Joe Bonamassa - Guitar Man

(Paramount Home Entertainment)

By Decibel Report

No stranger to the spotlight, Joe Bonamassa has been in the public eye ever since his father bought him his first guitar as a child. Now as a universally established artist, the glare of the spotlight has settled into a warm glow of admiration as a performer who is revered not only for his natural talent on his instrument of choice - of which he has an obsessively huge collection- but for keeping the blues centre stage around the globe and more recently at sea. Also, and most importantly, for his ready willingness to actively support musicians and the musical legacies of those who are no longer with us.

Gradually upscaling his talent as the years have rolled by, it’s the stark contrast of the maturity of his playing with his still boyish looks that reminds of how far this blues protege has travelled from a preternatural early age in this detailed documentary.

Not appearing to be a man overflowing with words, no ordinary Joe has reached the status of mass appeal where others talk for him. And they do so in praiseworthy reverence in this documented overview of his musical journey thus far. His biggest mentors, apart from his father, Kevin Shirley and manager Roy Weisman lift the lid on Joe the person and Joe the musician; both being two very different personalities as evidenced by his baseball cap, jean wearing to slick suited and shades personas.

Other than that, his loquacious playing style does all the necessary talking for him. The warm lustre of his playing is not dissimilar in tone to the pearlescent glow from the inlays on his fretboard.

Jam-packed with stellar live and studio clips plus behind the scenes footage coupled with candid interviews, a few with Joe, but mostly from those around him who kept the faith and stuck the course. From protégée to protean blues, rock, blues-rock and hard rock chameleon-like charmer, this is a revealing and entertaining portrait of an artist who, whilst honouring the legends that have passed before and still current, commands a palette of the blues that mark him out in his own distinctive stripe,

By preserving the blues and promoting the reputations of so many overlooked talents, especially in his own music, Bonamassa is like a mobile museum very much worth the admission fee to witness in the flesh further on up the road sometime soon.