets the last drop out of the vocal. Brilliant.

"For My Friend" (the Bill Withers song) has a big blues riff and with Beth hitting the notes Joe 's wonderful solo towards the end finishes the song off in style.
Etta James' "I'd Rather Go Blind" is quite wonderful. Just over 8 minutes of music that the whole world should hear. Beth's vocals build through the song as she puts more and more into laying her soul down and Joe's solo builds to a crescendo and has so much emotion in it when the song ends you want to put it on again and again.

"Somethings' Got A Hold On Me" another Etta James song is the most upbeat song on the cd with a great fun feel and another superb Beth vocal. "I'll Take Care Of You" has Joe's solo as the highlight towards the end of the song. "Well Well"sees a the pair trading vocals and "Ain't No Way"ends the cd in style with Joe's train style riff at the start holding the song before Beth hits another vocal with pure emotion.

A quite wonderful cd that deserves to be heard by all and one that should see greater recognition for two exceptional talents that we can only hope leads to Hart/Bonamassa 2.

Beth Hart will be performing two intimate solo UK gigs (sadly no Joe as far as we know) in November. The first date will be The Flowerpot, Derby on Monday 28th November, followed by London Dingwalls on Tuesday 29th November. Tickets for both concerts are available from 0845 413 4444, www.seetickets.com, www.ticketline.com and www.alt-tickets.co.uk

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