Basically, 2011 was the hardest year on the road for me because I did a spring tour and a fall tour plus nine weeks in the summer, and I was pretty worse for wear by the time I got home in December. I know I was only 34, but that was a tough lap.

Joe Bonamassa

Greece was a muse. It inspired creativity in magical ways that I can't even begin to understand or explain.

Joe Bonamassa

I've always been a big fan of taking old songs and completely turning them on their head. Having no adherence to the fine tradition of the original version. Rearranging them and taking a different approach to them.

Joe Bonamassa

I don't think there's any music that you hear on the radio today that would be possible without Jimi Hendrix. Rock, blues-rock, heavy metal, any guitar stuff when you get right down to it - Jimi did it. He's certainly the guy who basically invented the blues-rock genre for guitar players.

Joe Bonamassa

I have a 1969 Grammer Johnny Cash acoustic guitar, and it's so inspirational.

Joe Bonamassa

That's where the Black Keys and Jack White have succeeded and I've failed: They've actually convinced college kids that they're listening to hip music - but it's just blues twisted a new way - while I'm playing for the college kid's parents.

Joe Bonamassa

That's the thing about the blues: It's one thing to hit a note on a guitar. To make it matter is something else altogether.

Joe Bonamassa

If I feel like things are getting into a routine, I want them to be different. I need to keep improving and keep moving forward.

Joe Bonamassa

If it wasn't for guys like Gary Moore, I wouldn't exist. He not only proved that the blues could rock but it could draw a crowd as well. All of which made a huge impression on me.

Joe Bonamassa

I've never been known as a riff kind of artist.

Joe Bonamassa

If you have a good riff with a vocal as well, then it becomes a devastating song. That's why people love riff-rock: it's the ultimate air guitar music.

Joe Bonamassa

At the end of the day, you, as the player, create the tone coming out of the amp. The gear is part of it but by no means all of it.

Joe Bonamassa

You know who I'd like to open for? This will be a surprise, but I'll tell you who: Iron Maiden.

Joe Bonamassa

To sell out London's Hammersmith Apollo is amazing. Selling it out for two nights? Even better.

Joe Bonamassa

Basically, 2011 was the hardest year on the road for me because I did a spring tour and a fall tour plus nine weeks in the summer, and I was pretty worse for wear by the time I got home in December. I know I was only 34, but that was a tough lap.

Joe Bonamassa

The one area where I'll say that Hendrix is underrated was his ability to use chord melodies. He used different inversions of chords and was able to make a three-piece band sound absolutely huge. From the moment Hendrix and the Experience came on the scene, power trios had their work cut out for them.

Joe Bonamassa

Doing the acoustic at Carnegie is basically advised because electric music tends to get, let's just say, acoustically unsound.

Joe Bonamassa

A guitar is so tactile, and when you're playing bends - and bending notes is a big part of my style - there are so many notes within the note you're bending from and the note you're bending up to.

Joe Bonamassa

I was thrust into an adult world very quickly, and that can make anyone somewhat socially maladjusted to dealing with people your own age. But I wouldn't trade any of it.

Joe Bonamassa

I used to watch MTV when they played music, and discovered Robert Cray, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Healey.

Joe Bonamassa

When you're 12 and, you know, slightly overweight and - for lack of a better word - white, and you're playing blues, you get a lot of press.

Joe Bonamassa