To his credit, Joe Bonamassa has never been shy about his influences, consistently paying tribute to them in concerts and studio recordings.
From British blues rock icons like Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin, a few acts he covered on 2018s ‘British Blues Explosion Live,’ to reimagining classic soul with singer Beth Hart and helming a stunningly assembled homage to B.B. King, Bonamassa uses his popularity to attract attention to those who played a major role in his musical development.
Longtime fans remember JB’s 2000 major label debut kicked off with a version of Rory Gallagher’s “Cradle Rock,” an early indication of how significant the Irish guitar legend’s music was to him. Bonamassa often cites Gallagher’s…
Tag Archive: Joe Bonamassa
Joe Bonamassa releases B.B. King’s Blues Summit 100, A Landmark Tribute Album Featuring Dozens Of Music Stars To Celebrate The King Of Blues’ 100th Birthday. The result is a bespoke project, nine months in the making, with contributions from Buddy Guy, Keb’ Mo’, Slash, Shemekia Copeland, Marcus King, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Larkin Poe, Jimmie Vaughan, Warren Haynes, Dion, Aloe Blacc, Kirk Fletcher, and many others. Each artist was matched with material that felt personal – sometimes surprising – and all were given space to interpret King’s catalog through their own lens.
Bonamassa, who first opened for B.B. King at age 12, credits the blues titan with shaping his approach to music and life. “He mentored me,” says Bonamassa. “But I wasn’t the only one.
He has been the most prolific, diverse, ubiquitous and hardest working musician in the roots rock (along with occasional hard rock from Black Country Communion’s side project) for decades. But Joe Bonamassa isn’t lounging around on the popular multi-artist cruises he organizes, to reflect on his accomplishments.
It would take too long to recap the numerous projects –player, co-writer, producer for others, blues music supporter and label owner are a few—he’s involved with over the past quarter century. Fans probably wonder where he finds time to craft a new batch of ten crackling songs with those other irons in the fire. But Breakthrough, his first package of originals since 2021s prog-leaning Time Clocks, is another keeper.