Blues Deluxe: The Joe Bonamassa Buying Guide

BLUES DELUXE:

THE JOE BONAMASSA BUYING GUIDE

An Album by Album Guide to the Blues Guitarist’s Music

Written by Rev. Keith A. Gordon

Smashwords Edition • Copyright 2018 • All Rights Reserved

Smashwords Edition, License Notes:

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Inside the Book:

Introduction

Joe Bonamassa Biography

• • •

Joe Bonamassa Discography:

Studio Albums

Live Albums & DVDs

Band/Duo Albums

Other Recordings

Even More Joe…

• • •

Album Reviews

Joe Bonamassa Interview

• • •

Appendix: Recommended Buys

Acknowledgements & Other Stuff

Introduction: The Stone Cold Real Deal

I’ve been a blues fan for nearly 45 years now, beginning with my accidental discovery of Memphis folk-blues artist Furry Lewis (a story for another day), whose music spoke to me in a way that radio-friendly ‘Top 40’ tracks seldom could. Hungry for more, I soon devoured the popular blues-rock fretburners of the 1970s (Johnny Winter, Rory Gallagher, Eric Clapton, and Duane Allman were my faves) until I landed on the masters of the form. First I explored the great singers – Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Bobby Blue Bland – before moving onto the great guitarists. Buddy Guy, Magic Sam, Otis Rush and, of course, the ‘Three Kings’ (Albert, Freddie, and B.B.) all became frequent visitors to my turntable. The great harp players, talents like Little Walter, Junior Wells, and Sonny Boy Williamson, became dessert for my blues feast.

As the 1970s gave way to the ‘80s, the blues began suffering the loss of its legends, with few newcomers rising up to take their place…until Stevie Ray Vaughan made his breakthrough. I was introduced to SRV by his older brother Jimmie who, backstage at a Fabulous Thunderbirds concert, replied to my compliments by saying you should hear my brother play! Over cold beers and a meager plate of well-pawed-over sandwiches, Mr. Vaughan spoke highly of his younger brother (this was before his first album). When Stevie Ray exploded onto the scene, he made the blues ‘cool’ again, jump-starting a minor revolution that continues with no little vigor to this day.

All of which brings us around to Mr. Joseph Leonard Bonamassa, some 41 years old at the time of this writing – still young by blues music standards, but yet a road-tested veteran of nearly three decades. Since he was a young teen, Bonamassa has toured incessantly and over this time he has created an impressive catalog of music (better than three-dozen albums and counting) that has earned the blues-rock guitarist a loyal and still-growing worldwide audience. Fairly or no, Bonamassa has taken his share of criticism for his popularity, as if that disqualifies him as a blues legend in-the-making. Delving into his body of work, however, one will find a restless and ambitious artist who lives for the stage, isn’t afraid to challenge himself, and delivers what the fans want. He’s no Stevie Ray doppelganger (and, believe me, we have too many of those guys roaming the streets) but, like SRV, Joe Bonamassa is the stone cold real deal.

Joe Bonamassa – A Life In the Blues

Blues-rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa came of age at a strange time for blues music. Bonamassa was one of three talented teenage guitar wunderkinds – the others being Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd – to emerge from the long shadow of the legendary Stevie Ray Vaughan during the 1990s.

While both Lang and Shepherd would release their debut albums in 1995, Bonamassa didn’t release his solo debut until 2000 (although it could be argued that the self-titled 1994 Bloodlines album was his coming out party). Since unleashing his acclaimed debut on unsuspecting blues fans, however, Bonamassa has been more prolific than his peers and has showed ambition to improve his craft in every area. Of course, when you have no less than B.B. King singing your praises, you’re on the right track.

Call it providence, or maybe fate, but six-string blues guitar prodigy Joe Bonamassa was born on what would have been Delta blues legend Robert Johnson’s 66th birthday. Destined, perhaps, for a life in music, Bonamassa began playing guitar at the age of four on a small instrument given him by his father, who was a guitar player and dealer. By the age of seven, young Joe had moved up to a full-size guitar and was working out on Stevie Ray Vaughan songs.

Bonamassa began playing gigs in upstate New York at the age of ten, when he would be discovered by the blues great B.B. King. Recognizing the young guitarist’s talents, King said this kid’s potential is unbelievable. He hasn’t even begun to scratch the surface. He’s one of a kind. By the age of 12, Bonamassa was touring with the likes of King, Buddy Guy, George Thorogood, and Robert Cray, among others. King was so impressed that he asked Bonamassa to open the shows of his 80th birthday celebration tour in 2005.

