The initial livestream was witnessed by Bonamassa fans in 44 countries around the world, and saw the blues-rock god play 12 tracks taken from his Royal Tea and A New Day Now albums
(Image credit: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
Joe Bonamassa has announced the upcoming release of a new album, Now Serving: Royal Tea Live From The Ryman – a live set taken from his 2020 virtual performance at the Ryman Auditorium, which features previously unreleased versions of Royal Tea tracks.
The one-night-only event, which was streamed from the iconic venue in Nashville, was witnessed by people from 44 countries around the world, and saw the electric guitar god serve up live renditions of tracks from his Royal Tea and A New Day Now albums.
Now, the event has been remixed, mastered and repackaged ready for a physical release, which will be available to buy on June 11. The most recent single from the album, Walk In My Shadow, offers a sneak peek into what the upcoming record has in store for fans of JoBo’s blues-rock wizardry.
As well as offering up a variety of physical audio packages, Bonamassa has also confirmed the upcoming release of DVD and Blu-Ray editions of the gig, which feature a film introduction narrated by Jeff Daniels.
Of the event, Bonamassa recalled, “I have always wanted to film a show at the legendary Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Our band has had the honor of playing there… 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. I love this place as it is a national treasure and selfishly close to my house,” he continued. “YOU the fans make it special. As this show was being filmed live, almost 100,000 eyes were on us. But you were not in the room with us.”
Bonamassa then added, “We played as good as we could in front of those 1,700 cardboard cutouts and tried to imagine you there. With all of this said, this DVD is a snapshot of a concert performance within the confines of a vast sea change of the world.
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“Nobody knows when I will ever get back to this stage in front of a full house again, but I sure do know that I do love it and miss you greatly.”
At the time of airing, the event raised $32,000 for Bonamassa’s Fueling Musicians program – an initiative presented by the Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation which has spent over a year supporting artists affected by the pandemic. To date, the program has raised a total of $460,000.
Joe Bonamassa’s Now Serving: Royal Tea Live From The Ryman is available to preorder now ahead of its June 11 release, and will be available in CD, DVD, Blu-Ray and double LP editions.
Matt is a Senior Staff Writer, writing for Guitar World, Guitarist and Total Guitar. He has a Masters in the guitar, a degree in history, and has spent the last 16 years playing everything from blues and jazz to indie and pop. When he’s not combining his passion for writing and music during his day job, Matt records for a number of UK-based bands and songwriters as a session musician.
