Joe Bonamassa
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Joe Bonamassa (born May 8, 1977, meaning he shares a birthday with legendary bluesman Robert Johnson) is an American blues guitarist/singer, well known for his raw, gritty voice and technically accomplished playing [citation needed]. His style is considered in the same blues-rock style as Stevie Ray Vaughan (an early inspiration), Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Jonny Lang.
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[edit] Early life
Bonamassa was born in Utica, New York. His father Len owns a guitar store in Utica and as a result Joe started playing a short scale Chiquita guitar when he was 4 years old. At the age of 11, Joe spent around six months being mentored by country virtuoso Danny Gatton who taught Bonamassa to play in styles such as country and jazz. During this time, Bonamassa used to sit in with Gatton's band whenever they played in New York. He first opened for B. B. King when he was 12 years old. He was invited to attend a Fender guitar event when he was 14 years old and during that trip to the West Coast he met Berry Oakley, Jr., the son of The Allman Brothers Band bassist. Joe and Berry founded the group Bloodline with Miles Davis's son Erin and Robby Krieger's son Waylon. They released one album, on EMI, which produced two chart singles - "Stone Cold Hearted" and "Dixie Peach."
Bonamassa has been collecting guitars since the age of 13 and currently has around 123 in this collection. The extent of use to which he uses this arsenal is clear in the sleevenotes of his latest album, 'You And Me' which lists the 22 guitars and 5 different amps used on the 11 track album. Despite this, Bonamassa tends to only use one guitar at live gigs, currently relying on either a 2004 Gigliotti 'JB' Telecaster or a 1965 Fender Stratocaster.
[edit] Influences
In an interview in 'Guitarist' magazine (issue 265), Joe Bonamassa cites the three albums that had the biggest influence on his playing; John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton (the 'Beano Album'), Rory Gallagher's 'Irish Tour' and 'Farewell Cream' by Cream. These influences are evident in his music (and the songs he chooses to cover eg. Gallagher's 'Cradle Rock' and Clapton's 'Steppin' Out') but Joe has taked influences from other artists also. Examples are B.B. King, Robert Johnson, Danny Gatton, Jeff Beck, Eric Johnson and Buddy Guy. One notable thing about these influences is the range of genres they cover - Rock, Bluesrock, Jazz, Country, Delta Blues, Electric Blues - which all comes out in Bonamassa's unique style of playing.
[edit] Solo Career
Bonamassa's first solo album was "A New Day Yesterday", released in 2000 and produced by the legendary Tom Dowd. The song "Miss You / Hate You" from that CD continues to be prominently featured in all of Bonamassa's shows. Bonamassa added drummer Kenny Kramme and bassist Eric Czar as bandmates to tour and support the album.
After touring to support the first album, Bonamassa and the band returned to the studio in 2002 to work with producer Clif Magness (who produced Avril Lavigne's album) to release his second album "So It's Like That." The second album, which is more traditional rock music than blues like his other three studio albums, reached number one on the Billboard Blues Chart.
During the tour to support that album, numerous fans asked if the band was going to release a more traditional blues album. This feedback resulted in the 2003 release of "Blues Deluxe," which was released to support the Year of the Blues. The album features nine covers of classic blues tunes along with three songs authored by Bonamassa. This album also reached number one on the Billboard Blues Chart.
Joe's most recent studio effort is the 2006 release entitled "You & Me" which continues the blues-rock tradition that courses through Bonamassa's song writing. This album also appeared at #1 on the Billboard Blues album chart. For the recording of the album Bonamassa enlisted the talents of multiple studio musicians, such as Jason Bonham, son of the legendary John Bonham. "Your Funeral And My Trial", a track on the album, featured harmonica prodigy LD Miller.
In 2006, after extensive touring with his previous trio, Bonamassa changed the line-up of the musicians in his touring band. He enlisted the help of a new bass player named Mark Epstein and former Kenny Wayne Shepherd drummer, Bogie Bowels.
He recently performed a rare duo with rock legend Ted Nugent at the Sand Dollar Blues Room in Las Vegas in front of a VH1 movie crew for the show SuperGroup.
