The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Guitar slinger John D’Amato coming home
Blues artist, who was raised in New Haven and East Haven, in town
NEW HAVEN — You can expect a pretty good crowd this afternoon when hard-rocking, soulful bluesman John D’Amato returns from life in Nashville and Memphis to play the Cafe Nine and Cygnus Radio “The Sunday Buzz” matinee.
This is, after all, home — or at least former home — for D’Amato and his wife, singer Lauren Cook D’Amato. D’Amato grew up in New Haven and East Haven and Cook D’Amato grew up in East Haven — although for years, John D’Amato has been building a name as a guitar slinger down south.
Nevertheless, he always looks forward to coming back, playing for family, friends and fans and making the obligatory pilgrimage to Tolli’s Apizza in East Haven.
Showtime is 4 p.m. Tickets are $10, available at the door or in advance at cafenine.com. Cafe Nine is located at 250 State St., at the corner of State and Crown streets.
D’Amato’s most recent release, “Born Blue: The Sun Sessions,” reached No. 5 on the Roots Music Report Blues Rock Song Charts and was nominated for an Independent Blues Award in the “Best Blues Rock Song” category in 2016.
That followed the release of his first CD, “Ain’t No Big Deal.”
Today, D’Amato will perform music from his upcoming new CD, tentatively titled, “Blood On The Strings,” which is slated for release on Feb. 1. The CD will feature several songs with Cook D’Amato on vocals.
John D’Amato cut his teeth at places like The Foundry on Audubon Street in New Haven in the 1980s, but he’s lived in Nashville for nearly two decades now.
In addition to cutting several albums of his own, he recorded “Hellfire,” an Alligator Records release by respected San Francisco-raised blues guitarist Joe Louis Walker.
D’Amato, who went to high school at New Haven’s Education Center for the Arts, took a long road to his current niche as a blues guitar player — including plenty of work in Nashville playing country music, alternative country and plenty of rock.
He played on a lot of other people’s CDs.
But that long road began many years earlier here in New Haven, playing in wedding bands, in a country band called High Sierra and in various other bands at places like The Foundry, the Oxford Ale House and the Arcadia Ballroom.
Among the people he used to play with are Marion Meadows, Joey Melotti, Arti Dixon and Tony Aiardo. Also today at Cafe Nine: For serious blues fans, D’Amato’s matinee show at Cafe Nine will be followed at 8:30 p.m. by the monthly Cafe Nine Blues Jam led by the George Lesiw Band, featuring George Lesiw on guitar and vocals, yours truly on harmonica and vocals, Mike Nunno on bass and Tom Nagy on drums.
Sign-ups begin at 8 p.m. Admission is free. Jammers and spectators are welcome.