Joe Bonamassa Releasing Tribute Album To Rory Gallagher

Bobby Caughron March 28, 2026

Joe Bonamassa Releasing Tribute Album To Rory Gallagher…Joe Bonamassa has announced The Spirit of Rory Live From Cork, a powerful live album and film capturing his deeply personal tribute to Irish blues guitar legend Rory Gallagher, recorded during a series of sold-out performances in Gallagher’s hometown of Cork, Ireland last summer. The album will be released Friday June 19th via Bonamassa’s own J&R Adventures.

Bonamassa, the project was never approached as a casual homage. Gallagher’s music has been part of his life since childhood, and the weight of performing it in Cork, with the blessing of Rory’s family and in front of audiences who carry his legacy so personally, was something he felt immediately.

“I never had the honour to meet him, but his music and musicianship loom large in my life,” Bonamassa writes in a personal foreword accompanying the release. “From my first time hearing Irish Tour ’74 I was captivated by the sheer intensity of the man and the ferocity of his approach to the electric blues.”

Across 14 hand-picked songs, The Spirit Of Rory Live From Cork moves through the many sides of Gallagher’s catalogue – from the blistering attack of “Walk On Hot Coals” and “Bullfrog Blues” to the emotional sweep of “A Million Miles Away,” which will serve as the album’s focus track upon release. Other highlights include “Tattoo’d Lady,” “Bad Penny,” “I Fall Apart,” “Calling Card,” and “Cradle Rock,” each delivered with fire and conviction while honouring the shape and soul of the originals.

The release also captures several moments that carried special meaning across the Cork run, including Bonamassa’s performance of “As The Crow Flies” on Gallagher’s own 1930 National Triolian resonator guitar, loaned by the Cork Public Museum. It was a tangible connection to the artist whose presence still looms so large over the city and over generations of guitar players who followed him.

Additional footage, included on DVD and Blu-ray editions, expands the story with bonus material including The Inspiration of Rory, featuring conversations with Brian May and Slash, along with Rory’s Acoustic Guitar and Ballycotton – A Million Miles Away. Together, the audio and visual components offer a fuller picture of what these performances meant to Bonamassa, to Gallagher’s family, and to the fans who packed the room night after night.

In the end, Bonamassa sees the album as an offering – his band’s best attempt to honour a musician whose work helped shape his own. “What you hear on these recordings is our best effort to pay tribute to Rory Gallagher, a man I never met, but admire so deeply,” he writes. “His music is part of me and I’m grateful that we were able to contribute in some small way to his ongoing legacy.”

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