Sloe Gin

There’s blues-rock for rowdy roadhouse escapades and blues-rock for nights when grim loneliness plagues the soul. Sloe Gin is the latter. Restricting his searing electric guitar work to the occasional accent, Joe Bonamassa leans on his acoustic for a batch of tunes that reveal his talents as an introspective storyteller. In terms of sheer pain and vulnerability, the record unloads some seriously heavy moments, like when Bonamassa cries, "I’m so damn lonely, and I ain’t even high" on the stunning title track.