Royal Tea

Royal Tea
Studio album by Joe Bonamassa
Released	October 23, 2020 (2020-10-23)
Recorded	January 2020
Studio	Abbey Road (London, UK)
Genre	Blues rock
Length	53:09
Label	J&R Adventures Provogue
Producer	Kevin Shirley
Joe Bonamassa chronology
Redemption (2018) Royal Tea (2020) Time Clocks (2021)

Royal Tea is the fourteenth solo studio album by American blues rock musician Joe Bonamassa. It was released on October 23, 2020 via J&R Adventures. It was recorded in January 2020 at Abbey Road Studios in London and produced by Kevin Shirley.

At the 64th Annual Grammy Awards held in 2022, the album has been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album, but lost to Christone "Kingfish" Ingram's 662 .

The album was followed by a twelve-track live release, Now Serving: Royal Tea Live from the Ryman, which includes all songs from Royal Tea except "Savannah". ^{[1] [2]}

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	75/100 [3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
American Songwriter	[5]
Classic Rock	[6]

Royal Tea was met with generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 75, based on four reviews. ^[3]

AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised the album, stating: "Bonamassa has plenty of opportunity to show his facility with synthesizing different classic guitarists -- there's a bit of Rory Gallagher and Peter Green to offset his Claptonisms -- but the best moment on Royal Tea is "A Conversation with Alice", a chiming bit of soul-pop where he channels the best moments of Steve Marriott". ^[4] Hal Horowitz of American Songwriter wrote: "nothing quite tops those two selections but there is enough strong Bonamassa playing and diverse material (like the lovely, Allman Brothers Band "Midnight Rider" lope of "Savannah" featuring Bonamassa's rarely heard mandolin work), to make this album a highlight of his bulging, and ever expanding, catalog". ^[5] Hugh Fielder of Classic Rock determined: "the best thing about Royal Tea is that every track could easily drop into Bonamassa's live show – which is more than you can say for Redemption . Back on track in every sense". ^[6]

Accolades

Accolades for Royal Tea

Publication	Accolade	Rank	Ref.
Louder	The 50 best albums of 2020	4	[7]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"When One Door Opens"	Joe Bonamassa Kevin Shirley Pete Brown	7:34
2.	"Royal Tea"	Bonamassa James House Shirley	4:28
3.	"Why Does It Take So Long to Say Goodbye"	Bonamassa Bernie Marsden	6:44
4.	"Lookout Man"	Bonamassa Shirley Brown Mike McCully	5:31
5.	"High Class Girl"	Bonamassa Marsden	4:53
6.	"A Conversation With Alice"	Bonamassa Marsden	4:19
7.	"I Didn’t Think She Would Do It"	Bonamassa Marsden Brown	4:11
8.	"Beyond the Silence"	Bonamassa	6:45
9.	"Lonely Boy"	Bonamassa Jools Holland Dave Stewart	4:06
10.	"Savannah"	Bonamassa Marsden	4:38
Total length:			53:09

Bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
11.	"Don't You Do Me No Favours"	Bonamassa Marsden	5:38
12.	"Don't Hand Me Your Hangups"	Bonamassa Marsden	4:13

Personnel

• Joe Bonamassa – vocals & guitar, mandolin (track 10)
• Jade MacRae – backing vocals (tracks: 1–6)
• Juanita Tippins – backing vocals (tracks: 1–5)
• Mahalia Barnes – backing vocals (track 6)
• Bernie Marsden – backing vocals (track 10)
• Doug Henthorn – backing vocals (track 11)
• Kevin "Caveman" Shirley – acoustic guitar (tracks: 3, 4), percussion (track 4), producer, mixing
• Rob McNelley – rhythm guitar (tracks: 6, 7, 11)
• Reese Wynans – organ, Wurlitzer piano (tracks: 6, 10), piano (tracks: 8, 12)
• Julian Miles "Jools" Holland – piano (track 9)
• Michael Rhodes – bass
• Anton Fig – drums (tracks: 1–10, 12), percussion (tracks: 4, 8, 11)
• Jeff Bova – orchestration (track 1), percussion (track 2)
• Greg Morrow – drums (tracks: 4, 11), percussion (track 4)
• Paulie Cerra – saxophone (tracks: 9, 12)
• Ron Dziubla – baritone saxophone (tracks: 9, 12)
• Lee Thornburg – trumpet and horn arrangement (tracks: 9, 12)
• Errol Litton – harmonica (track 4)
• The Bovaland Symphonic Orchestra – orchestra (track 1)
• Christopher James Parker – engineering
• Marta Maria Di Nozzi – engineering assistant
• Bob Ludwig – mastering
• Jonathan Hicks – overdubbing
• Austin Atwood – overdubbing
• Ben Rodgers – overdubbing
• Roy Weisman – executive producer
• Kate Moss – design
• Christie Goodwin – photography
• Rick Gould – additional photography
• David Lamont – additional photography

