Renowned blues-rock guitarist and vocalist Joe Bonamassa played to a packed house at the FM Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., on March 2. Bonamassa recently released “B.B. King’s Blues Summit: 100,” a 32-song tribute album to the legend and his mentor, with guests appearances from everyone from Eric Clapton to Slash. In June, his live album and film tribute to Rory Gallagher, “The Spirit Of Rory Live From Cork,” will be released.

Bonamassa will next perform in the Northeast in June, with dates at Bethel Woods on the 26th with guests JJ Grey & Mofro and D.K. Harrell, and on the 27th at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City.

Read our extensive interview with Bonamassa here.

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So when his mentor B.B. King’s 100th birthday was approaching, Bonamassa took action and went big: a 32-song album tribute to the man, with more than 30 guest musicians, including Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, George Benson, Gary Clark Jr, Chaka Khan, Slash, Warren Haynes, Dion, Michael McDonald, Paul Rodgers, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Aloe Blacc, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Marcus King, Shemekia Copeland and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram.

“Nobody was going to do anything, you know?” Bonamassa says during a phone interview before a recent show at the FM Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre, PA. “MCA or whoever owns MCA’s label wasn’t doing anything. There wasn’t much coming from the family. And I was like, well, somebody’s got to do this, right? You know what I mean? You can’t just let his hundredth birthday come and go and not even acknowledge it.”

“B.B. King’s Blues Summit: 100,” was released in February, and one of Esquire magazine’s most anticipated albums of 2026, it is a full-circle moment for Bonamassa, who was taken under the wing of the “King of the Blues” before he was even a teen. He first opened for King when he was a 12-year-old growing up near Utica and remained close with the legendary artist until his passing in 2015.

The guitarist, who has also developed a relationship with Clapton, understands his place as a link in the chain of “keeping the blues alive” — the name he chose for his charitable foundation and annual music cruise.

Joe Bonamassa with B.B. King

“That’s a big deal,” he says. “I try to do that with younger artists myself. B.B., you know, gave me a seal of approval when I was a kid and we worked together up until about 2006 or 7, and Eric Clapton coming out a couple of years later at the Albert Hall. I mean, that was a big moment in my life. Those were huge, huge moments that without that validation, my career would have probably turned out a lot different.”

Bonamassa said he had somewhat taken the relationship with King for granted because he was “so nice and affable” that he and fellow blues rockers like Clark, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Jonny Lang and Josh Smith “didn’t really understand how lucky we were and the magnitude of the situation that we were being invited into.”

“I asked Marcus, did you ever meet him? He’s like, man, I saw him once when I was eight years old or whatever and never got a chance to meet him. And it’s like, wow. It just dawned on me when he answered that question: I was like, wow, how lucky was I?”

With younger players like Marcus King and Kingfish on the tribute record, Bonamassa is doing his part to not only honor the legacy of the blues, but also push it forward.

“Every 10 years or so, there’s someone who comes along and gives the blues and the genre a B-12 shot,” he says. “I did it in 2010, 9, 10, 11, whatever. And then it was Gary Clark Jr. And now it’s Kingfish. Every so often there’s an artist that comes out and connects with an audience that’s larger than the genre itself. And that’s super important to keep it modern. Marcus King I could put it in that category. Marcus is on our record. Gary’s on our record. Kingfish is on our record. The greatest thing about doing this record was not only getting people involved that knew B.B. King and rolled with B.B. King going back to the ’40s with Bobby Rush, in the ’50s with, Buddy Guy, but also seeing younger artists like Marcus and DK Harrell and all those those kind of guys that never met him.”

PHOTO GALLERY: BLUES ROCKER JOE BONAMASSA THRILLS PACKED KIRBY CENTER

The self-proclaimed guitar nerd who owns “somewhere between 740 and 760” guitars but tours with just 12 will on June 19 release “The Spirit Of Rory Live From Cork,” a live album and film recorded during a series of shows in Rory Gallagher’s hometown, an homage to the late blues-rocker. He says just finished recording a new album at Power Station in New York, and later this month he’ll start a tour in Europe, including a two-night return to the Royal Albert Hall in London. On June 26 he’ll kick off his summer tour at Bethel Woods — he’ll play Atlantic City the next night — and in the fall it will be more European dates.

For Bonamassa, this is slowing down.

“Last year I was on the road over 230 days, 240 days. I was away from home. I’m like, I’m too old for this, 49, heading into year 50. We’re doing 65 shows this year and that’s enough.”

Bonamassa and his manager Roy Weisman in 2002 formed J&L Adventures to handle all aspects of his career. The outfit has also managed the careers of newer artists such as Robert John & The Wreck.

“I’m a firm believer in betting on yourself, and I’m also a firm believer in vertically integrated business,” he explains. “The artist in me is like, yeah, I’m going to bet on myself, and if you’re not confident enough in yourself to bet on yourself, then how are you going to get others to bet on you? So that’s the art side.

“The [concert promotion] side is a vertically integrated business. It’s like you’re giving chunks of the pie away that you don’t have to, you know what I mean? Ten, 15% to an agent or promoters and this and that, but you still got to pay for the trucks and buses, you still got to pay for the hotels. And you’re like, well, that’s a big chunk off the bottom line that you’re saving by betting on yourself. And we work with Live Nation, we rent their venues and they’ve created a wonderful business. I mean, you’re not knocking them, but we’re here at the Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre and it’s sold out on a Monday night. I don’t need a Live Nation to take 10% of that.”

Bonamassa has been nominated for six Grammys and has won zero. He says it doesn’t bother him.

“No. I’ll tell you why. Because I know people that have Grammys that would trade their statue and three magic beans for what I do on a Monday night. And if that’s the tax, that I never win the hardware, well you know what? I got enough fucking nominee medallions to make a bitchin’ wind chime out of it and call it a day.”

He notes that The Beach Boys and Jimi Hendrix never won a Grammy.

He answers with a similar sense of confidence and contentment when he’s asked if there’s anything left he’d like to accomplish.

“I mean, honestly, I have nothing left to prove or do, you know? I just want to be able to maintain my skill set, go out there, put on the best shows, keep curating the songs, keep improving the arrangements. And every two years play the Royal Albert Hall. If I can do that, geez, how lucky am I?”

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“That experience of writing about what’s happening, if you’re actually doing biographical stuff, sort of sucks, but at the same time, it is the therapy,” Ziman says. “It’s the thing that slows you down, and it’s the thing that helps you process stuff. I think there’s a different feeling when you first write it. You’re coping. And so that’s therapeutic.”

One song on the new album, “50/50,” was particularly laborious.

“I was trying to take on so much in one song and not make it sound preachy. Because listen, I don’t want to go to a show and have an artist sing to me exactly what I’m feeling anyway and not really tell me anything new. So I have one song on the record that’s that. That’s the song about what we’re all feeling. And ’50/50′ took me years and years to finish because of that. And yeah, it was sort of hard to keep looking at all the injustices of the world and all of life’s contradictions, and then all these personal things that were happening and try to fit them into one song.”

“Responsible Friend” is the Brooklyn musician’s first LP since her pandemic-era release “Sincerely, E.” During COVID, she played livestreams to stay connected to her fans — and pay the bills.

“That’s the way I actually made money through the pandemic. That’s how I was able to survive. When I livestream, I do the lullaby hour late at night, and then I’m telling jokes when I’m singing some of my sad songs sometimes, and I’m very soft. And then, you know, when I’m playing a show, I want people coming to the show to get away from their lives for a couple hours.”

Sweetening difficult subjects with lush music is a technique she uses. She cites the Bob Dylan song “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”: “I guess you could say that’s sort of an upbeat musical accompaniment to a breakup song. And I think sometimes it’s easier to digest that way. I don’t think I do it on purpose. I don’t think I’m thinking about it while I’m writing. But I think it’s really important for all of us finding the balance right now.”

Another song on the new album with a deep emotional bent is “When The Doctor Needs A Doctor.” A fan of hers, an ER doctor, reached out and said he and other medical professionals were struggling with their own self care during COVID. He asked her to write a song about it and suggested the title. A financial award from the DAG Foundation allowed her to hire a string section to adorn the track.

Like most artists releasing new music, Ziman has commissioned videos and so far has shared ones for the title track and “50/50.” Both are whimsical clips made by Nancy Howell and Mark Lerner, aka The Mark of Nancy. There is a barrage of images in the video for “50/50,” which Ziman says “is supposed to overwhelm you a bit.”

“It’s about the contradictions of life and and burnout,” she continues. “It’s like one after another. I’m saying so much that to have these jokes, basically of the lines, even not all of them are jokes, but just to have that edge of like seeing the image.” She again cites Dylan, for his proto-music video for “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” saying: “I wanted a visual lyric video without lyrics.”

With the album out in the wild, it’s now time for Ziman to take the songs on the road, with shows scheduled in the Northeast, South and West Coast. On Wednesday, she’ll play a sold-out hometown engagement at Joe’s Pub, where she says she’ll feature a women’s choir and string section.

“I just wish we did two shows because the first one sold out like six weeks ago. And so now I’m like, how do I get my friends in?” she says.

Photo by Shervin Lainez

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The last night of March at the Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre, PA, began with a bang with opening rock band Plush playing their first show of 2026 supporting Collective Soul, setting the stage with a high-energy performance. Plush, an all-girl rock band, is comprised of guitarist and singer Moriah Formica, bass player Ashley Suppa and drummer Faith Powell.

Collective Soul took the stage around 9 p.m. delivering a night filled of hits, opening with “Counting the Days.” Made up of brothers Ed and Dean Roland, Will Turpin, Johnny Rabb and Jesse Triplett, the band got the whole venue rocking and singing along with “Shine,” it’s biggest hit. Singer Ed Roland asked how Wilkes-Barre is pronounced and brought the drum tech, a city native on stage to confirm. Other songs included in the set were “The World I Know” and “Where the River Flows.” The group closed the night with “Run,” and Roland thanked the fans and his bandmates.

Collective Soul is set to release a new album for Record Store Day April 18 titled “Touch and Go.” The album features 10 songs and will be available as a 180-gram colored vinyl with a 12×24 poster. The band has tour dates booked until Sept. 13, which can be found on its website.

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“I usually come to my instrument with the song written. They just pop into my head,” says Ardra, a guitarist and singer from Long Island. “The production, though, is what I experiment with. I get to the point where I have a collection of songs that I feel are complementary to each other for some reason, and then I start thinking about what I want the overall sound of this collection to be. Very rarely do I work on a song one at a time, not knowing what the other songs will be.”

While the album has a contemporary feel, its cohesive nature is a throwback to ’70s progressive and classic rock groups, with Ardra citing Pink Floyd, Steely Dan and Led Zeppelin as bands who made albums “you can just get lost in.”

“You put it on, you close your eyes and you feel like you’re consistently in that world from start to finish, right? From a production standpoint, I like it when it feels like it’s filling in the air around you,” he says. “It’s really just for the listener to be able to get lost in and hopefully come out the other side with whatever they kind of take away from it.”

The lyrical theme of the album, Ardra says, is “the general awareness of the self. It’s whether or not you’re living for who you actually are, what actually means something to you. And a lot of the songs weave in and out of this concept of self-discovery.”

Ardra, who played saxophone in his high school band and studied music business at NYU, began writing the songs on “Saw It In A Dream” in 2022 near the end of the COVID pandemic.

“I think it was a little bit more reflection of, OK, obviously there was this terrible traumatic thing that was going on and had happened. You kind of take stock of what’s actually important. And I think that’s kind of what pushed me in that direction.”

The newest single from the album is “Reasons,” which is the first song he wrote outside of his former band.

“It came about at a time when even just musically, I was making a change, because I come from a rock band background and my rock band spent many years on the road doing the kind of traditional thing,” he says. “When COVID came, it kind of took everything away. So when I wrote that song, it was kind of the first time that I wrote something that I could hear my rock band play, but then I was like, I can do something to it too that’s not that. So in itself, it was a representation of the change that I was going through.

“And pretty much from there I wrote a couple of songs, ‘Colors’ being one of them inspired by a sign on the Long Island Rail Road about suicide prevention and things like that. You could see, well, this is pushing me in this direction. After a couple of songs, I realized what kind of mood I was in, and I was like, OK, this seems to be a recurring theme of where I’m at, you know?”

Ardra recorded at home, save for Leo Freire’s drums and Danielle Cardona’s backing vocals, both of which were tracked at Chiller Sound in Westchester County.

On Thursday, March 26, he will perform at Drom (85 Avenue A, New York City) as part of an eight-piece: himself, a second guitarist, bassist, drummer, keyboardist, percussionist and three backing vocals. He said roughly half of the setlist will be drawn from “Saw It In A Dream.”

Before the June release of the album, he’ll put out another single and “different types of media around different songs on the record.”

Long Island has a reputation as a haven for classic rock, with prominent radio stations and countless tribute bands coming from the region. This influenced Ardra, but he was fortunate not to fall prey to the repetitive, hit-driven playlists that dominate many classic stations across the US.

“I mean, for a long time, I wasn’t sure if there were any other bands other than Zeppelin, Rush and The Beatles,” Ardra says of his early listening. “Like any place, you hear a lot of the same kind of classics. But the thing that I always appreciate about Long Island was people are really into classic rock, so you also heard the B-sides, you also heard the deeper album cuts, and had I not been exposed to that, I probably would have different musical tastes.”

