Ballad of John Henry

Blues-rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa gets up to his usual tricks on THE BALLAD OF JOHN HENRY, dabbling in a variety of genres, but injecting them all with a serious dose of guitar heroics. Like his musical forefather Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bonamassa is both soulful and a shredder, and he brings those qualities to tracks like Tom Waits's "Jockey Full of Bourbon," Ike & Tina Turner's "Funkier Than a Mosquito's Tweeter," and a handful of rock and blues-fused originals. Bonamassa has a progressive sensibility, but that never keeps him, on any of BALLAD's 12 tracks, from rocking like no one's business.