Review &. Photography by Manny Manson for MPM
After three decades at the cutting edge of blues-rock, Joe Bonamassa tears down the walls once again with “Breakthrough” yet another testament to his grit, soul, and the relentless pursuit of something greater.
Stream “Breakthrough” on all platforms HERE
When you’ve stood on every stage, spun every dial on the amplifier of life, and bent every string until it sang or snapped, what’s left? For Joe Bonamassa, the answer has never been about resting on past glories. It’s about finding the next spark. The next emotion. The next mountain to climb (or the next vintage guitar to purchase).
There are few artists today who embody the spirit of perseverance quite like Joe Bonamassa. For more than three decades, he’s walked the long road, from teenage prodigy to one of the modern era’s most vital blues-rock ambassadors. And now, with the release of his 2025 single “Breakthrough,” taken from his new album of the same name, Bonamassa once again reminds us why he stands tall among the giants, and why the fight to push forward never really ends.
The journey that led to “Breakthrough” didn’t start in arenas packed with thousands. It started in small, Smokey clubs, in back-breaking tour schedules, in moments that most would never see. Joe first caught the world’s attention at just 12 years old, opening for B.B. King. Yet, it wasn’t a fairy-tale sprint to stardom. His debut album, A New Day Yesterday (2000), hinted at the prodigious talent within, a raw, ferocious blend of traditional blues reverence and youthful energy, but mainstream recognition was elusive.
Undeterred, Bonamassa pressed on. Records like Blues Deluxe (2003) and You & Me (2006) both triumphantly heralding a player deepening his craft, moving beyond simple guitar fireworks into emotional resonance. By Sloe Gin (2007), he was no longer just a blues guitarist, he was a storyteller, a modern troubadour with a Les Paul slung over his shoulder and dust on his boots. His 2009 landmark, The Ballad of John Henry, certainly cemented his reputation as a serious artist, one who could pen songs that felt like myth, all while peeling the paint off the walls with his effortless solos.
That relentless drive brought him to places few bluesmen tread. Selling out London’s Royal Albert Hall, performing with legends like Eric Clapton, founding the Keeping the Blues Alive foundation to support music education, these were not just petty accolades, but markers of a man building something bigger than a career. He was building a legacy.
And nowhere is that legacy more keenly felt than on Bonamassa’s latest offering, “Breakthrough,” the third single, (“Still Walking with Me” & “Shake This Ground” precede it) and title track, from his latest 10 track offering due out on July 18th via his own J&R Adventures Label. This song being co-written Tom Hambridge and produced, along with the album, by the legendary Kevin Shirley.
The opening notes of “Breakthrough” are not polite. They snarl and shimmer, pulled, more than likely, from the guts of one of Joe’s vintage Fender Strat’s, probably the Butterscotch ’56 famously named “The Blonde.” The neck pick up, is deliciously thick and creamy delivering that chewy, bell like throaty Strat, ‘Quack’ much loved by the legendary SRV, it’s proudly letting you know that this isn’t the beloved ‘59 Gibson Les Paul, (although you can hear it during the recording) one of Joe’s “holy grail” instruments, whose woody, molten tones pour straight into the heart. There are No filters. No compromises. It feels elemental, primal, like a heartbeat rising from deep underground. There’s a weight to it, a slow-burning tension that speaks of long roads travelled, battles fought and realisations stumbled across. But Bonamassa doesn’t come in shouting, screeching sideways with all guns a-blazing on this one; oh no, he arrives like a man who is suited and booted, and wearing sunglasses, and make no doubt, he’s the one who knows that true power doesn’t need to raise its voice!
His vocals are among his most stirring to date, too often overshadowed by his six-string sorcery, his voice is full of battle scars and battered hopes. Here, time has burnished his voice into a weapon all its own: a little rough around the edges maybe, but full of cracks and creases that tell a thousand stories. When he opens with, “Oh I’m heading for a Breakthrough, I see it all…” he howls, not with the cocky swagger of a blues hero but with the desperate conviction of a man who’s fought every inch for every note. And with “I shed no tears, when I see things clearly…” it no longer feels like a staged performance. It’s more like a grand mission, a heady statement full of intent.
The verses stay taut, as you would expect, yet there is a looseness in the playing that makes it all feel emphatic and unmistakeable, it all sits simmering on the back of tight, no-frills drumming and a thunderous, pulsing bass line. On the Keys it has-to be Joe’s friend, Reese Wynans, a bona fide blues hall-of-famer from his time with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, who lays down velvet layers of organ that roll under the track like river mist. Each instrument breathes, each line a perfect thread in a delicate tapestry that holds the weight of the world but refuses to collapse.
When the chorus hits, “Breakthrough” explodes, not in chaos, but in controlled fury. The guitar tone Bonamassa pulls from his vintage arsenal is the stuff of legend: a molten, fluid roar that sings even when it screams. It’s a tone that’s part ’59 Les Paul, part Fender Twin Reverb growl, and part something uniquely, unmistakably Joe. It’s the sound of triumph tempered by trial.
