JOE BONAMASSA HEADS TO THE FORUM

Widely acclaimed as one of the best blues guitarists of his generation, Joe Bonamassa, whose career started at the ripe old age of 12, ain’t no slouch. He’s been touring steadily for a quarter century, sharing the stage with some of the biggest names in music, throwing his support behind various charities, playing 200 dates a year, and carrying the torch of blues music into the 21st century. The upstate NY native makes a tour stop in Binghamton this May, for one night only at the Forum Theatre. I recently got a chance to catch up with the virtuoso:

TRIPLE CITIES CAROUSEL: You've had 15 records out over the last 13 years, 11 of which have ended up at number one on the blues charts. That's impressive.

Joe Bonamassa: Thank you! Actually, with the record we just put out last month, Blues of Desperation, I hit my 16th #1. I’m very thankful that the fans keep being interested in what I’m putting out.

TCC: I saw the 1990 news video of you playing when you were 13 years old. You blew away people 2 or 3 times your age!

JB: I practiced every day, all the time. And I had my own band at that point. We played in clubs in places like Buffalo and Scranton, playing on weekends.

TCC: Your biggest influences are English acts, like John Mayall, Peter Green, and Jeff Beck. Great as they are, why them and not the more traditional American bluesmen?

JB: They all played louder, heavier and faster than the American cats. I loved that interpretation of the blues. I went back and discovered the American blues masters afterwards and I have a deep love and respect for them as well, but I’ll always be drawn to the English and Irish guys.

TCC: You mentioned bluegrass player Doc Watson in another interview. How did he influence your playing style?

JB: He was probably my biggest influence for acoustic playing, along with Stephen Stills.

TCC: To say your career started with a bang would be an understatement. When you were only 12, you were the opening act for none other than B. B. King! Won't you please tell us how that gig went?

JB: It was a dream come true for a 12 year-old-kid. And it was the largest crowd I had ever played up to that point – there were 4,000 to 5,000 people in the tent. When I went back to school after the summer and the teacher asked what we’d done on vacation, I wrote a detailed account of touring with B.B. King. The teacher didn’t believe me!

TCC: You've played alongside Eric Clapton. What was that like?

JB: My common answer to this question is ‘what do you think it was like?’ Being able to look over to your side and see your hero there on stage with you, playing a song that you both love, and you're both listening to and playing along. You’re a lucky guy and there is no cooler feeling. It’s one of my all-time favorite experiences.

TCC: A couple of years ago, you went to Nashville to record Different Shades of Blue. You collaborated with three established industry songwriters. How did that come about?

JB: I knew Jonathan Cain, I knew Jerry Flowers, I’d met James House…I didn’t know Jeffrey Steele or Gary Nicholson until I got there. But they’re all really nice cats. It’s funny actually, I found I was welcomed with open arms in Nashville because I wasn't there to write country hits. I told them all I wanted was to write some blues-based stuff and it didn’t need to fit into the three-minute song radio model. I could see this look of relief on their faces and it made the whole songwriting process a lovely experience.

TCC: You've performed with Beth Hart, a great blues musician in her own right. How did you meet her?

JB: We were always crossing paths out on tour in Europe. We bumped into each other in Holland and I told her I thought we should do a project together, which turned into our first album together, Don’t Explain.

TCC: You've mentioned that you prefer the sound of analogue recording over digital. Why is that?

JB: I think analog sounds more organic. I can feel the music. The more the bit rate goes up, and the more the resolution and fidelity goes up, the more the human ear “hears,” and the less it impacts the soul.

TCC: Why do you prefer to record live, rather than resort to the studio techniques typical of modern recordings?

JB: For the same reasons I like analog. It sounds organic. The problem is if you have absolutely no bleed and everything is fully separated, you get this very clinical, sterile-sounding record.

TCC: You have a side project, a funk band called Rock Candy Funk Party. What inspired you to expand into funk from blues?

JB: For fun! I love being in a band where I’m not the front man. I just get to play guitar, and a completely different kind of guitar from my day job.

TCC: Tell us about the radio program you produce, “The Pickup Radio.”

JB: My buddy Matt Abramovitz hosts it with me and we talk about music history and our favorite guitarists and we play whatever songs we like-- sometimes obscure versions people may not have heard, and we just generally have a lot of fun.

TCC: You founded and run an educational foundation, "Keeping The Blues Alive". Among many other things, it advocates for music education in American schools. Please tell us more about it.

JB: It’s important to me to give back and for a while we were doing these Blues in the Schools sessions where we’d visit schools and talk to the kids about music. I kept seeing that the arts programs were being down-sized or cut entirely. The schools don’t have the money they need for instruments or music classes and it’s the first thing to go. So we’ve been donating instruments and helping to fund programs and scholarships for students and teachers to keep these programs alive. It’s vital to preserve music in schools and give kids a chance to discover music and discover themselves through music. We’ll partner with companies like Ernie Ball to send guitar strings, or Musician’s Institute to create a scholarship contest. I started doing blues tribute shows last summer with Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks, and then again this past summer with our Three Kings Tour (tributing the music of B.B. King, Freddie King and Albert King), and a portion of the proceeds from those shows went to KTBA. In February we’re did our second Keeping the Blues Alive at Sea cruise, which also benefited KTBA.

TCC: What are your plans for the future? Is there a new album in the works?

JB: We just released a new album called Blues of Desperation last month. I recorded it in Nashville with a lot of the guys from the last record, Different Shades of Blue… like James House, Tom Hambridge, Jeffrey Steele, Jerry Flowers and Gary Nicholson. All the songs are originals again but this record is a bit grittier, a bit harder. We’ll be touring in support of it for the rest of the year.

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Joe Bonamassa takes the stage at Binghamton’s Forum Theatre on Tuesday, May 24th. Tickets range from $79-$125. More info is available at jbonamassa.com or broomearenaforum.com.