Miami Herald Logo

Blues-rock guitar ace will take theaters over arenas any day | Miami Herald

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Site Information
    • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Herald Store
    • RSS Feeds
    • Special Sections
    • Advertise
    • Advertise with Us
    • Media Kit
    • Mobile
    • Mobile Apps & eReaders
    • Newsletters
    • Social
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Google+
    • Instagram
    • YouTube

    • Sections
    • News
    • South Florida
    • Miami-Dade
    • Broward
    • Florida Keys
    • Florida
    • Politics
    • Weird News
    • Weather
    • National & World
    • Colombia
    • National
    • World
    • Americas
    • Cuba
    • Guantánamo
    • Haiti
    • Venezuela
    • Local Issues
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • In Depth
    • Issues & Ideas
    • Traffic
    • Sections
    • Sports
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Pro & College
    • Miami Dolphins
    • Miami Heat
    • Miami Marlins
    • Florida Panthers
    • College Sports
    • University of Miami
    • Florida International
    • University of Florida
    • Florida State University
    • More Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Auto Racing
    • Fighting
    • Golf
    • Horse Racing
    • Outdoors
    • Soccer
    • Tennis
    • Youth Sports
    • Other Sports
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • The Florida Influencer Series
    • Sections
    • Business
    • Business Monday
    • Banking
    • International Business
    • National Business
    • Personal Finance
    • Real Estate News
    • Small Business
    • Technology
    • Tourism & Cruises
    • Workplace
    • Business Plan Challenge
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Cindy Krischer Goodman
    • The Starting Gate
    • Work/Life Balancing Act
    • Movers
    • Sections
    • Living
    • Advice
    • Fashion
    • Food & Drink
    • Health & Fitness
    • Home & Garden
    • Pets
    • Recipes
    • Travel
    • Wine
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Dave Barry
    • Ana Veciana-Suarez
    • Flashback Miami
    • More Living
    • LGBTQ South Florida
    • Palette Magazine
    • Indulge Magazine
    • South Florida Album
    • Broward Album
    • Sections
    • Entertainment
    • Books
    • Comics
    • Games & Puzzles
    • Horoscopes
    • Movies
    • Music & Nightlife
    • People
    • Performing Arts
    • Restaurants
    • TV
    • Visual Arts
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Jose Lambiet
    • Lesley Abravanel
    • More Entertainment
    • Events Calendar
    • Miami.com
    • Contests & Promotions
    • Sections
    • All Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Op-Ed
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Jim Morin
    • Letters to the Editor
    • From Our Inbox
    • Speak Up
    • Submit a Letter
    • Meet the Editorial Board
    • Influencers Opinion
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Blog Directory
    • Columnist Directory
    • Andres Oppenheimer
    • Carl Hiaasen
    • Leonard Pitts Jr.
    • Fabiola Santiago
    • Obituaries
    • Obituaries in the News
    • Place an Obituary

    • Place an ad
    • All Classifieds
    • Announcements
    • Apartments
    • Auctions/Sales
    • Automotive
    • Commercial Real Estate
    • Employment
    • Garage Sales
    • Legals
    • Merchandise
    • Obituaries
    • Pets
    • Public Notices
    • Real Estate
    • Services
  • Public Notices
  • Cars
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Real Estate
  • Mobile & Apps

  • el Nuevo Herald
  • Miami.com
  • Indulge

Latest News

Blues-rock guitar ace will take theaters over arenas any day

By MICHAEL DEEDS

    ORDER REPRINT →

June 04, 2007 01:39 PM

When guitarist Joe Bonamassa presents a blues seminar to students -- something he does about 20 times a year -- he likes to play Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love."

"You like that?" he'll ask the teens, whose enthusiastic response indicates that "like" may not be as accurate as "love."

"Well, who wrote it?," Bonamassa continues. "Willie Dixon."

"My big line with the kids is, `If you listen to Led Zeppelin, you listen to the blues,'" explains Bonamassa, phoning from his California home. "But the English were able to sell it to the young people, to the masses."

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to the Miami Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

Decades later, pitching blues to the mainstream is no easy task. But Bonamassa, after years of gigging, is making inroads. A white-hot guitarist and husky-voiced singer, Bonamassa mixes Gatling-gun licks with songs that, while bluesy, often contain fragments of rock, soul, jazz, even funk. There's also a distinct heaviness on his latest album, "You & Me." Bonamassa unleashes a stratospheric torrent of notes during tunes such as "Bridge To Better Days," as well as a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Tea for One."

It's blues, but it's sneaky blues. Some listeners who enjoy a Bonamassa song might not consider it blues at all. "We are in the entertainment business, and people want to be entertained," Bonamassa explains. "That's my whole thing with blues. I am blues, but we definitely go out there."

