Local newspaper/web artical
Web-posted Sunday, July 23, 2006
Blues guitarist to hit hot licksin concert
jim.crawford@amarillo.com
Joe Bonamassa
Bluesman extraordinaire Joe Bonamassa is bringing his high-energy brand of blues and blues rock to the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts on Friday.
Blues fans won't want to miss this 29-year-old master guitar whiz when he and his crew roll into town.
how to go
who: Joe Bonamassa
what: Concert
where: Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts
when: 8 p.m. Friday
admission: $28
Born in upstate New York, Bonamassa started playing guitar at the age of 4. By 7 he had graduated to a full-scale model guitar and a year later he was playing the blues like a veteran, his bio information states.
"My father was a guitar dealer and player, so guitars were always around the house and part of my life. They were like chairs or tables, in that they were just as everyday."
It paid off.
At age 12 he was asked to open for B.B. King. Last summer Bonamassa was personally asked by King to open for his landmark 80th Birthday Celebration Tour.
"He's still just the same person I met when I was 12 as he is at 80. He's just a true gentleman in every sense of the word. He's probably my greatest influence as a human being and as a player."
Talk about making it.