Being zero for five is something Joe Bonamassa considers a badge of honor. At the Grammy Awards earlier this month, the accomplished guitar slinger was up for his fifth nomination in the best contemporary blues album category for his blistering 2023 release, “Blues Deluxe Vol. 2.” Although he didn’t walk away with a gold trophy (it went to the equally incredible Ruthie Foster), it’s not like Bonamassa is keeping count.
“This is the perspective that I have,” he shared in a recent phone interview, ahead of his upcoming show Feb. 21 at the Chicago Theatre.
“I did the AmericanaFest Pre-Grammy Salute to John Hiatt and he’s 0 for 10. Shemekia Copeland, she’s 0 for 7. I’m in good company. … And I’m like the anti-music business guy anyway. My whole life has been independent and off-the-grid.”
Since Bonamassa was a child (sharing the same birthday as blues guitar great Robert Johnson, mind you), he’s been celebrating the blues his own way — and racking up a long list of accolades in the process. At 12 years of age, the New Yorker was already cutting his teeth as his Smokin’ Joe Bonamassa band opened up for B.B. King. As a teen, he made waves in Bloodline, the band he formed with the progeny of Miles Davis, Robby Krieger and Berry Oakley. Only in his mid-40s now, Bonamassa has remarkably released more than 40 albums, has 28 No. 1 hits on the Billboard blues album chart and has been hailed as “arguably the world’s biggest blues guitarist” by Guitar World.
The latest album and DVD, “Live at the Hollywood Bowl with Orchestra,” adds to Bonamassa’s legacy, as he continues experimenting within the genre. His takes on songs like “Prisoner” and “Sloe Gin” were performed alongside a 40-piece orchestra for the event, one that Bonamassa called a “bucket-list item” after taking stages at other iconic venues over the years, like Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall, Vienna Opera House and Red Rocks.
There’s also a new track, “Fortune Teller Blues,” that Bonamassa released with veteran rocker Sammy Hagar in January.
“Sammy reached out and was like, ‘Hey, man, I got this lyric. It’s kind of a blues song that I wrote. Would you be interested in putting music to it?’ ” Bonamassa recalled. “He wanted to make it big and heavy and bad-ass, and I was like, you’ve come to the right place. If you want sludgy blues rock, I’m your guy.”
Not only has the track been an unexpected thrill for longtime fans, it’s also an example of pushing the blues forward for new generations.
“There’s a good, healthy young crop of musicians interpreting blues in a new, interesting way, sometimes to the chagrin of traditionalists who think the blues should only be Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson,” said Bonamassa. “But it’s exciting to see what people are doing and younger people embracing it. … And I absolutely have to credit Jack White and The Black Keys for spearheading that. … [Their fans] may not be aware but it’s straight out of Son House’s playbook.”
Bonamassa also deserves credit for continuing to make blues viable with his J&R Adventures/Journeyman LLC, an artist management and record label venture, and the Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation, a non-profit that promotes music education and blues music via educational resources and scholarships. To date, nearly $3 million in funds have been distributed, impacting 100,000 students. His annual cruises, Keeping the Blues Alive at Sea, are major fundraisers where he and guests like Beth Hart, Los Lonely Boys, Samantha Fish, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and even Ruthie Foster literally rock the boat for sold-out crowds.
“When we started almost 15 years ago, it was really just an idea of giving back,” Bonamassa shared. “But where it really mattered was when COVID hit and we were giving out $1,500 checks to musicians of any genre.”
That program, Fueling Musicians, picked up steam again recently to help aid musicians and educators affected by the Southern California wildfires. Bonamassa was compelled to help after his own L.A.-area compound he refers to as Nerdville West — where he has one of the world’s largest collections of vintage guitars — was impacted by evacuations.
“I was able to manage one trip out with the big guitars. We had two cars and one shot. Once you left, they weren’t letting you back in,” he recalled, adding he will soon move the collection away from California to avoid future risks, especially as he continues growing the vault.
The musician has often said, “I don’t collect guitars, I collect stories,” and his assortment (650 pieces and counting) has become a living, breathing relic of treasured hand-me-downs, so much so that people routinely ring his doorbell asking if “the museum is open.”
“My collection is not eBay. Everything has to have a story,” said Bonamassa, sharing a recent example. “I had a family reach out last week — we’re sending the check today, for their grandfather’s 1952 Telecaster that he played in church in Fort Worth, Texas. … They take great comfort in knowing that this thing that’s been in their family for 73 years is going to a good place. I offer a good home.”