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BIO
Blues-rock
guitar
 virtuoso,
vocalist and songwriter Joe Bonamassa kicked off 2007 with the honor of
being named Best Blues Guitarist by
Guitar Player Magazine’s readership in their annual Reader’s
Choice Awards. The year continues with the release of
Sloe Gin,
Bonamassa’s seventh solo album, and fourth on his own J&R Adventures
label. A mix of heavy blues, big rock and textured acoustic tracks that
Joe says was in part inspired by Rod Stewart’s legendary 1969 debut solo
LP, it reunites him with producer Kevin Shirley (Joe Satriani, Black
Crowes, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin).
Shirley previously produced
Bonamassa’s You & Me,
which debuted at #1 on Billboard’s
Blues chart in June 2006 (all of Joe’s albums have either
hit #1 or gone Top 10). Modern
Guitars Magazine called the disc, “one of the best
blues-rock CDs to come about in quite a while…destined to be a classic.”
NPR host George Graham wrote, “Almost four decades ago, British rockers
who played bluesy guitar became the heroes on their instruments, people
like Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. Joe Bonamassa carries on that
tradition…Bonamassa is in every way their equal.”
Widely renowned for his insanely fluid phrasing and post-modern fusion
of electric British blues, traditional Delta blues and rock ‘n roll
chops, Bonamassa Told Guitar Player
in ’05, “When I play blues, I try to think a little outside the box,
while still paying tribute to the founding fathers like Muddy Waters and
Robert Johnson.” His latest work pushes the envelope even further – “Sloe
Gin,” says Joe, “is different than anything I’ve ever
done. We bettered You & Me.
The songs are more refined, and I was concentrating on them as a whole
rather than only thinking about a 50-bar guitar solo. Also, singing is a
bigger part of it for me than ever before, and it’s awesome to have that
space – to connect with fans on a musical
and lyrical level.”
The difference Joe alludes
to is apparent in the album’s rougher, bigger and more iconoclastic
sound, a visceral punch he attributes to Kevin Shirley. “He takes my
vision, augments it, and brings it further than I ever would have
thought to,” says Joe, specifically citing the title track, a slamming,
raw blues-rock epic. “I never would have found that one on my own,” he
says, “or gone where Kevin went with it.” Shirley found the song,
written by Bob Ezrin & Michael Kamen, on Tim Curry’s obscure ’78 debut
LP. Bonamassa inhabits its rough edges and melancholy force, vocally and
instrumentally, as if it was created just for him. Live performances of
“Sloe Gin” are drawing major fan and Internet buzz. “A few bars in,” Joe
says, “people are singing along. It’s going to be the biggest song we’ve
ever had.”
Among
Sloe Gin’s
other stand-outs are the originals “Another Kind Of Love,” “India” and
“Dirt In My Pocket,” the Chris Whitley-penned “Ball Peen Hammer,” Joe’s
adaptation of the Ten Years After classic, “One Of These Days,” and
smokin’ versions of Paul Rodgers’ “Seagull” and the John Martin blues
nugget “Jelly Roll.” The disc effortlessly ranges, tonally and
stylistically, across diverse sonic boundaries, featuring a stellar
line-up of: CBS Orchestra/Letterman show stalwart Anton Fig on drums &
percussion, ace bassist Carmine Rojas, keyboardist Rick Melick and Bogie
Bowles on drums and hammer dulcimer (all but Fig also comprise Joe’s
touring band). Joe says, “I sequenced the album as a throwback to the
Side A/Side B set-up of vinyl records…listening to an album as a whole
is a lost pastime. I wanted to bring that experience back around.”
Born in Utica, NY on May
8, 1977 – the day that would have been blues icon Robert Johnson’s 66th
birthday – the now L.A.-based Joe Bonamassa’s own musical experience
began with playing guitar at age four on a short-scale Chiquita given to
him by his father, a guitar dealer and player himself. By the time he
was seven, he’d stepped up to a full-scale model and was uncannily
mastering Stevie Ray Vaughan licks. At ten, he was gigging at venues in
upstate New York, where he came to the legendary B.B. King’s attention.
After initially hearing Bonamassa play, King – who personally asked Joe
to open for his landmark 2005 80th birthday celebration tour – said,
“This kid's potential is unbelievable. He hasn't even begun to scratch
the surface. He's one of a kind.”