Charts

Chart (2020)	Peak position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [8]	3
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [9]	9
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [10]	33
Canadian Albums (Billboard) [11]	75
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [12]	3
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) [13]	20
French Albums (SNEP) [14]	52
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [15]	5
Italian Albums (FIMI) [16]	41
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [17]	39
Scottish Albums (OCC) [18]	5
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [19]	47
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [20]	4
UK Albums (OCC) [21]	7
UK Album Downloads (OCC) [22]	6
UK Independent Albums (OCC) [23]	2
US Billboard 200 [24]	41
US Top Album Sales (Billboard) [25]	6
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) [26]	7
US Top Current Album Sales (Billboard) [27]	5
US Independent Albums (Billboard) [28]	6
US Top Blues Albums (Billboard) [29]	1

References

1. Fielder, Hugh (June 18, 2021). "Joe Bonamassa plays Royal Tea Live and the cardboard cut-outs go wild". Classic Rock . Retrieved June 23, 2025.
2. Horowitz, Hal (June 9, 2021). "Review: A Live Album Without The Distraction Of An Audience? Blues Rocker Joe Bonamassa Has It Covered". American Songwriter . Retrieved June 23, 2025.
3. "Critic Reviews for Royal Tea - Metacritic". Metacritic . Archived from the original on June 20, 2025. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
4. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Royal Tea - Joe Bonamassa | Album | AllMusic". AllMusic . Retrieved June 23, 2025.
5. Horowitz, Hal (October 19, 2020). "Blues Rocker Joe Bonamassa Pays Tribute To His Regal British Blues Influences In 'Royal Tea'". American Songwriter . Archived from the original on March 3, 2024. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
6. Fielder, Hugh (October 23, 2020). "Joe Bonamassa channels Beck and Page on Royal Tea, and finds himself back on track". Classic Rock . Retrieved June 23, 2025.
7. "The 50 best albums of 2020". Louder. December 16, 2020. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
8. "Austriancharts.at – Joe Bonamassa – Royal Tea" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
9. "Ultratop.be – Joe Bonamassa – Royal Tea" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
10. "Ultratop.be – Joe Bonamassa – Royal Tea" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
11. "Joe Bonamassa Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
12. "Dutchcharts.nl – Joe Bonamassa – Royal Tea" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
13. "Joe Bonamassa: Royal Tea" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
14. "Lescharts.com – Joe Bonamassa – Royal Tea". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
15. "Offiziellecharts.de – Joe Bonamassa – Royal Tea" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
16. "Italiancharts.com – Joe Bonamassa – Royal Tea". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
17. "Norwegiancharts.com – Joe Bonamassa – Royal Tea". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
18. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
19. "Swedishcharts.com – Joe Bonamassa – Royal Tea". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
20. "Swisscharts.com – Joe Bonamassa – Royal Tea". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
21. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
22. "Official Album Downloads Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
23. "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
24. "Joe Bonamassa Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
25. "Joe Bonamassa Chart History (Top Album Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
26. "Joe Bonamassa Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
27. "Joe Bonamassa Chart History (Top Current Album Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
28. "Joe Bonamassa Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
29. "Joe Bonamassa Chart History (Top Blues Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 23, 2025.

External links

• Joe Bonamassa – Royal Tea at Discogs (list of releases)