Blues-Rock Star Joe Bonamassa's New Album Sloe Gin Races to a #1 Debut on Billboard's Blues Chart!

Blues-Rock Star Joe Bonamassa's New Album Sloe Gin Races to a #1 Debut on Billboard's Blues Chart!

DEBUT WEEK BILLBOARD STATS ALSO INCLUDE #4 HEATSEEKER, #10 ON THE INTERNET CHART, #20 FOR INDIE ALBUMS AND #184 ON THE BILLBOARD 200 - JOE'S PREVIOUS ALBUM, YOU & ME, CLIMBS TO #13 ON THE BLUES CHART AS WELL

CD DEBUTS AT #1 ON ITUNES' TOP BLUES ALBUMS & HITS AMAZON'S OVERALL TOP 10

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Released Aug. 21, Sloe Gin, the new album from guitar virtuoso, vocalist and songwriter Joe Bonamassa, debuted at #1 on Billboard's Blues Albums chart (all his previous albums have either gone #1 or Top 10). Billboard release week glory for Bonamassa's latest also includes the #184 spot on the Billboard 200, #4 Heatseekers and #10 and #24 for the Internet and Independent album charts, respectively. Joe's last full-length CD, 2006's You & Me (another immediate #1), has climbed to #13 on the Blues chart as well.

Out-of-the-box success for the potent Sloe Gin, a landmark in Joe's evolution from blues prodigy to full-fledged blues-rock star, underscores Modern Guitar Magazine's advance review, which stated, "within the first 20 seconds of the opening track ... it's clear we're in the presence of something special ... it has the makings of a year-round classic that could set a new standard for recorded blues, rock, blues-rock and a few other genres."

Sloe Gin's instant acclaim also impacted iTunes, where it debuted at #1 on the Top Blues Albums chart, and at http://amazon.com/, where it debuted in the Top 25 of all albums sold on release day and quickly shot to the Top 10 -- the lead Customer Review raves, "Sloe Gin will put Joe over the top!" The CD is Bonamassa's seventh solo effort and second produced by Kevin Shirley (Joe Satriani, Black Crowes, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin). It's available at all physical and online outlets via the label arm of J&R Adventures, the independent company Bonamassa owns with longtime manager and business partner Roy Weisman.

Sloe Gin is an artistic tour de force. Music portal http://rockandrolluniverse.com/ writes, "in the world of blues rock, Joe Bonamassa literally has no peers ... But to classify Bonamassa as merely a blues musician would be a great disservice ... while his albums have consistently reached #1 on Billboard's Blues Album Charts, with this album he transcends what is normally accepted in the traditionally purist blues circles ... No longer tethered to tradition, the guitarist shines like the sun, as hot as Phoenix or Las Vegas on a summer afternoon."

Just as Sloe Gin marks a watershed moment for Bonamassa, its release coincides with the expansion of J&R Adventures. Joe and Roy's vision for the entertainment firm -- named for the first letter of each of their first names -- is an artist-driven, full-service enterprise overseeing recording, touring, concert promotion, marketing and distribution for Joe and other artists. It's the organic outgrowth of their 17-year long professional association, which began when Joe was still in his early teens, launching an extraordinary career as a force-of-nature talent who'd toured with B.B. King by the time he was 12. Weisman says of J&R's growth, "Joe and I see the potential to build a family of like-minded, authentic artists in the way that Motown did when they started out." Singer-songwriter Crosby Loggins -- following in the footsteps of his father Kenny Loggins -- is the first new act joining the J&R Roster. Beginning in September, Crosby will join Joe's U.S. tour itinerary as opener for dates through the remainder of 2007.

Joe Bonamassa was voted Best Blues Guitarist in Guitar Player Magazine's 2007 Readers' Choice Awards. He's also the youngest member of the Memphis-based Blues Foundation's Board of Directors, and is spokesperson for their Blues In The Schools program.

For more information and latest tour itinerary, visit

http://www.jbonamassa.com/

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: J&R Adventures

CONTACT: Erin Podbereski, +1-626-585-9575, erin@jensencom.com for J&R
Adventures

Web site: http://www.jbonamassa.com/
http://rockandrolluniverse.com/
http://amazon.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment