Guesting on Guitar Interactive, Joe Bonamassa offered some stories of rare guitar finds, recording at Abbey Road Studios, and commented on the passing and legacy of Eddie Van Halen.

Bonamassa: "It's like losing Stevie (Ray Vaughan) again, and (Jimi) Hendrix," he says of Eddie Van Halen's passing. "They wouldn't associate me as being a big Eddie Van Halen fan, but when I hear his stuff - especially early stuff - I hear a blues-rock guy that came up with some really inventive powerful things. I hear the blues in it. I hear it in a lot of songs, even 'Hot for Teacher,' stuff like that, it's like 'Let's do 'La Grange'...' and just his tone, how clean it was, I could hear the (Eric) Clapton, I could hear the blues, and then he just would take it somewhere else.

He was tremendously impactful to so many that you just go there's pre-Eddie, post-Eddie, that was it. I mean, how many single-humbucker Strats were before 1978? Now there's millions. That's one guy, that's how much they changed the game."

Joe Bonamassa’s new Abbey Road-recorded solo album, Royal Tea – inspired by British blues rock heroes like Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin and Cream – is out now. Check out "Lookout Man!", the newest single and video from the album below.

The Abbey Road Studio recordings follows Bonamassa’s recent instrumental side project called The Sleep Eazys, who released their critically-acclaimed debut album, Easy To Buy, Hard To Sell. The album was produced by Bonamassa and features some of his frequent collaborators, along with his all-star touring band. The Sleep Eazys project is Joe’s second time in the studio as a producer, after Reese Wynans’ debut solo album Sweet Release.

Tracklist:

"When One Door Opens"
"Royal Tea"
"Why Does It Take So Long To Say Goodbye"
"Lookout Man"
"High Class Girl"
"A Conversation With Alice"
"I Didn't Think She Would Do It"
"Beyond The Silence"
"Lonely Boy"
"Savannah"

(Photo - Mark Gromen)