Bonamassa goes beyond the blues

By Ian Harvey

Nineteen years ago, when he was just 12, guitarist Joe Bonamassa opened a concert for blues legend BB King.

Just read that introduction again. Yes, you read it right. At 12 years old Bonamassa was to the blues what Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson once were to pop and soul, a true prodigy - a legend in the making.

Now aged 31 and on the cusp of his 20th year as a professional musician, New York-born Bonamassa has eleven albums behind him, a scorching new live album just out and is almost certainly the biggest name in blues on the planet.

Next month the singer-guitarist heads to Birmingham NEC to headline the closing concert at this year's Music Live event, a three-day extravaganza of guitars, amps, drums and much more.

"I'll be walking around like a kid in a candy store that day," he says on the phone from Florida. "There's a real mob mentality. I'm sure I'm going to walk out with something."

But he's also looking forward to his British tour for another reason - his great musical love is classic, British blues-based hard rock, the gritty sound of a Gibson Les Paul guitar cranked through a Marshall amplifier, exemplified by the likes of Eric Clapton, Rory Gallagher and Paul Kossoff of Free.

Although, like many a transatlantic traveller the lines between 'English' and 'British', not to mention 'Irish', are somewhat blurred, there's no doubting his sentiment when he says: "I could not be more honoured than to be accepted in England after being so influenced by that music.

"I couldn't be more honoured and I couldn't be more privileged to be playing to that audience.

"We have a gig coming up next year in May which will be the complete culmination of 20 years of work for me that we're doing in London, that to me, I just cannot believe I'm playing. Having the English respect my music means the world to me."

Bonamassa, was recently voted Blues Guitarist Of 2008 by readers of US Guitar Player magazine and was the cover star of Guitarist magazine's April issue.

Radio 2's Bob Harris has called him "One to watch", while Classic Rock magazine reported BB King describing Joe as, "a legend before his time".

Bonamassa's latest tour is to promote two records, his most recent studio work, Sloe Gin, and Live From Nowhere In Particular, recorded on the Sloe Gin tour. Both show an artist not afraid to change and to experiment, with hard rock giving way to old-style traditional blues and then to acoustic workouts, all with Bonamassa's firey licks and passionate vocals.

Although a cover version, the song Sloe Gin could well be Bonamassa's calling card to an even wider acceptance. It marks a real departure for the guitarist, a deep well of emotion bordering on despair that somehow manages to be ultimately uplifting at the same time.

"I'm not afraid of taking a chance," says Joe.

"The biggest thing I fear is repeating myself. Repeating yourself is a very dangerous game because ultimately you start making the same record and your support dwindles.

"You want to make records that appeal to as many people as possible - that is critical. Sloe Gin represent a shift in me going 'OK, I'm not selling out but I'm not just making blues rock records anymore."

It's an attitude, though, which has irked certain blues traditionalists.

"Oh, blues traditionalist hate me," laughs the guitarist. "I am the rallying cry on which they hold their meetings.

"But I welcome that kind of discussion because ultimately if blues doesn't evolve in front of a new generation then blues won't exist. I think it's critical to get kids involved in it."

Which brings us on to another role Bonamassa will be playing as part of Music Live, taking part in the Blues In The Schools initiative.

Here Joe he will meet youngsters whose idea of the blues is either non-existent or that of some craggy-faced octagenarian manhandling an equally ancient guitar.

So how does he convince them that the blues is alive and well and has a future worth them investing their youth in?

"It's just me going 'Hello Kids'; . . .'Hello Joe'. And I go 'Have you ever heard of Led Zeppelin?' . . . 'Yeah'. 'Have you ever heard of Jimmy Hendrix?' . . . 'Yeah' . 'Well then you've heard the blues!'

"It's easy to associate blues with the favourite artists they already have. They know the blues, they just don't know it yet."

That is reflected in a change in the audiences at his concerts.

"I'd say about 40 per cent are under the age of 18 now. It used to be 10 per cent. In the last two years we've picked up quite an audience of young people coming out to the gigs, which is great.

"A lot of girls really like what we're doing which is great because most people think 'I'm not a blues fan, why would I go to see a blues concert?'.

