Joe Bonamassa is at the forefront of the modern blues world, a prolific performer and recording artist, who also supports the careers of developing artists through his own record label and foundation. He is one of the leading blues players of our time, with 28 No. 1 albums on the Billboard Blues Chart, more than any other artist in the chart's history.
He began his guitar journey at age 4 and can’t remember a time when he didn’t have a guitar in his hands.
“Morning, noon and night, all I could think about was playing guitar, gear, records...that’s the kind of thing as a parent you can’t legislate. That’s a love that’s in my DNA,” Bonamassa told KNKX.
A true child prodigy, he opened for B.B. King at age 12, and continued performing regularly as a teenager. His first studio album A New Day Yesterday was produced in 2000 by recording legend Tom Dowd, known for his work with Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd and The James Gang.
In a wide-ranging conversation about the blues, Bonamassa displayed not only an encyclopedic knowledge of blues history but also a clear passion for the music. Like many Americans, he came to the blues through the bands of the British invasion—Cream, John Mayall, The Rolling Stones, Peter Green, Led Zeppelin, and Gary Moore among others.
And, like many Americans, at first he didn’t realize that those British bands were emulating the American innovators of the blues. Once he understood that, a whole new world opened to him, and he dug into the music of T-Bone Walker, Hubert Sumlin, Muddy Waters, Pee Wee Crayton, Chuck Berry and the others who pioneered the blues genre.
Bonamassa has recorded many blues songs, including “Stones in My Passway,” by Robert Johnson in 1936.
“The thing about traditional blues music going back to the ‘20s through the ‘60s is that these guys were poets. They were masterful at painting pictures with words, and you believed every word they said.”
Inspired by the likes of Robert Johnson and Charley Patton, Bonamassa made his own pilgrimage to Rosedale, Mississippi, to see with his own eyes the juke joints, railroads, levees, and crossroads that are some of the lyrical touchstones of the blues.
“Taking that deep dive, I really got the sense of how things worked 100 years ago. And I’ll be talking about it for the rest of my life, he said.”
Bonamassa formed his own record label, Journeyman Records, and is actively promoting the careers of up-and-coming artists Joanne Shaw Taylor, as well as Robert Jon and The Wreck.
“I wanted to take what I've had to learn the hard way to create a company that could make navigating this process a little easier,” Bonamassa said in a 2023 statement about the new venture.
In 2012, he started the Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation to “preserve music education for the next generation.” To date, the foundation has raised over $2 million for music programs in schools. During the pandemic, the foundation raised over $1 million for musicians in need, awarding $1,500 grants to applicants from all genres of music, not just blues. Bonamassa said this has helped to support the music education of 70,000 children, and provided assistance to 350 artists.
Bonamassa said the community, and more specifically B.B. King inspires this work.
“It was his priority that the music lives on past him. And he would say that to everybody in his orbit. ‘Keep the music alive, keep it going; we’ve got to make sure it lasts another hundred years.’ I read that loud and clear,” Bonamassa said.
“And now that he’s been gone since 2015, it’s been a passion of mine to make sure that the blues community is strong—that people go out to shows, that they make good records, and that they care. It’s not a competition. There’s room for everyone. That needs to be the narrative. It’s how you go out there and help people.”
As if he didn’t have enough to keep him busy, he also performs with Black Country Communion, fronted by Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple, which also features the drumming of Jason Bonham, the son of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham.
Bonamassa will soon release singles for an album due out later in 2025. His 2025 Spring tour launches Feb. 16 in Seattle, and includes stops in New York, Chicago, and Atlanta.
