Artist profiles

Joe Bonamassa

Dust Bowl is Bonamassa’s 9th studio album released by Provogue Records in Europe and his J&R Adventures label (co-founded with manager Roy Weisman) in the US.  It’s also his 6th collaboration with Dust Bowl producer, Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Black Crowes, Black Country Communion). 

Dust Bowl was recorded at Black Rock Studios in Santorini, Greece, Ben’s Studio in Nashville, TN, The Cave in Malibu, CA and The Village in Los Angeles, CA.  The new album combines the gritty, blues-based tones of Bonamassa’s first albums with the fluid, genre-defying sounds he’s mastered in the years since, and also features a dose of Nashville in duets with legends John Hiatt and Vince Gill, as well as a song collaboration with Glenn Hughes.   

In 2010, Bonamassa’s previous album, Black Rock, debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Blues Albums Chart and #38 on Billboard’s Top 200 Chart, a huge leap from 2009’s The Ballad of John Henry which debuted at #136 on the Top 200. The eleventh full-length solo release and ninth studio album of his career, this new disc will mark Bonamassa’s eighth collaboration with Kevin Shirley as producer. 

Recently, Bonamassa has been splitting duties with his side project, the English-American rock group Black Country Communion with bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Trapeze), drummer Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin) and keyboardist Derek Sherinian (Billy Idol, Dream Theater). 

BCC released their debut self-titled album, also produced by Shirley, on September 21, 2010. It entered the Billboard Top 200 Chart at #53 and is getting rave reviews. Mojo magazine gave the album four stars and Goldmine said it’s “Possibly, the best hard rock album of 2010.” Music Radar describes it as “a potent and stomping collection of riff-heavy rockers that will undoubtedly stun listeners.” 

In addition to the success of Black Rock and Black Country Communion’s stellar debut, 2010 kicked off with Guitar World dubbing Bonamassa - “The Blues Rock Titan” and his song, “Lonesome Road Blues,” was included in Guitar Hero V’s New Blues Masters Track Pack. He was also honoured twice in Guitar Player Magazine’s June 2010 Readers’ Choice Awards winning “Best Overall Guitarist” for the first time and “Best Blues Guitarist” for the fourth consecutive year. On June 26, he played the main stage at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago. 

In May 2009, he played a sold out show at London’s Royal Albert Hall, arguably the most prestigious concert venue in the world and had the added honour of being joined on stage by the legendary Eric Clapton. Released Oct. 6, 2009 and debuting at #6 on Billboard’s DVD Chart was Joe Bonamassa – Live From The Royal Albert Hall, a 2-disc live DVD capturing the intensity and excitement of that show which Bonamassa calls “a day 20 years in the making.” Also, in 2009, Bonamassa was awarded the Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award at the UK’s prestigious Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards.

A child prodigy, Bonamassa opened shows at age 12 for blues legend B.B. King, who said after first seeing him play, “This kid\'s potential is unbelievable…He\'s one of a kind.” Bonamassa’s recording career began in the early ’90s with Bloodline, a rock-blues group also featuring Robby Krieger’s son Waylon and Miles Davis’ son Erin. His solo debut was in 2000 with the Tom Dowd-produced A New Day Yesterday.

Bonamassa averages 200 shows every year, almost always playing to sold-out and ever-larger houses, and with each gig, he comes more into his own as a virtuoso and a vocalist. As he heads back to the road in support of his new album, Bonamassa remains infinitely passionate about playing live, connecting with his audiences and making new fans along the way like Slash, who recently said, “Just saw Joe Bonamassa on Jools Holland again. He\'s definitely my new favourite guitarist."