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WHEELING -- "Queen of blues rock guitar," Joanna Connor will bring her fiery blues and her band, the Wrecking Crew, to Waterfront Hall today, Friday, May 31, in Wheeling.
"I first saw Joanna at the Kingston Mines, a Chicago blues hub since the late '60s. I was blown away and booked her at the WinterBlues event at the McLure a few years ago. I'm really excited to share her again with the Ohio Valley," said Bruce Wheeler, Heritage Music BluesFest and BluesDays producer.
"Her guitar work has received acclaim from blues, rock, jazz and metal publications," Wheeler added.
Connor said, "Music chose me. I vividly recall trying to sing like Louis Armstrong's 'Hello Dolly' in our Brooklyn apartment. It came on the radio often. I knew I was small, but when I researched what year this version was on the charts, I was floored with the realization that I was 2 years old!"
Joanna's favorite record as a child was Taj Mahal's "Take A Giant Step/The Old Folks At Home."
Seeing Buddy Guy perform at a local university at the age of 10 left a paramount impression. Playing saxophone, guitar and singing through her school years were her passions, and eventually led to her performing professionally at age 17.
But her hunger to become a guitarist first and foremost and her desire to immerse herself in the blues, propelled her to move to Chicago in 1984.
"It was my university. I went out every night of the week. Within a month, I had my first gig with the legendary Johnny Littlejohn. A few weeks later I became a part of Dion Payton and the 43rd Street Bluesband. We were the house band at the Checkerboard Lounge, on the south side of Chicago, then owned by Buddy Guy. That's when my schooling kicked into overdrive. I played with Buddy, Junior Wells, Otis Rush, Sammy Lawhorn, Pinetop Perkins, Hubert Sumlin, Magic Slim, Son Seals, Lonnie Brooks, Koko Taylor, just to name a few. I was blessed."
Joanna went on to form her own band in 1988 with weekly appearances at the Kingston Mines in Chicago. Her formidable guitar playing, and distinctive soul-churning vocal ability caught the attention of Blind Pig Records, which released her debut album "Believe It" in 1990.
Connor and band has shared stages with blues, rock and jazz greats, including Luther Allison, BB King, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Robben Ford, Danny Gatton, Robert Cray, Jimmy Page, ZZ Top, Joe Cocker, Etta James and others.
In 2005, she took a hiatus from touring to spend time at home raising her young daughter. Two 15-plus year residencies at the House of Blues and The Kingston Mines, honed Joanna's considerable guitar and vocal chops even further.
While working continuously in Chicago, a handful of videos of her incendiary slide guitar solos went viral creating quite a sensation and garnering attention from media and established musicians alike.
Joe Bonamassa sought her out and offered to produce the kind of record he felt she had always had in her and should deliver to the world. "4801 South Indiana" is this record, a blues album that delivers all the raw emotion, passion and fire that made the blues so compelling from its inception. The album was released in February of 2021 to immense critical acclaim and a No. 1 spot on the Billboard charts in the blues category.
Blues fans around the country are lucky that Joanna and her band are back on the road.
The show starts at 8 p.m. Waterfront Hall is located at 1230 Water St., Wheeling.
Visit online at https://waterfronthall.com for ticket information.