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With owner Joe Germanotta — he is Lady Gaga’s father — at the helm, the restaurant’s rebrand includes a Thursday evening Emerging Artist Showcase. If an artist impresses him, they can earn their own 90-minute set, branded as Discovered at Joanne.

When we visited on Saturday, Grace Romanello sang a mix of show tunes and Gaga favorites, cabaret-style, as part of Mayhem week, running in parallel to Gaga’s Mayhem Ball concerts at Madison Square Garden. Diners enjoying the music ranged from older couples, younger folks on dates and families with small children to Gaga superfans in their new Mayhem Ball tour T-shirts. The restaurant hosted its first Mayhem week last March when Gaga released her album of the same name.

Grace Romanello performs at Joanne during Mayhem Week

The Gaga connection is celebrated at Joanne, from a concert video playing on a TV at the bar to cocktails like Edge of Glory named for her songs. She grew up around the corner in an apartment where the Germanottas still live.

“The goal is to help artists get discovered to give back to the community,” said Gabby Gabriel, who is leading Joanne’s rebrand through her company Second Wind Media, in which Germanotta has taken an ownership stake.

Sam Wilson, Joanne’s artistic director and director of programming, said he came to the restaurant to propose a poetry night. “There’s not a lot of Upper West Side support for artists. That’s why I came here, and they totally embraced me.”

Singers who have been “discovered at Joanne” include Reyna Grace Moran and Abbey Hutchins, who was introduced to the room by her old voice teacher at Julliard. Romanello, who has performed in the touring production of “Mean Girls,” has become the room’s resident cabaret singer after she filled in one night for a friend who was sick.

As part of the venue’s outreach, it has partnered with the world-renowned Julliard School, whose campus is a six-minute walk away, to help supply talent for its emerging artist series. Other connections include The Bitter End in Greenwich Village, which hosted a show in February featuring five emerging artists from Joanne and will do so again on June 23. And on May 12, Joanne will present emerging artists at Arlene’s Grocery on the Lower East Side.

Lead photo by Nina Wurtzel: Joanne owner Joe Germanotta, with Sam Wilson, artistic director and director of programming

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On “Future Soul,” singer-guitarist Susan Tedeschi, her husband, the guitarist Derek Trucks, and their cohorts distill everything that has made the band a hot live act since its 2010 formation into succinct, digestible but exciting bites, where Trucks’ incendiary playing is a feature but not a focus. At is core, “Future Soul” is a songwriters’ album, with pleasing melodies, memorable choruses and poignant themes anchoring the 11 songs.

The band gallops out of the gate with the blues rocker “Crazy Cryin’,” before the country breeze of “I Got You,” Tedeschi singing, “Don’t forget to miss me when I’m gone.” Tinkling piano and strummed guitar give the tune some air; TTB, like its forebears the Allman Brothers Band, can be a clattering freight train when it wants to, but it can also take you on a nice Sunday ride. Trucks plays a nice solo as the song fades out.

“Who Am I” is a gentle ballad with the musical lilt of Van Morrison. “Hero” is a bit of a departure, expanding the band’s palate beyond roots rock into indie: the atmosphere and insistent beat of the verses recalls The National, and the instrumental break owes more to Built To Spill than the Grateful Dead. Tedeschi wails on the chorus: “I’m not your hero/ I’m number zero.”

“What In The World” explores another mood, building on a 6/8-time groove and acoustic guitar, and the title track is bluesy hard rock, with some effects on Trucks’ solo. Mike Mattison takes lead vocals on the New Orleans-y “Under The Knife.” “Devil Be Gone” is powerful, classic TTB: a swampy blues shuffle, with Fender Rhodes swimming atop Trucks’ simmering guitar. The spooky verses give way to triumphant choruses, spiced by gospel-tinged backing vocals.

Equally surprising as “Hero” is “Shout Out,” with bright melodies bringing to mind Burt Bacharach, the horn section helping flesh out the lush pop feel.

Rather than closing with a blistering rocker, TTB go for a gentle send-off with “Ride On,” a short, pleasant tune, with Trucks taking a restrained and tasteful solo.

“Future Soul” is the type of album that should win over new fans, including those that don’t know or don’t care about the group’s lineage, its annual sold-out run at the Beacon Theatre or Trucks’ place among the best guitarists of the past 100 years. But this is not at the cost of disappointing or confusing its diehard listeners. If this is the future of soul, its in good hands.

Rating: 79/81

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The legendary Rod Stewart brought his long-running One Last Time tour to the PPL Center in Allentown on Saturday, performing hits such as “Hot Legs,” “Tonight’s The Night,” “Forever Young” and “Maggie May.” The two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member will return to the road next month for a run through the south before a six-show stop in Las Vegas, west coast engagements and a summer slate, including  July 31 at Jones Beach and Aug 4 at Niagara Falls.

