“I got to go backstage at the Whisky, and Joe Bonamassa knew who I was! I immediately took a picture and texted it to my dad”: Sophie Lloyd on the time she met Joe Bonamassa – her childhood guitar hero

As she gears up for her debut US date at LA’s Whisky a Go Go next week, Sophie Lloyd has looked back on one of the blues rock veterans who played an instrumental role in her early days – and still does, to an extent, when she sneaks in a blues lick or two.

“When I was growing up, my dad would drive me to school, and he’d always have Joe Bonamassa on,” she tells Guitar World. “I think his playing was just so beautiful and moving, and really told a story.