Rockin’ the blues: Joe Bonamassa carves out 20-year career built on solid sound

By Diana Nollen

When Joe Bonamassa discovered the guitar world at age 4, he plugged into the British scene.

“English guys like Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Alexis Korner, Paul Rogers, Zeppelin,” he says by phone from a recent tour stop in Boston. “Beck, Page and Clapton - the great triumvirate of guitar.”

He was lured to them because “they were more dangerous” than their American contemporaries, he says.

“The blues they were playing were dangerous. They'd turn it all the way up to get feedback,” he says. “They had such a swagger to them. That was really more appealing to a young kid than trying to understand the subtleties of Robert Johnson, especially at 4. They were talking to a 4-year-old with ADD.”

Bonamassa the child prodigy has grown into Bonamassa the blues-rock guitar god, showered with the highest accolades from critics, colleagues, fans and media. He'll be playing a sold-out show at the Englert Theatre in downtown Iowa City on Friday, May 7, 2010, the eve of his 33rd birthday.

For 20 years he's been smoking the strings, playing with B.B. King since age 12 and jamming with his hero, Eric Clapton, at London's Royal Albert Hall in May 2009.

“It was great - my moment in life,” says Bonamassa, who had been pushing to play at the venerable British concert hall as his popularity grew in England. “The gig was booked and that was it. We were able to parlay this thing. I asked Mr. Clapton if he was interested in coming down and having a play, and sure enough, he did.”

When the big moment came, Bonamassa admits he “wasn't the most un-nervous.”

“I wasn't the most cool, calm and collected person,” he says, but it went without a hitch as they joined forces on Clapton's hit “Further on up the Road.”

“It was great,” Bonamassa says. “He was such a gentleman, and it was the thrill of a lifetime, really.”

Bonamassa, also a singer and songwriter, spent his first 20 years in Utica, N.Y., before moving to New York City, Washington, D.C., then landing in Los Angeles to escape Eastern winters. He got his first guitar at age 4 from his dad who owned a guitar store in upstate New York.

“I just started playing,” Bonamassa says. “I took some lessons, but mostly just found my own way. I made up my own kind of riffs. I don't think having an overabundance of lessons is beneficial. Trying to find your own voice is really critical.”

He now has 270 guitars in his collection and takes 25 on the road, typically touring 250 days a year.

“Thank God I never had to have a real job,” he says. “I'd be mental.”

His current tour in support of his new “Black Rock” CD will take him to arenas in Europe this summer, the Montreux Jazz Festival and back to the United States in the fall.

“It's a big year,” he says, but he still finds time to carve out a personal life.

“I have a girlfriend,” he says. “She's a successful musician in the U.K. We have a good relationship based on shared guitars and shared experiences in London.”

He's forged his career path without the aid of hit-radio airwaves. Instead, he toured early on with such established stars as Foreigner, Stephen Stills, Joe Cocker, Ted Nugent and Gregg Allman. He opened for Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1995 at the Five Seasons Center - now the U.S. Cellular Center - in downtown Cedar Rapids. He and his band, Bloodline, were the highlight of the evening, according to The Gazette's review. (His other Cedar Rapids gigs include 3rd Street Live! in 2001 and Bluesmore at Brucemore in 2004.)

 Word-of-mouth and solid performances have grown his fan base.

“Believe it or not, 90 percent of our gigs sell out in rooms much bigger than we played before,” he says. “People will respond to quality. If you keep the standards high and never dip below a certain place, they will come. ...

“We've been able to do it in an independent ride in this underground theater world. ‘Joe Bonamassa? Never heard of him, but his concert's sold out.'”

He loves seeing all ages in his audiences.

“Kids, teens, families, mom, dad, grandpa and grandma - four generations. That to me is the most rewarding,” he says. “I'm very appreciative of fans who have been here 10 or 15 years. The fact that we've turned a new generation has come through lots of underground street marketing.

“To see girls at a blues concert is like seeing the Northern Lights during the day.”

FAST TAKEInformation: www.englert.org and www.jbonamassa.com

What: Joe Bonamassa in concert

When: 8 p.m. Friday, May 7, 2010

Where: Englert Theatre, 221 E. Washington St., Iowa City

Tickets: SOLD OUT