And then comes the solo.
It’s easy to forget, sometimes, just how good Joe Bonamassa is, because he doesn’t always flaunt it. He waits until the story demands it, then unleashes, a flurry of notes here, a sustained wail there, never overly showboating, always speaking clearly, there’s never an over indulgent glut of confusion. And with that, the “Breakthrough” solo builds from tight beginnings, questioning phrases until they arrive like a ferocious declaration: a soul dragging itself out of the mud, bloodied but unbroken, clear but armed with intent. It’s virtuosic without being cold, emotional without being over indulgent, a veritable tightrope that only the select few can ever attempt to traverse.
Musically, the production, helmed once again by longtime collaborator Kevin Shirley, is a marvel of restraint. Everything breathes. The drums snap. The bass throbs like a living thing. Wynans’ keys shimmer. And through it all, Bonamassa’s guitar slices like an ancient Ninja’s Katana blade, unforgivingly honed on the grindstone of life’s ceaseless encounters.
If “Breakthrough” feels deeply personal, that’s because it is. After building a career by refusing to compromise, by booking his own tours, starting his own label, producing his own records, Bonamassa has found himself at the rare point where he answers to no-one but the music. And yet, he’s never been content to coast. “Breakthrough” isn’t the sound of an artist resting; it’s the sound of an artist still searching.
That hunger was evident early on, when I first saw him in Nottingham, long before he filled the Motorpoint Arena with thousands of rapturous fans. Back in 2018, Joe first brought his powerhouse show to the intimate Rescue Rooms, a venue more accustomed to indie upstarts than world-class bluesmen. It was there, playing to a packed but modest crowd, that he demonstrated the same fire, the same unrelenting commitment to giving the audience everything he had.
From there, Nottingham’s Rock City welcomed him, a venue steeped in rock tradition, where Bonamassa’s volcanic solos and smoke-and-ash vocals found a raucous home. Each step up the ladder felt earned. When he finally headlined Motorpoint Arena, it wasn’t the result of some flash-in-the-pan radio hit. It was the culmination of thousands of nights spent sweating under stage lights, of guitars slung across sore shoulders, of miles and miles of hard, unglamorous work.
It’s that same spirit that powers “Breakthrough.”
Even as he commands the world’s stages, Bonamassa refuses to lose sight of what brought him there: authenticity, dedication, and a heartfelt respect for the music’s roots. He could have taken shortcuts. He could have chased trends. Instead, he doubled down on what he loved, the grit, the ache, the truth of the blues, and found a way to carry it forward without cheapening it.
Thematically, “Breakthrough” echoes many of Bonamassa’s past explorations. Like the anthemic “The Ballad of John Henry,” it speaks of struggle and resilience. Like Sloe Gin, it carries a haunting beauty, a sense of loneliness even in triumph. Like Blues Deluxe, it’s a love letter to the old masters, but filtered through Bonamassa’s own lens, shaped by years on the road and in the studio.
And yet, there’s a freshness here too. An openness. While the blues has always been Joe’s north star, he’s never been afraid to colour outside the lines, blending rock, soul, even flashes of gospel into his work. “Breakthrough” captures that spirit perfectly: rooted in tradition but unbound by it, honouring the past while racing headlong into the future.
As the song’s final chorus fades into a bittersweet, aching outro, Bonamassa’s guitar lingering in the air like smoke after a fire, it’s impossible not to feel the weight of the journey behind him. And the even greater journey still ahead.
“Breakthrough” is not just the latest single, listening to it, it’s clear: Joe Bonamassa has no intention of slowing down. Because that’s the thing: he’s never arrived. He’s always arriving, chasing the next riff, the next revelation, the next chance to dig deeper, to play harder, to mean more. If anything, he’s picking up speed, shedding old skins, burning old maps, trusting only the pull of the music to guide him forward. it’s a declaration of intent from a man who has nothing left to prove, and yet refuses to stop proving it, night after night, note after note.
In a world that often rewards shortcuts and shallow victories, Joe Bonamassa’s career stands as a statement to something deeper. Something harder. Something more real. And with “Breakthrough,” he throws down the gauntlet once again, not to the competition, that would be too easy, but to himself.
He’s not just breaking through walls.
He’s breaking through himself, into new realms of artistry, heart, and sheer sonic power.
The long and winding road goes ever onward. The guitars will still cry and sing their melancholy song, but somewhere out there, beyond the next town, the next show, the next heartbreak and hope, Joe Bonamassa is already walking toward his next “Breakthrough.”
I’ll leave the final words to the great man himself…
“I’m not chasing hits. I’m chasing the truth of the song, the truth of the sound. If you don’t feel it in your gut, what’s the point?”
Joe Bonamassa
Pre-order the album ‘Breakthrough’ NOW
