Joe Bonamassa Has Sympathy for Up-and-Coming Artists Using AI

Joe Bonamassa has expressed sympathy for emerging musicians who use AI tools such as Suno to gain attention and attract larger concert audiences. He described using AI to help write lyrics as "not a high crime or misdemeanour," while drawing a firm line between assisted songwriting and artificial acts competing with living performers. His comments were published on October 5, 2026, following an interview with Blue Rock Review at Eric Clapton's Crossroads festival in Austin, Texas.

Where Bonamassa draws the line

Bonamassa said listeners have the right to choose music generated by AI if they enjoy it. However, he argued that AI artists should not appear in the same chart categories as living human artists. He cited the artificial act Eddie Dalton, which appears regularly on Billboard's Blues Chart, as an example of the competition he opposes.

His view is more accepting when musicians use AI within their own creative process. Bonamassa said there is nothing seriously wrong with an artist using Suno to write a lyric, especially when an emerging performer is trying to build an audience or bring more people to shows. He also said he heard apparent AI use several times while listening to 200 blues records. In his view, the industry should acknowledge that musicians already use these tools to gain an advantage in a business governed by supply and demand.

Why it matters to guitar players

Bonamassa separates AI assistance from fully artificial competition. For working guitarists, that distinction leaves room to use AI during songwriting without treating a generated act as equivalent to a living performer. His comments also recognize that AI is already present on blues records and used as an audience building tool. The concern is less about whether a guitarist receives help with lyrics and more about fair recognition when artificial acts and human musicians share chart categories.

(Via: MusicRadar)