On Thursday May 11 at the 38th Blues Music Awards, Joe Bonamassa added two new awards to his distinguished career – The B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award and the Instrumentalist of the Year (for guitar) award.

The B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award holds special significance for Joe, as B.B. King was his close friend and mentor. Their friendship began in 1989 when B.B. featured 12-year-old Joe on his 1989 tour.

“He's the nicest person I've ever met in the music business. He is the blues, the blues is him,” Joe famously said about the late B.B. King.

The Entertainer of the Year award is a very prestigious award in the blues community. Joe embodies everything that the award is about. If you’ve ever seen one of Joe’s shows, then you know that Joe’s energy, charisma and showmanship are just a few of his traits that led him to win this award over other world-class musicians.

The Guitarist of the Year award is Joe’s second, as he won the category in 2015. This award reinforces the fact that Joe is one of the world’s premier guitarists in this day and age. The countless hours of perfecting his craft on guitar have been recognized multiple times by a blues community that takes great pride in its musicians from all backgrounds.

Joe was not able to attend the award ceremony, but he was thrilled about his victories. “Thank you to the fine folks at BluesFoundation for the two awards last night. Instrumentalist/Entertainer. I’m beyond honored.” -Joe Bonamassa

Joe is finishing up his European Tour at the moment and will be releasing a new album in June – Live At Carnegie Hall – An Acoustic Evening.