It's the genre that jumped out at him as a child growing up in upstate New York. When his peers were lapping up the latest Van Halen offering, he was diving deep into the vast history of blues music. As he grew older he continued to absorb everything from the Chicago Chess Records era to the British Invasion to the Texas grit pioneered by Stevie Ray Vaughan. Bonamassa never stopped finding new joy in blues' various shades.

Listen to Joe Bonamassa's playlist on Esquire Spotify

"It's when B.B. was at the lowest point in his career. He'd had a bus accident, got sued for $100,000, maybe more, so he couldn't get his band back. So he had a B3 player that played bass with the pedals and the Hammond, two horns, drums, and him. And it's just on fire. You can hear the sweat and toil in his voice and almost desperation. And it's one of the greatest live blues records ever recorded. B.B. has a tendency to make seminal live recordings."

TRUTH

"It got me into British blues. And it got a lot of people into British blues before people even knew what British blues was. I mean, Jeff Beck's Truth predates Zeppelin I. They were all trying to outdo each other. And that whole heavy metal, that heavy Les Paul sound was and is still very appealing to me."

Tons of Sobs

"They were a blues band and were doing amped-up versions of what everyone else was doing in England. But they also had the song called 'All Right Now' and also songs like 'Walk in my Shadows,' 'Be My Friend,' 'The Mover.' Man, it's just a wonderful, wonderful record. They're the most underrated band and such a wonderful group of musicians."

Irish Tour 74

"You can see my affinity for live records. I love live records. This is a working-class guy that to me was a seminal Irish-blues album. He was just a working-class guy who looked like he'd just come out of a factory, had a Guinness, and went up onstage. Mostly that's what he did."

Crossroads Original Soundtrack

"His soundtrack work is great. And his records are great. But in particular the Crossroads soundtrack I think is his best work. I went down to the Crossroads in Rosedale, the real Crossroads, not that tourist trap in in Clarksdale. It was really a magical experience for me."

At Fillmore East

"I'm the same way as the Allmans: I take old blues songs and redo them. And the Allmans were masters at that. They were masters at updating the Elmore James catalog and they also were writing some good original stuff. But At the Fillmore East, it really captured them at the height of their power."

Born Under a Bad Sign

"I mean, 'Born Under a Bad Sign' was one of the greatest blues songs ever written. And it was a hit. It was actually more of a soul record than anything else. Albert is one of the kings, man. He's on fire!"

The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper

"Again, it's that live-record thing. They love to jam, they didn't have some A&R guy in the room going, 'Well, these songs have gotta be two minutes and 30 seconds for the radio.' They just jammed out however they wanted. It's some of the best Les Paul guitar sound you're ever gonna find. The singing was marginal: Al was never known for his vocal abilities and neither was Michael. But they were a really, really funky, great band."

Burglar

"This was during the Shelter Records years. It's all Leon Russell's ringers. It was the same kind of sound you would hear on Mad Dogs and Englishmen from Joe Cocker, which to me is also a seminal record."

Dirt Floor

"He was a one-man band. I opened up for him when he was just by himself. He had a wood block that had a kick drum sample and a dobro. And it was the loudest acoustic concert I'd ever heard. But it was also the most mesmerizing. I'd never seen anybody do that by themselves. It was the most intense 75 minutes I'd ever heard. And then he just walked off the stage like, 'Ah, I'm done.' The forgotten guy of that era who was to me leaps and bounds ahead of the late, great Jeff Buckley was Chris Whitley. He's criminally forgotten."