Hot Coco

As a teenager in 1969, Coco Montoya saw Albert King as an opening act in Los Angeles. He was transformed. “My life was changed,” says the guitarist, now a blues legend himself. “The music went right into my soul. It grabbed emotionally, I had tears in my eyes. I knew that was what I wanted to do.”

The aspiring guitarist developed major chops with two blues legends, first playing with Albert Collins, and then joining John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers (replacing Mick Taylor). In years of solo touring and recording since then, his blues-rock style, wrote “Vintage Guitar” magazine, “is funky and blistering. It’s perfect.”

Montoya comes to Sonoma on Friday, October 5. 9 p.m. $25 advance, $30 door. The Reel Fish Shop & Grill, 401 Grove St. Thereelfishshop.com