Growing up listening to his father’s record collection, young Joe’s influences were largely British blues-rock artists of the 1960s. In an interview with Guitarist magazine, Bonamassa said that John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton, Rory Gallagher’s Irish Tour, and Cream’s Goodbye albums were the biggest influences on his playing style. Along with Stevie Ray Vaughan (especially his Texas Flood LP), Bonamassa has often cited Irish-born guitarists Gallagher and Gary Moore, Cream’s Eric Clapton, Free’s Paul Kossoff, Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green (also a Bluesbreakers alumni), and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page as major influences. The early, bluesier version of Jethro Tull, and guitarists Mick Abrahams and Martin Barre, would also have a profound effect on the young fret-bender, Bonamassa naming his debut album A New Day Yesterday, covering the Tull song of that name.

Joe Bonamassa’s recording career began during the early 1990s when, after meeting Berry Oakley, Jr. – the son of the late Allman Brothers bassist – the two formed the band Bloodline. Other members of the band included Waylon Krieger (son of the Doors’ keyboardist Robby) and Erin Davis (son of jazz great Miles Davis). Bloodline released a single self-titled album of hard-edged blues-rock in 1994 that featured Bonamassa’s scorching guitarwork. After the band’s break-up, Bonamassa went back to his solo career.

Bonamassa made his solo debut in 2000 with the rock-oriented, Tom Dowd-produced album A New Day Yesterday. Alongside Bonamassa’s original songs, the album also included versions of material from Rory Gallagher, Free, Al Kooper, and Warren Haynes and included guest appearances by musician friends like Gregg Allman, Rick Derringer, and Leslie West of Mountain. The album would subsequently hit number nine on Billboard magazine’s blues chart.

Bonamassa followed his debut with 2002’s So It’s Like That, which would become the guitarist’s first number one album, and released A New Day Yesterday, Live, a document of his 2001 tour, the following year. To honor the Year of the Blues in 2003, Bonamassa released Blues Deluxe a collection of three original tunes and nine classic blues numbers from artists like John Lee Hooker, Albert Collins, Robert Johnson, and Elmore James, among others. Blues Deluxe would also hit number one on the blues charts, a feat that Bonamassa would accomplish with three of his four following studio albums, as well as 2008’s Live From Nowhere In Particular.

With 2006’s You & Me album, Bonamassa recorded with Jason Bonham, son of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonzo Bonham and a seasoned rock music veteran in his own right. With the following year’s album, Sloe Gin, Bonamassa played more acoustic guitar and the songs feature the guitarist’s warm, maturing vocals alongside a typical mix of rock, soul, and blues originals and covers. Sloe Gin proved to be one of Bonamassa’s most popular albums, spending nearly three months on the blues charts.

Beginning with 2009’s critically-acclaimed The Ballad of John Henry album, Bonamassa began a prolific streak of touring and recording, releasing five more studio albums by 2016, including that year’s Blues of Desperation. Even more awe-inspiring is the slate of nine live albums that the guitarist has released since 2009’s Live From the Royal Albert Hall. Bonamassa is a seasoned road warrior, performing better than 200 nights a year, and these live releases are typically double-disc sets, documenting an entire performance, and more than a few of them were professionally videotaped and released on DVDs accompanying the CD releases.

In 2009, Bonamassa hooked up with The Voice of Rock, Glenn Hughes, to form the blues-rock supergroup Black Country Communion with drummer Jason Bonham and keyboardist Derek Sherinian. Hughes was a former member of the band Trapeze and a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee with Deep Purple. The band’s goal was to recreate the classic heavy rock sound of the ‘70s in a contemporary band, something they achieved in spades with their 2010 self-titled debut album. Black Country Communion 2 followed a year later, and after a successful European tour, BCC released Live Over Europe in early 2012. Afterglow, the band’s third album, was released in late 2012, after which the band broke up due to Bonamassa’s rigorous solo touring schedule. After a few years apart, however, the band members reconciled and released a fourth studio effort, BCCIV, in 2017.

Bonamassa began collaborating with R&B singer Beth Hart in 2011, the pair recording Don’t Explain, a collection of rock, blues, and soul covers by artists like Etta James, Ray Charles, Tom Waits, and Bobby Blue Bland, among others. The album’s chart success – rising to #3 on the Billboard magazine blues chart and inching onto the Top 200 chart at a respectable #120 – led to an inevitable follow-up in 2013’s Seesaw, which performed even better by topping the blues chart and hitting #47 on the pop chart and earning the pair a Grammy® nomination. Bonamassa and Hart released a live album, Live In Amsterdam, in 2014 and, after a hiatus