It's unusual that such a recognised and established American guitarist as Joe Bonamassa cites the 60's British and Irish blues players as a major influence on his blues style.
"You know, my heroes were the Columbine guys – Paul Kossoff, Peter Green, Eric Clapton. There’s so many - there’s Gary Moore, Rory Gallagher – another Irish musician who played the same things, but don’t tell him that. But those guys were my guys – Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page. There’s a certain sophistication to their approach to the blues that I really like, more so than the American blues that I was listening to. B. B. King’s a big influence – he’s probably my biggest traditional influence. I love Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and T-Bone Walker and stuff like that, but I couldn’t sit down… I was always forcing myself to listen to whole records by them, where I’d rather listen to Humble Pie do "I'm Ready" than Muddy Waters, you know? I think, the English interpretation of the blues just hit me a lot better, you know?"
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It shows particularly well on this version of Gary Moore's 'Midnight Blues'.
Joe Bonamassa plays London's Royal Albert Hall on 30th March. His last performance in 2009 sold out in a week. Expect the same again.
