Twenty years ago, Joe Bonamassa placed a bet on himself and hit the jackpot. Now he celebrates two decades of musical independence with Blues Deluxe Vol. 2, a return to the album concept that made him the blues’ reigning champion. Guitar Player visits Nerdville for a little chat and a look at a few of Joe’s very fine vintage axes.
INTERVIEW BY JOE BOSSO GEAR SPECS BY ROD BRAKES
IN 2003, JOE Bonamassa was nowhere. The 26-year-old guitarist had enjoyed a fast start to his career. Hailed as a prodigy, he was mentored by the likes of Danny Gatton and had toured with B.B. King. Before he reached 18, he was part of a group called Bloodline that featured the sons of Miles Davis, Robby Krieger and Berry Oakley. Everybody said “Smokin’ Joe” Bonamassa was going places.
By the mid ’90s, Bloodline was over and Bonamassa went solo. But after two critically hailed albums — 2000’s A New Day Yesterdayand 2002’s So, It’s Like That— failed to click with record buyers, the guitarist took a grim assessment of where things stood. “Things were bad,” he says. “I was dropped by one label, and another label I signed to went out of business. My booking agent dropped me. I really didn’t know what to do.”
He did the only thing he could. With a gift of free studio time (thanks to Bobby Nathan at New York’s Unique Recording), and his last $10,000, Bonamassa recorded covers of blues tunes by Elmore James, Buddy Guy, Freddie King, B.B. King and others, along with a few choice originals. “It was basically a live gig. We didn’t have to rehearse anything,” he says. “The weird thing was, it was the first time I was honest with myself. Instead of trying to be something I wasn’t and trying to do songs that would get on the radio, I said, ‘This is the music I love. I’m going to do what I really want.’ ”
The whole thing was done in a week — mixed and mastered — and the guitarist called the album Blues Deluxeafter a Jeff Beck Group song he covered. “It should have been called Blues Deluxe: Last Chance, Kiddo,” Bonamassa jokes. “That’s how things felt at the time.”
As Hail Mary passes go, the rationale behind Blues Deluxeseemed plausible enough. “We thought, We’ll just make a real blues record so we can tour,” Bonamassa says. “Worst case scenario, we’ll sell them out of the back of a van — which we did.” Little by little, though, things started to turn around. A deal was struck with an indie South Florida company to distribute the record, and thanks to strong reviews, c
