JOE Bonamassa is one of our most prodigious blues guitarists, with an output of live shows and studio albums to match.

Consider: the 41-year-old blues ace has released 13 solo albums since his 2000 debut, A New Day Yesterday.

His astonishing guitar and songwriting skills have featured on no fewer than 13 live solo albums. He has recorded with the hard-rock band, Black Country Communion and the jazz/funk specialists, Rock Candy Funk Party, and he has made four albums with the singer Beth Hart. He has had no fewer than 21 albums that topped the Billboard blues charts in America.

His touring schedule is equally relentless.

Bonamassa began a US spring tour in Chicago several weeks ago. The European leg kicks off at Glasgow’s Armadillo next Monday, occupies three nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall before heading to the Continent. After that, there are 14 days in the States, including two at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, scene of his 2014 show (later released on CD and DVD) celebrating the music of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf.

For all that Bonamassa has achieved by the age of 41, he acknowledges that he has many further goals.

In an interview last month with the Music Radar website for musicians, he reflected: “If you work at a certain pace, you blink your eyes and you’re 40. Actually, I’ll be 42 in a few months. That can’t be how it works because one day you wake up and you’re 70 and you’re, like, ‘Oh, ----.’ Bash out the blues-rock… and that’s it? It’s been wonderful throughout, even during the skint times and whatever. It’s a wonderful way to make a living…

“But in every person’s life there’s an Act Two,” he added. “I’m 30 years into this thing and between the live records and everything else, there are 38 albums out, 21 of which have gotten to No 1.

“I don’t need to make another record, ever… But what I want to do is start ticking off a bucket list of things I want to accomplish and statements I want to make before I hang it up. I don’t know. I’m not the guy who is going to be around in maybe 10 years or certainly not in 20.”

Bonamassa’s career began onstage opening for B.B. King in 1989, when he was a guitar prodigy at the remarkable age of just 12.

Today, he is hailed worldwide as one of the greatest guitar players of his generation. He releases his albums on his own label, J&R Adventures, while averaging some 150 shows worldwide each year.

Some people have predictably objected to the fact that Bonamassa is so prolific when it comes to touring, and putting out records.

To such cynics, Music Radar noted last month, the guitarist’s response was a “phlegmatic shrug,” before quoting him on the issue of musical integrity.

“It has to feel right and it has to be honest,” he said. “The fans that have been with me since day one expect an honest gig. And if it isn’t an honest gig, then what the ---- am I doing?

“I know people just begrudgingly go out there every night and turn out the hits. You’re like, ‘Man, you’re lucky to have a hit. I’ve never had a hit song.’ [And they’ll reply by saying,] ‘You don’t know what it’s like.’ I never will, but okay, the grass is always greener. I get it. It’s a drag sometimes.

“But to just rack up the stats doesn’t do it for me. It shouldn’t do it for anybody else. But I know for some people it’s all about being carved into the classic-rock Mount Rushmore and it’s all about legacy and bull----.”

Monday evening’s gig in Glasgow will see Bonamassa and his band playing material from his most recent studio albums, Redemption (2018) and Blues of Desperation 2016), plus classic fan favourites.

For a measure of Bonamassa’s remarkable creativity, consider this.

A couple of years back, he performed gigs at four London venues he had previously visited. They began with The Borderline and steadily increased in size - Shepherd’s Bush Empire, then HMV Hammersmith Apollo, and finally the Royal Albert Hall.

Each concert featured a different line-up of the band. More than that, each one highlighted a different selection of songs from Bonamassa’s catalogue. Not one song was repeated.

* Tickets for Monday night’s show are available via www.jbonamassa.com/tour-dates and www.ticketmaster.co.uk