This year, Stewart, along with Ronnie Wood and Kenny Jones, are set to release their first album as Faces since 1973’s “Ooh La La.”

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“I had this album put together in kind of a weird way because I had a lot of these songs written and intended for me to pitch to Orville Peck because he cut one of my songs right back in 2023,” Cyrus says in a recent interview. “And so the title track and this other song called ‘Bridge Between Two Towns’ that’s on the album, these were all songs that I wrote at a time whenever I was thinking I was going to pitch these to Orville Peck. So it was weird that they were put together in the way that they were just just because they weren’t even intended for me.

“I think writing stuff for other people kind of did change the way that I put together this particular record.”

The Nashville-based artist with the famous last name — another sister is Miley, his father is Billy Ray and his brother Trace was in the band Metro Station — did not start recording until he was in his early 20s, a late bloomer compared to his siblings. Despite the pop and country that is stock and trade of the family business, as a teen he gravitated to indie folk and EDM — former Band of Horses member Tyler Ramsey is on the new album, as are Noah and Miley.

“Starting when I was like 15, I got obsessed with My Morning Jacket. I’m still probably one of the biggest My Morning Jacket fans out there,” he says. “I really grew up, for lack of a better phrase, in the Studio City, Ventura, California, Ventura Boulevard, kind of skateboard hipster kind of scene whenever I was in high school. I was really into my Morning Jacket, mainly, and Band of Horses. I remember the very first Fleet Foxes record came out when I was in maybe 10th or 11th grade. And that that was huge,” he adds recalling,  “I used to drive Noah to school, and we would listen to that First Fleet Foxes album, and me and her would practice harmonies in the car to ‘White Winter Hymnal.'”

Other early influences included electronic acts like Justice and Crystal Castles.

However, Cyrus’ teenage interest in music did not translate to career aspirations at first.

“I wasn’t really working on it or planning to do music at all. Even when I moved back [to Nashville] I went to film school. I was like, oh, man, there’s kind of a blossoming film community, and maybe I can move back to Nashville and sort of be a big fish in a small pond, so to speak, for the Nashville kind of film scene.”

That started to change when he met the singer-songwriter Griffin House, one of the first people he connected with when he moved back to Nashville at 22. They worked together on “I’ll Never Leave You,” Cyrus’ first single, which he dropped in 2018.

Another big moment came when he collaborated with Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes on the song “Don’t Put It All On Me,” which Noah sang on her 2025 album.

Last year, he began releasing singles from the new album: “Know This,” with Miley, “As Long As You Stay,” with Noah. This January, he put out “Looking Forward to the Past” with Ramsey.

It was the first time Braison worked with Miley.

“I’ve never really worked with Trace or my dad until recently. And even then, we weren’t singing together. It was me producing his record. Me and Miley, I wasn’t really sure how it was gonna go. I just asked her to do it because I thought it’d be fun.”

As part of the rollout for “From Now On,” Cyrus will perform at the Franklin Theatre near Nashville, with special guests Noah and Sierra Lundy, on March 14, as well as a SXSW showcase in Austin on the 19th.

Told that it appears that his career is growing at a manageable rate, he replied, “100 percent.”

“I’m exactly where I want to be. I would always rather be growing rather than hit a peak and then immediately tumble backwards. And I think that I want to pace myself. I think what you do is just as important as what you turn down. I think right now I’m kind of at a good place where I can pick and choose what I want to do, pick and choose who I work with and and take my time to make what I want to make.”

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As part of his “Winter of Warren,” Gov’t Mule frontman and longtime Allmans Brothers Band member Warren Haynes brought his self-named band to the FM Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., on March 4. The guitarist and vocalist is joined by bassist Kevin Scott and drummer Terrence Higgins, both of Gov’t Mule, and Matt Slocum on keyboards.

Wednesday’s show featured a tasty mix of material from all corners of Haynes’ career, including solo selections, Mule tunes, Allmans songs and classic, guitar-forward covers, including Jimi Hendrix’s “Spanish Castle Magic” and the group’s debut of “Freeway Jam” by Jeff Beck.

In late 2024, Haynes released his fourth solo album, “Million Voices Whisper”; watch or read Haynes speak about that, reconnecting in the studio with Allmans bandmate Derek Trucks and more in our interview. Last year, he released “The Whisper Sessions,” featuring stripped-down versions of songs from the album.

On April 30, Haynes will perform with the Louisiana Philharmonic in New Orleans as part of the city’s Jazz Fest.

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