AS he prepares to return to the UK for a short tour, Joe Bonamassa finds himself in an unusual situation.

“I’m actually in between album cycles at the moment,” said the legendary blues rock guitarist. “The good news is that it means I have 17 albums to go at.

“The fun challenge is to go back in time and pull something from a few years ago and revamp it for now. which is what we’re looking at doing for the tour”

Still only 39. Joe has been prolific throughout his career, His most recent album Blues of Desperation released last year reached number three in the UK charts.

“My fans are so cool,” he said. “They are so familiar with the songs and they are cool with us revisiting them.

“When I go back and listen to me sing 15 years ago, I go ‘how on hell did anyone buy one copy of his album?’.

“Through hard work, some vocal coaching and sheer attrition my voice has gone up almost an octave so that’s always good because I can go back to the old catalogue and know that I’m not going to have to strain as hard.

“But, you know, I’ve always held the mindset that each of these records, each song is nothing but a snapshot in time.

“Having said that there are time when I will look back on some of stuff and think I wish I could have done this or that.

“But people come to me all the time and say they’ve got a DVD of the Beacon Theatre show or whatever and they’ve spent years learning a particular solo because they love it.

“But to be honest I wouldn’t be able to show them a thing about it I don’t remember it, I’m always moving on.”

As a peerless performer, it’s refreshing to hear Joe still loves the spontaneity and excitement of performing live.. But, he candidly admits that hasn’t always been the case.

“I got into some bad habits four or five years ago when I was treating a gig like a studio session where there couldn’t be mistakes and everything was like a machine, “ he said.

“I noticed people started to say that the playing had got a little bit calculated and they were right, it had.

“Now I’d rather crash and burn going for something than play it safe. If you flub it so be it. “

Not that Joe ‘flubbing’ it as he puts it is a regular occurrence.

“With the guys we are we’re all hard on ourselves,” he said. “I’d say the difference between a perfect show and our worst night is about 10 per cent. But then on a night when we think we weren’t at our best people who have seen us 20 times will come up and say ‘man that was killer’. But we are pretty hard on ourselves.”

The key thing for Joe is that he and his band are playing live.

“In 2017 the technology exists which means you have a hard time telling what’s on tape and what’s being played,” he said. “Yes the consistency is the same, the show is the same every night whether the singer is hungover or the guitar player was out chasing girls - nothing like that happens around here of course - but to me that is being slightly disingenuous to your audience.”

At this point in our chat Joe is disturbed by a knock on the door of his Nashville hotel room and soon the sound of a box being torn open can be heard.

“Oh man, now we’re talking,” he enthuses. When I ask him what has got him so excited he tells me he’s taken delivery of a 1961 Fender Esquire which he will add to his collection. Joe has one of the finest collections of Fender and Gibson guitars in the world.

“Excuse me while I have a look at this,” he says down the line. “It was advertised as being a 9.5 out of 10 and it’s certainly nice and clean - I’d say it’s a nine but I’m happy with that. I haven’t got an Esquire in the collection.”

With a collection of more than 300 guitars - one of his favourite stage guitars in a 1951 Fender Nocaster - I wonder if Joe keeps his identity secret when he’s negotiating for his next purchase.

“On no, I tell them exactly who I am,” he says. “I’m the son of a guitar dealer and some people have learned the hard way that if they think they’’ll get more money out of me because I’m who I am, they won’t get the business.

“But I’m very happy to add this Fender to the collection.For something that is 56 years old, if I look this good at that age that would be great.”

Joe Bonamassa, Blackpool Opera House, Saturday, April 22. but a limited number of tickets have been released and are available online at www.wintergardensblackpool.co.uk, the venue box office on 0844 856 1111, or can be purchased from the Blackpool Opera House box office at Church Street, Blackpool, FY1 1HW.

You can also see him at Sheffield Arena on Monday, April 24. Tickets and full details at www.sheffieldarena.co.uk