There was also footage of him demonstrating the differences between improvising in different genres – blues, rock, jazz and so on. Radio 2 producer Paul Long and I decided he was certainly worthy of encouragement and airplay. We were by no means the only enthusiasts, and soon his prolific record releases and amazing live performances had earned him the first of his appearances at the Royal Albert Hall – unforgettable for me, because he called me up to play on Sonny Boy Williamson’s ‘Your Funeral and My Trial’ with him.

We were also informed that he had been a member of a band called Bloodline – so named because it consisted of the offspring of famous musicians like Miles Davis, Robby Krieger and the Allman Brothers’ Berry Oakley. When I met Joe almost my first question was about Bloodline; he said that it was an interesting experiment, but was never going to last. 

Since then, his career has been full of interesting experiments – lasting ones mostly. Things like the album Black Rock, on which Joe assimilated elements of Greek music; the side project Rock Candy Funk Party, where his jazz leanings get exercised; acoustic live albums at the Vienna State Opera and Carnegie Hall; collaborations with various artists such as Beth Hart and Mahalia Barnes; the albums of the hard-rock Black Country Communion; and nowadays his own label, Keeping the Blues Alive Records, supporting other artists.

Joe is famous not just as a guitarist, but also as a connoisseur, and indeed as a curator of his own guitar museum, which reputedly houses around 500 items. He enthusiastically discusses the characteristics of different woods: ‘I always refer to maple-neck Strats as the Buddy Holly guitar.’ (Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix are also well known for playing maple-neck Stratocasters.)

With 25 albums having reached number one on the Billboard Blues Chart, you might think Joe is entitled to some glory, but, as he says, ‘History alone judges your legacy; we’re still talking about Buddy Holly and Otis Redding, aren’t we?’ 

Paul Jones