The John D’Amato Band (Memphis, TN)
Many people claim to have the right to sing the blues. That right may come from their birthplace, their heritage, or their circumstances. John D’Amato definitely has the right to sing the blues because he was born blue. He wasn’t born sad, or in prison, or poor, or heart-broken he was literally blue when he entered this world. John says. “I was born with a condition known as Coarctation of the Aorta (a narrowing of part of the aorta, the major artery leading out of the heart), which caused me to have circulation problems, essentially meaning that if my blood was having problems getting throughout my body I wasn’t getting enough oxygen. The lack of oxygen caused me to literally turn blue. I eventually made it home from the hospital 3 weeks later.Though I was home and seemed to be doing fine, the prognosis was not very good”, he continues. “Unfortunately, back then there was no way to correct Coarctation of the Aorta, so I had to be monitored closely and tested frequently. My childhood seemed like an endless routine of doctor visits and hospital stays until I reached age nine when my problem was corrected.
“The two things that helped me through those rough times were God and my guitar. I would pick up my sisters guitar and just play it. The more I did that the better I felt. Eventually I started writing down how I was feeling at the time and tried putting it to music.”
That was something John continued to do into his early teens. During this time John was influenced by a several pivotal guitarists: B. B. King, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Roy Buchanen and Albert Collins. Little did John know that one day he would perform on stage with B.B King as well as Jimi Hendrix’s Bassist Billy Cox, Eric Gales and his good friend Joe Louis Walker. In 2009 John was selected as one of “Guitar Player Magazine’s Editors Top 8”. John performed with B.B. King in 2010 in Nashville and Billy Cox and Eric Gales in that same year. Joe Louis Walker was so impressed with John he asked John to perform on his Winning 2012 release “Hellfire”.
Since the release in 2010 of John’s debut “Ain’t No Big Deal” John has continued to grow as a song writer and performer. John’s new CD, “Born Blue-The Sun Sessions” was recorded in the world famous Sun Studios in Memphis TN. John has written almost all the material on the new CD and feels it is his best work yet.
John D’Amato is one of those rare guitarists that have managed to combine amazing chops with amazing feel. By combining all of his influences (T Bone Walker, Buddy Guy, John’s good friend Joe Louis Walker, B. B. King, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Roy Buchanen, Howlin Wolf, John has managed to create his own brand of music that fuses the passion and feel of blues with John’s unstoppable energy and intensity. His ability to bring a song to the next level with his passionate solos along with his unique soulful vocal style make John D’Amato one of the new generation of blues men. As Mark Tucker of FAME magazine said “Inventive and original yet true to the genre”.
