Utica Joe: Bonamassa hits the road

''Dude! How's it going?''

It's 11 a.m. in the birthplace of rock 'n' roll, and Joe Bonamassa sounds about as happy as any human can be. The 25-year-old Bonamassa is on his way to the Tower City Amphitheater in Cleveland, where road crews, stagehands and audio technicians are at work, preparing for a concert later in the evening. They are moving around equipment, plugging in wires and unlocking black-trap cases stenciled in white with the words ''Bad Company'' and ''Foreigner''
on them.

While many of Bonamassa's 20-something peers are expected to be in attendance at the show, the guitarist's bird's-eye view will be from center stage, in the role of entertainer.
He’s young, but he’s been around.

A musical child prodigy at the age of 4, Bonamassa grew up in Utica. When his father bought a Stevie Ray Vaughan album, young Joe was hooked on the sound for life.

He began touring at the age of 12 and during a show in Rochester, Bonamassa's playing got the attention of that evening's headliner, B.B. King, who invited Bonamossa on stage with him.

''He hasn't even begun to scratch the surface,'' King said.
'He's young, with great ideas - one of a kind - a legend before his time.'' It was the kind of praise that would fill Lucille with jealousy.

He co-wrote songs and played guitar with Bloodline (a band whose members included the respective sons of Robbie Krieger, Miles Davis and Berry Oakley), released a CD in 1995, was signed by legendary music producer Phil Ramone, and hit the road with his own power trio, performing at a number of blues festivals and opening for some of music's biggest names.

''You meet so many great people on the road,'' Bonamassa said. ''George Thorogood was great, and the people from Lynyrd Skynyrd treated us extremely well. They are real fans of what we're doing musically.''

Bonamassa's solo debut, ''A New Day Yesterday,'' was released in 2000 and featured appearances by Leslie West, Rick Derringer and Greg Allman. Then it was back to the stage in 2001 where, by year's end, he had logged more than 100,000 miles on the road.

Bonamassa keeps an online touring diary of many of his performances, but one performance is particularly memorable for him.

''We got a chance to tour with Jethro Tull, and during our show, we do a cover version of their song 'A New Day Yesterday.' Not only did they like our version,'' he said, ''but (Tull guitarist) Martin Barre and some of the other members of the band came up and played it with us.
That was great.''

These days, he's making some new memories.

''Tonight is our first show with Bad Company and Foreigner,'' he said, sharing the stage with his all-time heroes. ''Every time I sing something,'' said Bonamassa, ''I try to sound just like Paul Rodgers.''

by Thomas Dimopoulos
published in The Saratogian, June 14, 2002