For over 50 years, John Mayall has served as a pioneer of blues music, rightly earning him the title, “The Godfather of British Blues”. In 2013, John signed with producer Eric Corne’s label, Forty Below Records, and has since been experiencing a true artistic and career renaissance, including a Blues Hall of Fame induction in 2015.
On February 22nd Forty Below Records will release Nobody Told Me, the new studio album from The Godfather of British Blues, John Mayall.
As with his last handful of albums, Mayall again shares production duties with Forty Below Founder Eric Corne who also handles engineering and mixing duties.
The album boasts an impressive and diverse list of guest guitarists, all personal favorites of Mayall’s including Todd Rundgren, Little Steven Van Zandt of The E Street Band, Alex Lifeson from Rush, Joe Bonamassa, Larry McCray and Carolyn Wonderland who will be joining the band on tour. Also, on hand are Mayall’s dynamic Chicago rhythm section of Greg Rzab on bass guitar and Jay Davenport on drums, along with Billy Watts (Lucinda Williams) on rhythm guitar and Mayall’s regular horn section, moonlighting from their day job in The Late Show with Conan O’Brien’s house band.
The album was recorded at The Foo Fighters’ Studio 606 on the same legendary Sound City Neve console his one-time protégés from Fleetwood Mac used to record parts of the best-selling Rumors album.
Nobody Told Me is an apt title for the blues icon who suffered a recent unexpected health scare shortly after recording the album. But, the seemingly ageless road dog, who famously takes no days off and carries his own gear on tour, has been given a clean bill of health and plans to return to his usual grueling touring schedule to support the release. Noted Texas blues guitarist Carolyn Wonderland will be joining the band for a dynamic new chapter in John’s ongoing adventures. She will also have the distinction of being the first female guitarist to hold that position so watch out for some fresh excitement as the year progresses.
Today Glide is honored to offer an exclusive early listen of Nobody Told Me in its entirety. At the age of 85, John Mayall puts artists decades young than him to shame with a timeless energy that can be heard in razor sharp guitar licks and his commanding vocals. Guitar wizard Joe Bonamassa lends his own searing shredding to the song’s hard-hitting opening track “What Have I Done” and later reappears for the funky, organ-charged “Delta Hurricane”, while Rush’s Alex Lifeson proves he is more than a master of prog rock with explosive blues playing on the slow-burning “Evil and Here To Stay”. Other high-profile appearances include Todd Rundgren on the boogie soul number “That’s What Love Will Make You Do”, Steven Van Zandt on the stone cold groover “It’s So Tough”, and Larry McCray tearing it up with Mayall on “The Moon Is Full” and “The Hurt Inside”. Texas’ Carolyn Wonderland steps up to the plate in a big way, joining in on three tracks that include the title song and album closer, a smokey lounge blues number that stretches past the seven-minute mark and finds Mayall reflecting on a prolific career in music. All told, the album captures this Godfather of blues in fine form as he joins forces with some of the best guitarists in the game, many of whom were probably inspired by him to pick up an axe many moons ago.
John Mayall is excited to share this new collection of songs with the world, saying, “I am really thrilled to have a new release that not only enhances the talents of my regular bandmates Greg and Jay, but contains great contributions from such fine guitarists as Joe Bonamassa, Todd Rundgren, Carolyn Wonderland, Larry McCray, Alex Lifeson and Steven Van Zandt. Fantastic!”
LISTEN:
Nobody Told Me is out on Forty Below Records on February 22. For tour dates and more info visit johnmayall.com.
Photo credit: David Gomez
