Joe Bonamassa is constantly listed towards the top of the lists of the best guitarists in the world. At the age of twelve he opened for the legendary B.B. King and was introduced to the world. Nominated for three Grammy Awards, Joe’s won numerous other awards especially in the Blues world. Multi-award winning program director Ray White connected with him via telephone in August of 2024 to talk about his Live At The Hollywood Bowl album, playing concerts at many of the world famous concert halls, his activities during COVID, his latest with Black Country Communion (who recently released “V”) and much, much more. Check out more from Joe on Episode 19. In our showcase segment, we look back at highlights of another excellent guitarist –John Sykes, who played with Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake. He succumbed to Cancer in December of 2024. We have superb rock guitarists on this episode, brought to you by your friends at Classic Artists Today. Let ’em rip!
Ray's passion for music and the musicians, started as a youth listening to transistor radios under the covers at bedtime. The bands and performers he liked, he followed throughout their career. In 2005 he was fed up with the evolution of a majority of the music the radio stations were playing and began investigating the bands he grew up listening to in the 1960's, 70's and 80's. Radio wasn't playing any of those band's "new" songs, just the "classic" hits. Researching the industry for a year, Ray launched Classic Artists Today syndicated radio show - featuring "new" songs by "classic" artists and included interviews and classic tracks too. The show was carried by several dozen radio stations in the U.S., Canada, Europe and the Caribbean. Featuring Rock/Pop musicians and bands, Ray and the show won several awards from New Music Weekly magazine. With the success of these shows, he launched Coool CAT syndicated radio show, 5 years later, featuring Soul/R&B/Smooth Jazz/Blues performers and bands. In 2017, Ray starting producing his show in a 30-minute podcast format. Today, you can hear his work at Sittin' In With The CAT and Sittin' In With The Coool CAT. The legacy continues!
