A Conversation with the Guitar Hero
Joe Bonamassa discusses his historic Hollywood Bowl performance, the future of Blues, and his Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation.
Blues icon Joe Bonamassa chats with Danny Coleman about his first-ever Hollywood Bowl show, the cyclical nature of Blues music, and his passion for keeping the genre alive.
by Danny Coleman, New Jersey Stage, Rock On! This Week’s Sound Bites
“I’m doing great, I have a gig in like an hour-and-a-half,” said the always busy Joe Bonamassa as he discussed his first ever appearance at The Hollywood Bowl, the future of Blues music, his Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation and more.
A tireless performer who opened for the late, great, legendary B.B. King when he was just 12 years of age and one who does upwards of 200 shows per year, Bonamassa is at the tail end of his “Blues Deluxe Volume 2” tour which coincides with the 20th anniversary of his “Blues Deluxe” release but along the way, he stopped at The Hollywood Bowl and recorded the audio and footage for what would become his latest concert film.
So, it may or may not come as a surprise to others but this space was definitely marveling at the fact that he had never before graced the stage of this famous venue. When asked why now and why with an orchestra; he seemed a bit caught off-guard.
“It was the first time I’ve played The Hollywood Bowl, it’s an iconic venue. We’ve traditionally played the Greek Theatre or The Dolby Theatre but it’s the first time we’ve ventured into The Hollywood Bowl and it was great to do it with an orchestra and it was absolutely the right call to do that. To play The Hollywood Bowl with an orchestra is a dream come true; what made me want to do that? What would make me NOT want to do that? That’s a better question; play The Hollywood Bowl with an orchestra? I mean it’s a dream come true, I live in Los Angeles and that’s the Holy Grail of venues as far as I’m concerned and to do it like that in front of your adopted hometown is a very special moment.”
One of the things often discussed is how Blues music ebbs and flows, flies under the radar and resurfaces; something that has not escaped Joe and he is well aware of the genre’s cyclical nature.
“I’ve been doing this for 35 years and I’m happy to keep it going,” he said with conviction. “I have no complaints so far. Before me there was Robert Cray, Gary Moore; every 10 yearsthere seems to besomeone who comes along, my time was 2009, 2010 and the next thing you know Gary Clark Jr. shows up and he had his moment. Marcus King and then there is Kingfish; every 10 years there seems to be a new crop of people keeping the Blues going and I’m just really thrilled about it. Joanne Shaw Taylor, Larkin Poe; Joanne is signed to my label and she’s extremely talented, all of them are. You know, it used to be a “Boys Club” and historically music used to be a “Boys Club” and then you have your groundbreaking people like Bonnie Raitt, Carole King, Aretha Franklin, people who busted through doors and we’re seeing that now which is a great thing to see. I’m 100 percent in favor of more of that; the more people involved and it doesn’t matter race, creed, color, gender, the more people that are involved in the genre, the healthier the genre is and that’s a fact, it’s a fact of life. I’m just very happy that we have a healthy genre and if I’m a little bit a part of it then that is great.”
Ah but Joe; what about you? When told he left himself off that list of influential Blues players and how nobody ever fails to cite him as influential, he jokingly said, “Then you’re not hanging around with the right people.”
As mentioned earlier, Bonamassa is close to wrapping up a lengthy tour which began back in the Fall of 2023 and this time around he has a large supporting cast; does utilizing such a large ensemble present logistical issues?
“Well, we are on tour and we have an 11 piece band; it’s the Blues Deluxe Tour. We have three horns, three singers and it’s a lot of traditional blues; we’re basically cherry picking from our four blues tours that we did over the years, the Muddy Wolfs and the Three Kings and you know, the Blues Deluxe Volume One and Two; we cherry picked all that material and a couple of the classics for the big band format. I’m gonna give you an acronym and you’ll figure it out probably 30 or 40 seconds after I say it; capital “E,” lower case “a,” capital “F” and I call it the E a F Band; just think about it for a second; I don’t have to deal with them Danny, I’ve got my own bus (Laughs); you can’t put a price on happiness but in this case you can (laughs).”
Along with the music and doing his “Different Shades of Blue” radio program for Sirius XM’s “Bluesville,” he also has the aforementioned Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation or KTBA for short, a charity which helps keep the Blues alive as well as music in schools and musicians in need. When asked about it, he humbly replied, “I don’t know, we’re 13 years into this give or take and we’ve raised definitely over a million dollars for schools and musicians who were impacted by the pandemic and we raise money every day and give it away every day and it really is a labor of love. Trying to keep the music alive takes money and effort.”
Always up to something, be it performing, writing, collaborating, running his Journeyman Record label, his radio program or recording, he seems to always have an eye to the future. So, what does his future look like?
“We’re on the road until September 1 and then I go home for a minute and then we tour again in October.”
To see what he has his happening, discover more about his Hollywood Bowl release, his charitable foundation, his record company and tour dates, please visit https://jbonamassa.com/
That’s it for this week! Please continue to support live and original music and until next week….ROCK ON!