Eric Johnson (born August 17, 1954) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist
from Austin, Texas.
Best known for his electric
guitar skills, Johnson
is also a highly proficient acoustic, lap steel, resonator,
and bass guitarist as well as an accomplished pianist and vocalist. Johnson is skilled in a wide array of musical genres
evidenced by the many different styles incorporated in both his studio and live
performances including rock, electric and
acoustic blues, jazz, fusion, soul-inspired music, folk, New Age, classical, and western. Guitar magazine has called
Johnson "one of the most respected guitarists on the planet".His 1990
platinum-selling, full-length album, Ah Via Musicom, produced
the single, "Cliffs Of Dover",
for which Johnson won the 1991 Performance. Born into
a musically inclined family, Johnson and his three sisters studied piano and
his father was a whistling enthusiast. Johnson started learning the guitar at
age 11 and rapidly began progressing through the music that would heavily
influence his future style, including Mike Bloomfield, Chet Atkins, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Ric Bailey, Wes Montgomery, Jerry Reed, Bob Dylan, and Django Reinhardt, among others. At the age of 15, he joined his first professional
band—Mariani, a psychedelic rock group. In 1968, Johnson and the group recorded a demo, which
saw extremely limited release; years later the recording became a prized
collector's item. After graduating from high school, Johnson briefly attended
the University
of Texas at Austin and traveled with his family to Africa. He eventually returned
to Austin, and in 1974 joined a local fusion group called Electromagnets. The
group toured and recorded regionally, but did not attract attention from major record labels and as a result disbanded in 1977. However, the strength of
Johnson's playing attracted a small cult following to the group's early recordings, and decades later their two
albums were given wide release on disc.
Following the Electromagnets' demise, Johnson formed a touring trio, the Eric
Johnson Group, with drummer Bill Maddox and bassist Kyle Brock. They played to
audiences around Austin and between 1976 and 1978 recorded (at Odyssey Studios
in Austin) his first full-length album produced and engineered by Jay Aaron
Podolnick titled Seven Worlds. Although the
album showcased Eric's sound, contract disputes held up the album's release for
several years. Seven
Worlds was
eventually released in 1998 on Ark21 Records. Unable to secure a
new management contract, Johnson began working as a session guitarist for some well-known
acts, including Cat Stevens,Carole King, and Christopher Cross, among others.While a session
musician, Johnson continued to perform locally, developing a flashy but
tasteful electric guitar sound. His career rebounded in 1984 when he was signed
to Warner Bros. Records.
There is some disagreement about exactly how Johnson caught Warner Brothers'
attention, with some reports suggesting that pop superstar Prince recommended him after hearing him perform on the television program Austin City Limits. Others
suggest that it was singer Christopher Cross and producer David Tickle who recommended
Johnson to the label. In any case,
Johnson's major-label debut, Tones, was unveiled in
1986 with Tickle as co-producer. In May 1986, Guitar Player magazine ran a cover
story about Johnson. The article helped promote the release of Tones and brought Johnson
critical praise as well as elevating his profile in the guitar and music
community. The album's track "Zap" was nominated for the 1987 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance,
but as a whole the album didn't sell well and Warner Brothers let Johnson's
contract expire. He signed on with indie label Cinema Records,
distributed by Capitol Records.By the time Johnson released
his 1990 Capitol Records debut album, Ah Via Musicom, he was regularly winning awards for
his musicianship in the guitar press. During this period, Johnson also drew
recognition for the rich, violin-like tone he coaxed from his vintage Fender Stratocaster. The
album's second track, "Cliffs Of Dover", exemplified his unique sound
and won Johnson a 1991 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Ah Via Musicom was a crossover hit, and was
certified platinum.
Fellow Texan, the late comedian Bill Hicks, opened for Eric Johnson on at least
one occasion in the Eighties. The highly intoxicated Hicks made light of
Eric's lack of hit singles, as well as hisvegetarian and teetotal lifestyle, by
suggesting that if Eric were to eat a Hamburger and drink a beer he would be able to
write more popular songs. After this incident Bill Hicks was not asked to open
for Johnson ever again. Johnson is an admitted perfectionist,
and those traits seemed to work against Ah Via Musicom's
follow-up release. Unhappy with his recordings, Johnson mastered, then later
scrapped, several completed tracks for the new album and delayed its release
for three years, on top of the three years he had spent touring in support of Ah Via Musicom. He
also had setbacks involving musical growth and personal issues while recording
his next album Venus Isle.Venus Isle was finally released
on September 3, 1996. It was a unique album with world influences that demonstrated
Johnson's growth as a guitarist, songwriter, producer, musical arranger and vocalist. But
the album received mixed reviews and did not match the success of its
predecessor. As a result Johnson was dropped from Capitol Records. He rebounded
with a successful tour from October to November 1996 with fellow guitarists Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. Named the 'G3' tour, it resulted in a successful
platinum-selling compact disc and DVD titled G3: Live In concert.In
1998, Eric Johnson was among the judges in Musician magazine's
"Best Unsigned Bands" competition, along with Ani DiFranco, Moby, Art Alexakis of Everclear, Keb' Mo' and Joe Perry of Aerosmith. In 1994, Johnson formed a side
project called Alien
Love Child and
played shows sporadically while recording Venus Isle. The
positive fan feedback from the shows made Alien Love Child a permanent gig. A
live performance recording, Live And Beyond, was
finally released in 2000 on Steve Vai's Favored Nations label, showcasing
their new songs. The Alien Love Child project helped Johnson move away from his
perfectionistic tendencies and loosen up enough to embrace and release a live
album. Johnson eventually returned to the recording studio, releasing Souvenir in January 2002 on
his own Vortexan Records. The album, released on the Internet, received nearly
65,000 plays in the first seven weeks after it was made available on mp3.com.[25] Johnson promoted Souvenir with an electric
tour in 2003 and an acoustic tour in 2004.In 2004, Johnson performed the song
"Desert Rose" at the Crossroads Guitar
Festival, included on Disc 2 of the 2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival
recording. Johnson's next studio album Bloom was released in June
2005, again on Vai's Favored Nations label. The album was divided into three
sections with different musical styles, intended to showcase Johnson's
versatility. His December 1988 Austin City Limits performance was
released on both DVD and compact disc on New West Records in November 2005.