By the time he was twelve,
Joe was touring with King, which led to opening slots for many other
stars including Buddy Guy, Foreigner, George Thorogood, Robert Cray,
Stephen Stills, Joe Cocker and Gregg Allman. Storied producer Phil
Ramone once said of him, “prodigies come few and far between. I saw him
take an audience apart.” Bonamassa’s journeyman touring has built an
audience of fans as legion and generation-spanning as his famed
collaborators, and his live shows – over 150 a year – are breathtaking
in their intensity. Beatles promoter Sam Leach compared the first time
he saw Joe to his initial glimpse of the Fab Four at the Cavern Club –
“I got that same feeling of excitement…Joe is the premiere Blues/Rock
artist on the planet.”
Joe’s recording career
launched in the early ’90s when he met Berry Oakley, Jr., son of the
Allman Brothers Band bassist, and they formed Bloodlines, also featuring
Robby Krieger’s son Waylon and Miles Davis’ son Erin. They released a
self-titled CD praised for its hard-charging fusion of blues, funk,
boogie and roadhouse rock. The full range of Bonamassa’s talents,
though, came into sharper relief after the group disbanded. His virtuoso
playing finally had the room it needed, and his strength as an
expressive singer emerged. “I started belting things out and found this
voice I never knew I had,” he says. “I’d play around with emulating some
of my favorite singers, Paul Rodgers, Gregg Allman, Rod Stewart.
Ultimately, it’s allowed me a freedom as an artist I hadn’t felt
before.”
Bonamassa’s solo debut was
2000’s Top 10 disc A New
Day Yesterday, named for the 1969 Jethro Tull hit that Joe
steals with what allmusic.com
calls, “a jaw-dropping performance.” Produced by the late, legendary Tom
Dowd, the album features guest shots by Gregg Allman, Rick Derringer and
Leslie West, among others. The powerhouse original “Miss You, Hate You”
remains a cornerstone of Joe’s repertoire, as does the slide guitar
showcase “Cradle Rock.” He followed it up in ’02 with his first #1 album
So, It's Like That,
including the tour de force “Pain And Sorrow.”
Blues Deluxe came next in 2003
(the “Year Of The Blues”), and is Bonamassa’s soulful tribute to the
genre. In the liner notes, Harris Cohen says that Joe, “never loses
touch with the raw emotion that makes the blues what it is.” Former
Creem editor Jaan Uhelszki
wrote, “New York guitar phenom walks tall in the blues
tradition…jettisoning fiery riffs inspired by
John Lee Hooker,
B.B. King,
Elmore James,
and
Albert Collins
into the future with furious playing, a hard-rock sensibility, and a
grizzled voice that owes a debt to
Gregg Allman.”
Bonamassa’s forward propulsion of the blues continued with 2004’s
Had To Cry Today,
a sweltering fusion of fresh and classic sounds including covers of
songs by Blind Faith (the title track), Ten Years After, Lowell Fulsom
and others. It earned the Album Of The Year award from the readers of
BluesWax, the world’s
largest subscribed blues publication.
The publication’s audience
went on to name Bonamassa the
BluesWax Artist Of The Year 2005, making him the first
two-time winner of the award. When the honor was announced in early ’06,
BluesWax reported that
Joe took the title with a record number of first place votes. It was a
sweet lead-in to the spring 2006 release of
You & Me, and its scorching sequence
of tracks including the signature original “Bridge To Better Days,”
Charley Patton’s “High Water Everywhere” – Joe’s tribute to New Orleans
– “So Many Roads” (a blues gem made famous by Otis Rush) and Led
Zeppelin’s “Tea For One,” adorned with a full orchestra and “Bonzo” heir
Jason Bonham on drums.
With 2007’s
Sloe Gin, Bonamassa’s redefinition of the blues-rock art
form continues to evolve as does his own identity as one of contemporary
music’s most profoundly talented stars. Joe also actively serves as the
youngest-ever member of the Memphis, TN-based Blues Foundation’s Board
of Directors, and is the lead spokesperson for their highly respected
Blues In The Schools program,which educates students nationwide about
the legacy and influence of the blues.
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