A guitar virtuoso when he was barely out of Pampers, Bonamassa began opening for blues legend B.B. King at the tender age of 12. Although he's close in age to Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Bonamassa was mostly glossed over during the media blitz surrounding those young guitar hotshots. Instead, for six years during the '90s, he was part of a rock band called Bloodlines.

Bonamassa says it was a blessing that he missed the attention that Lang and Shepherd received. Fair or not, both musicians were stigmatized as Stevie Ray Vaughan followers. Bonamassa, on the other hand, drew his influences almost strictly from across the pond.

"I'm just a hodgepodge of English guys," Bonamassa says. "That was me. Where, I think Jonny and Kenny were more influenced by American blues artists, I was more influenced by Paul Kossoff (of Free) and Jeff Beck and Paul Rodgers and Rod Stewart and Jethro Tull."

Now 30, Bonamassa has matured past the blues whiz-kid stage. In fact, two years ago, he developed a nodule on his throat and worried that his singing career might be over. "When I was 21 or 22, I literally could smoke all the Lucky Strike non-filters I wanted," Bonamassa remembers. "I could drink and hang out with girls until 6 o'clock in the morning and wake up at 6:30 and sing. When I turned 28, that changed. There was a brick wall."

Bonamassa sought out a vocal coach and learned how to sing properly. Fortunately, the nodule healed on its own. Now, instead of Lucky Strikes, he puffs the occasional cigar. And he has a steady, live-in girlfriend.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," he says, laughing about his 20s. "I just had to quit."

The timing was perfect. Seven years ago, Bonamassa set a goal. After opening extensively for King and seeing the theaters that he plays, Bonamassa decided that's where he wanted his career to end. Not in arenas. Just theaters. As Bonamassa's fan base grows, that's where he and his backing trio increasingly find themselves.

"This year, I'd say six out of 10 of the shows are now in those beautiful old theaters," Bonamassa says. "And by the fall, nine out of the 10 shows will be in those beautiful old theaters. And I look at it, and I'm like, `Thank you, Lord.'"

  Comments  

Videos

Miami Marlins have ‘exciting’ ideas for Sergio Romo

The Parkland Hearts Art Project at Pine Trails Park in Parkland

View More Video

Trending Stories

Haiti is once again on edge, and humanitarian aid groups debate whether to go or cancel

February 14, 2019 07:24 PM

He was robbed while mowing a lawn. He talked. Then 40 bullets were fired into his house

February 14, 2019 08:45 AM

Here’s Jimmy Johnson’s multi-step guide as the Dolphins begin their rebuilding program

February 14, 2019 03:05 PM

Hearts are heavy, attendance is light at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

February 14, 2019 09:05 AM

A new ‘freedom caravan’ of primarily Cuban migrants is trying to reach U.S.

February 14, 2019 04:04 PM

Read Next

It’s a spring of uncertainty as the Marlins continue their rebuild. This is what’s next

Miami Marlins

It’s a spring of uncertainty as the Marlins continue their rebuild. This is what’s next

By Clark Spencer

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 15, 2019 12:26 PM

Some spots on the Miami Marlins’ 25-man roster are locked up as the MLB professional baseball team kicks off spring training. But others are up for grabs as Derek Jeter’s franchise builds for the future.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to the Miami Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE LATEST NEWS

Kidnap victim, mobile home, retail game-changer: The many lives of a shopping cart

South Florida

Kidnap victim, mobile home, retail game-changer: The many lives of a shopping cart

February 15, 2019 09:41 AM

Latest News

City reports active shooter situation in Aurora, Illinois

February 15, 2019 03:49 PM

Miami-Dade County

Federal judge dissolves homeless protections from police harassment in Miami

February 15, 2019 03:59 PM
Can’t get enough Dwyane Wade merch? Now there are socks to go along with #OneLastDance

Miami Heat

Can’t get enough Dwyane Wade merch? Now there are socks to go along with #OneLastDance

February 15, 2019 03:52 PM
Here are some of the worst mistakes immigrants make applying for legal papers

Immigration

Here are some of the worst mistakes immigrants make applying for legal papers

February 15, 2019 11:26 AM
South Florida cop sold police-issued semi-automatic weapons to pawnshop

Crime

South Florida cop sold police-issued semi-automatic weapons to pawnshop

February 15, 2019 01:36 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Miami Herald App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Public Insight Network
  • Reader Panel
Advertising
  • Place a Classified
  • Media Kit
  • Commercial Printing
  • Public Notices
Copyright
Commenting Policy
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story