Early the next year, Bonamassa left and Black Country Communion subsequently broke up, with Hughes and Bonham forming California Breed shortly thereafter.

[1] Bonamassa also worked with Jason Bonham that year, when the drummer performed on the guitarist's fifth studio album You & Me on the recommendation of producer and mutual friend Kevin Shirley.

[1] The completed quartet first performed together during the encore at one of Bonamassa's solo shows in Riverside, California on March 17, 2010, playing "One Last Soul" and a cover version of the Deep Purple song "Mistreated".

[5] Hughes later revealed that the band in question, from Baltimore, Maryland, reportedly demanded $500,000 for the right to use the name Black Country, a move which he quickly condemned as "just rude".

[8] Hughes described the album as "a big British rock statement", comparing the band's sound to that of his previous groups Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, as well as Led Zeppelin.

[8] On the night of its European release, the band played its first official show at the John Henry Rehearsal Studios in London, in front of a limited crowd of "around 75–100 people".

[3][17] The band did not tour in promotion of the album, playing just two shows in the UK at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall and London's Shepherd's Bush Empire.

[19] Talk of a second album began to circulate as early as October 2010, just a month after the release of Black Country Communion, when Bonham estimated that the band would start recording again in January 2011.

[23] The album was released on June 13, 2011 in Europe and the following day in North America, selling over 8,000 copies in its first week in the US (compared to the 7,100 units of Black Country Communion) but only debuting on the Billboard 200 chart at number 71.

[14] In promotion of Black Country Communion 2, the band completed a short tour of Europe between June and July supported by the Michael Schenker Group.

[14][16] Black Country Communion scheduled a one-off show at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall on January 5, 2013,[34] with a video release of the concert planned for later in the year.

[39] Bonamassa eventually responded to rumors that he was to leave Black Country Communion, condemning Hughes' "bullying" of the guitarist to complete the planned 2013 show despite knowing that he was not able to, as well as the way in which he publicly revealed the tensions in the band and his claim of being the sole songwriter on Afterglow.

[40] Bonham also revealed his frustration with the situation,[41] while Bonamassa's manager and business partner Roy Weisman admitted that it was his decision to cancel the Wolverhampton gig, based on Hughes's actions.

[43] Ten days later, Hughes confirmed that the band was over, revealing that Bonamassa would not allow the remaining members to continue with the Black Country Communion name.

Particular significance is attributed to the band's mix of blues rock (attributed primarily to Bonamassa's work within the genre) and hard rock (originating from Hughes' previous work with Deep Purple and Black Sabbath and from Bonham's tie with Led Zeppelin via his father John),[17] with some critics going as far as to claim that the group's sound is based on "the vintage Deep Purple template".

[63] Noting the extensive touring commitments of Bonamassa, Hughes has claimed that he was "left as the keeper of the keys to write [the band's] albums", noting that for each record – which have been continuations of their predecessors – he has had more and more time to write material (six weeks for Black Country Communion, four months for Black Country Communion 2, six months for Afterglow).