Thursday, March 7, 8 p.m.
Adler Theatre, 136 East Third Street, Davenport IA
A genuine blues-rock legend who famously opened for B.B. King when he was only 12 years old, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joe Bonamassa plays Davenport's Adler Theatre on March 3, treating fans to the hard-driving talents that have resulted in chart-topping success, two Grammy Award nominations, and collaborations with some of blues music's most iconic performers.
Born in Utica, New York, in 1977, Bonamassa, with the encouragement of his father, began playing the guitar at age four, and at 11, he was being mentored by guitar legend Danny Gatton. At age 12, he was fronting his own band called Smokin' Joe Bonamassa, and began establishing such a notable reputation through his New York and Pennsylvania gigs that B.B. King himself reached out with an offer to have Bonamassa open for him at approximately 20 shows. Before the age of 18, Bonamassa also joined the band Bloodline, playing with the sons of Miles Davis, Robby, Krieger, and Berry Oakley, and in 2000, he established his solo career with the release of A New Day Yesterday, which went on to reach number nine on the U.S. Billboard Blues Albums chart.
To date, Bonamassa's discography consists of 13 solo studio albums, 16 live albums, 15 video albums, three collaboration albums, and 30 singles as a lead artist, more than a half-dozen of which have landed in the top 10 of the Billboard charts. (In 2018, he also charted eight top-10 hits via the albums Black Coffee, British Blues Explosion, and Redemption.) Bonamassa has played alongside such famed blues and rock artists as Stephen Stills, Eric Clapton, Blondie Chaplin, Foreigner, Buddy Guy, Steve Winwood, and Derek Trucks, and his career highlights include numerous performances at London's Royal Albert Hall and Grammy nominations for 2013's Seesaw and 2016's Live at the Greek Theatre. And in addition to his music career, Bonamassa runs a nonprofit organisation called the Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation, whose mission is to further music education by funding scholarships and providing music-education resources to schools in need.
Joe Bonamassa's March 7 concert will find him backed by Anton Fig on drums, Michael Rhodes on bass, and Reese Wynans on piano and organ, admission to the 8 p.m. show is $82-199, and tickets are available by calling (800)745-3000 or visiting AdlerTheatre.com.
