Joe Bonamassa


Joe Bonamassa is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He started his career at age 12, when he opened for B.B. King. In the last 13 years Bonamassa has put out 15 solo albums through his independent record label J&R Adventures, of which 11 have reached number 1 on the Billboard Blues charts.
Bonamassa has played alongside many notable blues and rock artists, and earned a Grammy Award nomination in 2013. Among guitarists, he is known for his extensive collection of vintage guitars and amplifiers.

Life and career

Solo career

Bonamassa was born in Utica, New York. He started playing guitar at age four, encouraged by his father, who was an avid music fan and exposed him to British blues rock records by Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, greatly inspiring him. At 11 years old Joe was mentored and trained by American guitar legend Danny Gatton. When he was 12 years old, he had his own band called Smokin' Joe Bonamassa, which gigged around western New York and Pennsylvania, including cities such as Scranton and Buffalo, but only on weekends since Joe had school on weekdays. Bonamassa played a crimson 1972 Fender Stratocaster he called "Rosie", given by his father.
Bonamassa opened for B.B. King at approximately 20 shows in 1989. In 1991, he performed on The Mickey Mouse Club where he is inducted into the Hall of Fame. Before he reached 18 years old, Bonamassa was playing in a band called Bloodline with the sons of Miles Davis, Robby Krieger, and Berry Oakley. Although Bloodline did not become a famous act, it attracted some attention to Bonamassa's guitar chops.
Bonamassa's debut studio album A New Day Yesterday was released in 2000, and features both original tunes and covers of such artists as Rory Gallagher, Jethro Tull, and Warren Haynes. The album features a guest appearance by Gregg Allman on the tune "If Heartaches Were Nickels" and was produced by Tom Dowd. The album reached number 9 on the Billboard Blues chart.
Between 2002 and 2006, Bonamassa saw three studio albums hit number 1 on the Billboard Blues charts, and all five of his solo studio albums made the top 10.
In 2009 Bonamassa fulfilled one of his childhood dreams by playing at the Royal Albert Hall in London, where Eric Clapton played a duet with him.
Bonamassa's live album was released in 2012. The show featured one of Bonamassa's musical heroes, Paul Rodgers, formerly of the bands Free and Bad Company, as a guest.
March 26, 2013 saw the release of his live acoustic album An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House, which was released as a CD/DVD/Blu-ray set. This concert marked the first time Bonamassa played a wholly acoustic show. The acoustic ensemble that performed the show was assembled with the help of Bonamassa's longtime producer, Kevin Shirley.
The concluding, three-night stand of Bonamassa's spring 2013 tour occurred at the famous Beacon Theatre in New York City.
Over the summer of 2013, Bonamassa performed four shows in London featuring three different bands and, at one show, a horn section, covering four different sides of his music. Each show had a unique setlist. The shows were recorded for a DVD release and the set of DVDs was released in October, 2013 under the name "Tour de Force."
On December 6, 2013, Bonamassa and Beth Hart were nominated for a Grammy Award for their 2013 collaborative album SeeSaw in the Best Blues Album category.
On November 8, 2019 Joe celebrated 30 years as a performer while playing Detroits Fox Theatre; 4707 attended including Bob Seger, Janet Jackson and Tim Riglay.
Bonamassa's album Different Shades of Blue is his first solo studio album since So, It's Like That to showcase only original songs Bonamassa wrote the album in Nashville with three songwriters: Jonathan Cain of Journey; James House, known for his work with Diamond Rio, Dwight Yoakam, and Martina McBride; and Jerry Flowers, who has written for Keith Urban. Bonamassa sought to create serious blues rock in the project instead of three-minute radio hits. The album was recorded at a music studio in the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas. The album charted at number 8 on the Billboard 200, number 1 on the Blues Chart, and number 1 on the Indie Chart.
In May 2015 Bonamassa won a Blues Music Award in the 'Instrumentalist - Guitar' category.
In April 2018 Bonamassa's signature amplifier the ‘59 Twin-Amp JB Edition was released by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.
On June 27, 2018, Bonamassa premiered at the Grand Ole Opry when he made a guest appearance after being introduced by Chase Bryant and playing along with him in his final song of the set, "I Need a Cold Beer."

