VINTAGE GUITAR 92 April 2018

Each year, Vintage Guitar asks fans to select Readers' Choice winners for Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, and Player of the Year in four categories based on artists and recordings featured in the magazine. Included are selections for the VG Hall of Fame, which annually inducts two players, an innovator, and an instrument. Thousands of votes are tallied via the magazine's traditional written ballot and online at VintageGuitar.com. Here, we proudly present the 2017 winners.

JOE BONAMASSA

Paragon of the modern enterprising guitarist Joe Bonamassa is one of the preeminent blues-rock players on the scene today. And while some still see him as the “new kid,” it’s been nearly 30 years since he was that 13-year-old jumping onstage to jam with B.B. King and John Lee Hooker.

Today, he's a driven performer, record-label head, philanthropist. Addressing his selection for the VG Hall of Fame and Readers' Choice winner in the Rock Player of the Year category, Bonamassa was characteristically humble.

"I am very honored that VG readers chose me alongside Terry Kath," he said. "What a crew! He's the reason I have a '68 Tele with patent-number pickups. It's my 'Terry Kath Tele'."

Complementing his nearly non-stop recorded output, Bonamassa has earned a reputation for heart- on-his-sleeve live performances, including covers and tributes to his heroes as in 2015 with the Three Kings tour and the Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks show for a 2016 DVD. His most recent recorded work includes a third duet album with Beth Hart, a reunion with Glenn Hughes,Derek Sherinian, and Jason Bonham for a fourth album by Black Country Communion, and another with his jazz-funk cohorts Rock Candy Funk Party.

In early 2018, he added "producer" to his resumé, helping keyboardist to the stars Reese Wynans on his first solo album.

"I initially told Reese, 'You don't want me in charge of anything.'"Bonamassa laughed. "But, after a couple of days, I thought, 'You know... I know what kind of record I'd like to hear from Reese.'"

So, he jumped in — but only after recruiting help from fellow musicians/engineers Josh Smith and Jake Blair along with a few members of his touring band. Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton were invited, as well, to re-work a few songs they played while backing Stevie Ray Vaughan as Double Trouble.

"The project is basically a guitar players' gift to Reese," Bonamassa said. "He has backed us loud-ass guitarists for 50 years, and we owed him a debt of gratitude for sitting behind the keyboards listening to us wank away."

Given his work ethic and tendency to share the limelight, it's not surprising that Bonamassa goes out of his way to share his enthusiasm for like-minded artists.

"The music scene is very healthy at the moment. The farm system — smaller clubs where you could build a following around the country — has sort of died, but people are starting to get around it by using the internet, finding their voice. As a player, writer, singer, and producer, Josh Smith has it all. I think Joanne Shaw Taylor is gonna be a big star. Marcus King is destined for greater things. He's like Warren Haynes and Terry Kath amalgamated, which is scary. JD Simo, too, is doing great stuff.

"There's no substitute for hard work, no magic beans to get you there," he adds. "Success in music is about sweat equity. You have to build your world and live in something of a bubble. So many artists get fixated on what other people are doing. Why? Think about what Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi have created. That's their thing, you know? My identity is the guy in the suit. And there's plenty of lanes."

Guitars and amps are part of Bonamassa's very existence, as vital as a heartbeat. And since being featured in the August '14 issue of Vintage Guitar, his collection — and more importantly his attitude toward collecting— have been refined.

"I've been concentrating on extraordinary examples like mint custom-color Fender stuff. But I also found a black '66 Gibson

EB-1250, and a blond 1960 ES-330 that was special-ordered with an ebony fingerboard and Kluson tuners."

Others include two '58 Gibson Flying Vs with great stories; the first was bought from Norman Harris at Norm's Rare Guitars, in L.A. After a sequence of fortuitous circumstances, Bonamassa and his guitar tech, Mike Hickey, traced its origins to Arthur's Music, the Indianapolis music store where it was originally sold (and the "oldest family-owned shop in the country," Bonamassa said). Bonamassa flew it back for a reunion — and a feature story in The Indianapolis Star (the piece is reprinted on Bonamassa's official website).

The second guitar, which he has taken to calling the Trashbag V, has an even greater story involving an attic discovery, a pleather gig bag, and one woman's newfound wealth. We'll share it and exclusive photos in an upcoming issue of Vintage Guitar. Meanwhile, Bonamassa's next album is in the works. "It's all-original and I'm taking my time, which I need to do," he said.