Beto Lovato - The Color Of Blood (1995)

Beto Lovato, who plays Smokin' Johnnie's on Friday evening, is not the self-effacing type.

"Everyone should come out and see one of the best young guitar players around today," he says. "That's me!"

Lovato, 25, was born and raised in Albuquerque, where his father was a professional musician. "By the time I was 5 or 6, I was doing gigs, playing with friends in my dad's band," he says.

When he was 11, the father and son moved to Los Angeles. The younger Lovato attended the Guitar Institute of Technology in Hollywood and graduated when he was 12 years old.

He formed a band, the Neato Banditos, which won the talent search at the Long Beach Blues Festival in 1990. Since then, the band has worked the L.A. club scene, performing a mix of blues, country, Tex-Mex and rock styles.