Collaborations with Beth Hart

Bonamassa was first exposed to Beth Hart's music after seeing her play several television performances. The two would often cross paths when playing shows separately in Europe, and Bonamassa became very impressed with Hart when he caught her show at the Blue Balls festival in Lucerne, Switzerland. While recording his album Dust Bowl and listening to the expanded edition of the Rolling Stones' Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! that features tracks by Ike and Tina Turner, Bonamassa became inspired to try pairing up with a woman, and Beth Hart came to mind. The two musicians met up in a hotel bar in Dublin and soon Bonamassa floated the idea, which Hart accepted immediately, although she was at first under the impression that he was asking her to sing backup vocals on his next album. When she realized that his intention was for her to sing lead vocals, she said "I was floored".
Bonamassa, Hart, and producer Kevin Shirley wrote down lists of soul songs they liked to come up with material for the album, which was named Don't Explain. The group settled on twelve songs, although only ten ended up being recorded. Bonamassa and Hart chose five songs for the album each. Some of Hart's favorite tracks on the album, included "For My Friend" by Bill Withers and "Sinner's Prayer" by Ray Charles. Bonamassa had always wanted to do versions of Brook Benton's "I'll Take Care of You" and "Well Well" written by Delaney Bramlett & Bonnie Bramlett.
Their follow-up album, Seesaw was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Blues Album.
On January 26, 2018, Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa released Black Coffee, produced by Kevin Shirley.

Other side projects

Bonamassa serves as the guitarist for the hard rock supergroup Black Country Communion. The band released their fourth studio album, "BCCIV" in September 2017.
He is also a member of the jazz-funk band Rock Candy Funk Party. They released their debut album, We Want Groove in 2013 and followed it up with Rock Candy Funk Party Takes New York - Live at the Iridium. The show was recorded over a three night stand at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City. The band played Conan on February 10, 2014.

The Pickup Radio

Bonamassa produced podcasts between January and July 2015 with another guitar aficionado, Matt Abramovitz. The episodes are about "the life and lore of the guitar", with Bonamassa and Abramovitz going in depth about their favorite guitars, guitarists, and occasionally non-guitarists associated with the blues and rock genres.

Influences

Unlike many blues rock guitarists that came before him, Bonamassa's influences are British and Irish blues acts rather than American artists. In an interview in Guitarist magazine he cited three albums that had the biggest influence on his playing: John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton, Rory Gallagher's Irish Tour and Goodbye by Cream. He also noted that Stevie Ray Vaughan's Texas Flood had a big influence when Bonamassa was young. Among other bands, he listed the early blues playing of Jethro Tull as an influence, and named both Martin Barre and Mick Abrahams as important musicians to him.
in 2007
He elaborated on his influences:
In an October 2008 interview with Express & Star, he said:
In a December 2012 interview with MusicRadar:

Guitar and amplifier collection

Joe Bonamassa is known for his extensive collection of vintage amplifiers and guitars, particularly his Les Paul "bursts". He started collecting guitars at an early age ; his first vintage guitar was a 1954 Stratocaster. He bought guitars compulsively for a while, including many he would never play, and then sold a lot of them to focus on guitars he could actually use. By 2016 he had fewer than 100, including some recreations of vintage guitars from the Gibson Custom Shop that he uses for touring. The heart of his collection was a set of three Gibson Les Paul sunbursts from 1958-1960.
Bonamassa affectionately refers to the area of his home with vintage gear as the "Bona-seum". "Joe Bonamassa has been playing, buying and collecting vintage guitars and amps for most of his life....he has a vast collection, enough to create his own museum of rare and vintage gear: the Bona-seum." Bonamassa is also known for his love of vintage guitars known as "Bursts". These "Burst" guitars are among the most expensive electric guitars in the world, and Bonamassa owns several examples and he tours with them. In 2018, Bonamassa has said that he has more than 1000 guitars and amplifiers.

Discography

Solo Studio Albums
Solo Live Albums
With Black Country Communion
With Rock Candy Funk Party
With Beth Hart
  • Don't Explain
  • Seesaw
  • Live in Amsterdam
  • Black Coffee
With Sleep Eazys
  • Easy to Buy, Hard to Sell
Other Appearances'