Joe Bonamassa: bigger and badder
By John Benson
Over the last two decades, Joe Bonamassa has seemingly played every Youngstown venue. In fact, the blues guitarist acknowledges the feat as a badge of honor, epitomizing his long and hard fought struggle from bar musician to arena rocker.
Now the Grammy Award-winning guitarist returns to the area yet again, only this time it’s for his biggest gig yet with a headlining show Monday at Covelli Centre.
Bonamassa is touring in support of his recently released No. 1 blues album and concert DVD/ Blu-ray “Live at the Greek Theatre,” which features the guitarist paying homage to the three Kings of the blues – Albert King, B.B. King, and Freddie King, as well as new studio effort “Blues of Desperation.”
The Vindicator talked to Bonamassa about his memories of the Mahoning Valley, his role in the future of the blues and why you may or may not hear “Free Bird” at his upcoming gig.
Q. You’ve played the Youngstown area many times in your career. Any shows stand out?
A. I think I did an outside gig with Lynyrd Skynyrd there. This had to be 15 years ago and at that point I was an unknown guitar player. I was billed under “opening act.” I remember some dude in the front row yelled “Free Bird” during my opening set. I said to myself, of all the concerts you can yell that at, this is the worst one because you know they’re going to play the (expletive) song in about two hours. Over the years, we’ve had a lot of fun in Struthers at The Cellar. Ohio has always been really nice to me.
Q. You’ve been a road dog for decades; however, it was a little less than a decade ago that Joe Bonamassa started to rise through the ranks. What was the turning point?
A. I would say my bar mitzvah was when we did the Albert Hall in 2009 and Eric Clapton came in. That was the gig that was either the beginning of my career or the beginning of the end of my career. We filmed it and all of a sudden PBS broadcasted the concert and people were like, “It’s Joe Bonamassa.” The country collectively could finally say my last name for the first time in 20 years. That was really my big break.
Q. Congratulations on “Live at the Greek Theatre.” Where did you get the idea to cover the blues greats?
A. When we did the first Red Rocks show in 2014, the idea was a tribute for our Keeping the Blues Alive foundation. We sold 10,000 tickets and instead of going up there banging out “The Ballad of John Henry” for the umpteenth time, which we did anyway, we went out and paid tribute to Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Not only was it a good night for me but it was as good night for the blues. The following year, we talked about “what do we do next?” Obviously for me it would be the Three Kings – Freddie, Albert and B.B. That became “Live at the Greek Theater.”
Q. Set-wise, what can we expect from your upcoming show?
A. What we’re doing this fall is a lot off my new solo album and a good chunk of the best and brightest from “The Greek Theater.” We’ve got singers and horns and fireworks. It’s pretty cool.
Q. With the recent passing of B.B. King, do you feel a responsibility to carry on the blues?
A. I feel a responsibility to myself. At the end of the day, I don’t think any artist can paint in those kind of broad strokes that it’s my job solely to keep the blues alive. No, it’s not. I would think way too highly of myself if I thought like that. To me, if I can try to keep it honest, I realize I’ll be one of the last men standing.
Q. You joked earlier about the mispronouncing of your name. Anything funny come to mind?
A. Bonamassa is pretty phonetic. If you take a second and channel your fourth-grade English class, it’s pretty simple. It’s been butchered and you can tell people are going to butcher it when they hesitate. People have said I should change my name, but I say they can remember Joe Satriani, another fine Italian guitar player. They can remember Meshell Ndegeocello. She didn’t change her name to Smith.
Q. Finally, considering you are returning to Youngstown, we can expect to hear a cover of “Free Bird,” right?
A. [laughs] You’re going to get a 25-minute version of “Free Bird.” I’ll open the show with it.