Joe Bonamassa

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Joe Bonamassa (born May 8, 1977) is an American blues guitarist/singer, well known for his raw, gritty voice and technically accomplished playing. His style is considered in the same blues-rock style as Stevie Ray Vaughan (an early inspiration), Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Jonny Lang.

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. 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."

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. The supporting musicians were accomplished studio musicians. Bonamassa added drummer Kenny Kramme and bassist Eric Czar as bandmates to tour and support the album. Five years later, they continue to form the nucleus of this power trio.

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 2004 release entitled "Had To Cry Today" which continues the blues-rock tradition that courses through Bonamassa's song writing. It also features a sampling of country music and rockabilly.

Joe and the band continue to tour aggressively, having toured with B.B. King and Kenny Wayne Shepherd as part of King's 80th birthday tour. Since the B.B. King tour ended, the band has toured solo.

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.

External links

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