"Well, I try to entertain people. That's a real tangential shift, when you go 'I'm not a blues artist, I am an entertainer'. Once you start thinking in those terms it becomes way more appealing to that audience.

"I think my job is to entertain people for two hours. As long as they can walk out of there going 'I got my £30 worth' or 'That was a really great show and I've been entertained and I'd come back and see it again', I've done my job."

Bonamassa clearly hopes that new fans coming to his music will have the same reactions he felt when he first heard his British heroes after having been brought up on a diet of American blues.

"When I heard Kossoff playing Mr Big and when I heard Clapton playing Crossroads and when I heard Rory Gallagher playing Cradle Rock, I was like 'This is way cooler'. I know people hate me for saying it but I don't care. It's like, this is way cooler than Stevie Ray Vaughan, this is way cooler than the Fabulous Thunderbirds.

"You know there's nothing wrong with them, they're great artists but I was just like 'This is what I want. I want the Les Paul and the Marshall, I don't want the Fender Strat,'. It was just so dangerous and had such swagger.

"British blues are my thing. When I heard Rod Stewart and the Jeff Beck Group singing Let Me Love You it changed my life. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Those are my influences.

"In a strange way I'm the American kid coming back to England and playing British blues, where we hear a lot of the English kids playing American style. Here I am, the American guy going, 'Hey, remember what you guys invented for you'."

The conversation turns again to Free and the late great Paul Kossoff.

"The Free stuff was just so monumental. That's such a lesson in simplicity - all you do it take great songs and great players and simple parts and you just make magic. Just thinking about that band gives me chills."

I finish by wishing Joe good luck in the forthcoming Classic Rock magazine awards, where Sloe Gin has been nominated for Best Album.

He replies: "You know, I'm just tickled pink how well I've been accepted in England and how well things have gone in general. We're playing all over Europe and the United States and I can't believe we've gotten this far.

"I don't have a chance in hell of winning that thing but I'm going to go anyway. I'll look out my best suit."

* Joe Bonamassa takes to the stage on the evening of Saturday, November 8 at Music Live.

Tickets for his performance are priced at £20 and can be purchased via the Music Live 2008 website at www.musiclive.co.uk or by calling 0844 33 88 000.

Tickets to allow entry to both the show and evening gig are also available, priced at £30. Tickets are subject to booking and transaction fee.

Music Live runs at Birmingham NEC from November 7-9. Described as the UK's most vibrant music-making event, it features the latest and greatest gear from the world's most famous brands, from electric guitars to software, drums to amplification and more and boasts an exhibition area "crammed full of stuff to get your hands on".

Highlights include:

• The busiest musical instrument exhibition in the UK, with guitars, drums, synths and recording equipment on display from the world’s biggest brands including Marshall, Gibson, Fender, Yamaha, Roland, Paul Reed Smith and countless more. With hundreds of instruments available for visitors to get their hands on – and retail partners on-site to facilitate great show-only deals – Music Live is like the country’s biggest music shop.

• An eclectic Live Stage line-up covering blues, classic rock, acoustic and modern Brit Rock. Artists confirmed for the show include Stone Gods (formed from the ashes of The Darkness), fast-rising UK rockers Mexicolas and The Electric City and Thin Lizzy/Whitesnake rhythm section Tommy Aldridge and Marco Mendoza.

• Megadeth frontman and metal legend Dave Mustaine appearing at the show each day for signing sessions/meet-and-greets with fans on the Marshall amplification stand.

• Education Day on Friday, November 7, when in excess of 8000 students from around the UK visit the show, taking advantage of careers and music production seminars hosted by big-name industry producers, engineers and managers.

• Joe Bonamassa playing the Live Stage on Saturday November 8 and delivering an exclusive ‘Blues In The Schools’ seminar on Education Day. BITS sees Joe tracing the history of the blues from its roots in the 1800s to the varied genre it is today. This will be the first time the masterclass has been conducted in the UK.

• The Gibson tourbus on-site during the show, with visitors allowed a glimpse of what life is like on the road at selected times.

For more information on Music Live 2008 visit www.musiclive.co.uk