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How is that for a bit of news? First of all let me explain something about the band name “Black Country”, the Black Country is an area in the West Midlands in England near Birmingham, I know because I was born and lived there for 27 years. The Black Country was so called because by the late 19th century it was an industrial area with Coal Mines and Iron Foundries and Steel Mills that used the local coal to fire their furnaces, produced a level of air pollution. However, according to Wikipedia, historians suggest that it is more likely that the name existed even before the Industrial Revolution; outcroppings of black coal scarred the surface of the local heath, and the presence of coal so near the surface rendered the local soil very black.

So, now you know a little about the Black Country you are probably wondering why on earth Joe Bonamassa, born in New York, is in a band about a small are of England. Well, Jason Bonham as you should know is the son of the legendary Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham who was actually born in Redditch but spent a lot of time in the Black Country seeing as Robert Plant was born in West Bromwich which definitely IS in the Black Country. Jason himself was apparently born in Dudley, not sure if that is true but that is about 5 miles from where I grew up and the back cover of Led Zeppelin IV actually shows a pretty bleak shot of some 60’s tower blocks in Dudley which were recently demolished.

Ok so enough of the history lesson, what’s all this about JB, JB and GH putting a band together?

Jason told Spinner:

“I just literally went into the studio last week for two days with one person I’d done an album with before, very quickly, and then the other was a friend of my father’s I got to meet later on, Joe Bonamassa and Glenn Hughes (ex Deep Purple and Black Sabbath), and we’re working on a new project with a working title of Black Country,”

“We’re actually recording an album, literally in that process of jamming it out and editing and putting together and going, ‘Yeah, that’s really cool,’” he says. “Joe just wanted to play guitar so with Glenn on bass and vocals, it’s a power trio.”

Sounds interesting, we’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime I’m looking forward to seeing Joe Bonamassa when he comes down under in March.

UPDATE
Blabbermouth has even more news on Black Country:

“We’re going to do the next session in March when I’m through with my current project, and I hope to finish in early April.” - producer Kevin Shirley (LED ZEPPELIN, JOURNEY, IRON MAIDEN, DREAM THEATER)

“The band is Jason Bonham on drums, Derek Sherinian on keyboards, Glenn Hughes on bass and vocals and Joe Bonamassa on guitar and vocals. The songs are all original and what a lineup! They are all the very best players in the world, for my money!”

“Jason Bonham is a totally unique drummer and a supreme, yet oh-so-tasty powerhouse. Derek Sherinian is super-versatile, and is playing mostly overdriven Hammond organ in this ensemble and is the color on the palette. Glenn Hughes plays bass and sings with a range VERY, VERY few can even get close to, and Joe Bonamassa, perhaps the best blues guitarist around, plays hard riffing guitar as well as adding his signature vocals alongside Glenn.”

“You’ll just have to wait - we’re planning to get this out late summer, and it’s promising to be phenomenal!”

UPDATE: Jason Bonham interviewed at NAMM 2010 about the new band, apparently it is only tentatively titled “Black Country” so this may change.

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