His instructional guitar DVD, The Art of Guitar (Hal Leonard
Corporation), was also released at the end of 2005.In January 2006,
a man named Brian Sparks was arrested for posing as Johnson and in the process
defrauding businesses out of about $18,000 worth of guitars and equipment. Also
in 2006, some of Johnson's guitars that had been stolen 24 years before were
recovered. In September 2006, Johnson took part in a theatrical production
titled "Primal Twang: The Legacy of the Guitar" the first definitive
theatrical journey through the guitar’s colourful and controversial 3,500-year
history. In September 2007, Johnson participated in a second theatrical
production by the same company titled "Love In: A Musical
Celebration" in which he performed a Jimi Hendrix set, a tribute to the
year 1967, often called "The Summer of Love". Also in late 2006
Johnson participated in a second G3 tour in South America, with Joe Satriani
and John Petrucci. Johnson had been working on an
all-acoustic project and a live video from his 2006 Tour with
Satriani.However these were shelved in 2007 in favor of cutting a new studio
album. His hit single "Cliffs Of Dover" appears in the games Guitar Hero III:
Legends of Rock and Rocksmith. Johnson has
also signed up with "Operation Immortality", a project to create a
digital time capsule of their DNA and humanity's achievements in the event of a global
calamity.He began a six-date U.S. tour in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on February 27, 2013,followed by a
14-date European tour which concluded in Esch-Sur-Alzette, Luxembourg on April 24, 2013.
Johnson is scheduled to appear as part of Guitar Player Magazine's Ultimate
Musician's Fantasy Camp in Las Vegas Feb. 13-16, 2014,
alongside guitarists Joe Perry, Steve Vai, Elliot Easton,Michael Anthony and others. He will
be appearing with Zakk Wylde, Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Dweezil Zappa and Doyle Bramhall II as part of the
eighth edition of the Experience Hendrix Tour, highlighting the music
of Jimi Hendrix. The tour begins March 8, 2014, in Shawnee, Oklahoma
Guitars
Johnson is best known for
playing stock Fender Stratocasters and Gibson ES-335 electric guitars through a triple amp
set-up that consists of Fender, Dumble and Marshall amplifiers.
Johnson has also played other guitar brands such as Robin, Rickenbacker, Jackson and a Charvel,
which appears on the cover of the Ah
Via Musicom album. In 2001,
Johnson added a Gibson Custom
Shop '59 Les Paul Reissue to his
guitars of choice. Johnson has had several models built to his specifications
for sale in the mass market. In 2003, C. F. Martin & Company released a limited-edition Eric Johnson Signature MC-40 guitar built to his specifications.
Johnson donated 5 percent of the profits of the guitar's sales to his father's
alma mater, Jefferson Medical College. In 2005, Fender released an Eric Johnson Signature Fender
Stratocaster also built to his
specifications. This was followed up in early 2009 when Fender released the
Eric Johnson Signature Stratocaster Rosewood model, featuring the same
specifications as the Eric Johnson Maple Neck guitar, with the addition of an
unusual 3-ply, 8-hole white pick guard, hotter treble pickup and a bound
rosewood laminate fingerboard with pearloid dot markers.
Johnson has also released other signature gear such as GHS Eric Johnson Nickel
Rockers Electric Guitar Strings, DiMarzio DP211 Eric Johnson Signature Custom
Pickups, and a Fullton-Webb amplifier. Jim Dunlop also has released an Eric Johnson
signature Jazz III plectrum and an Eric Johnson signature Fuzz Face. 2012 also
saw the introduction of the Eminence Eric Johnson signature 12" alnico
guitar speaker.
Effects
He uses effect pedals such
as the Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face,
BK Butler Tube Driver, MXR KD IV Stereo Chorus, Vox CryBaby wah-wah, Toad Works Barracuda flanger, Prescription
Electronics Experience octave fuzz, Xotic AC
Booster, MXR Flanger/Doubler, Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man delay, Boss
Corporation DD-2
Digital Delay, MXR 1500 Digital Delay, Line Echo Pro Studio Modeller, and up to
two Maestro
Echoplex tape delays.
All of these are connected to multiple A/B boxes to create sounds and tones
that are both clean and distorted. Although the majority of Johnson's set-up is
vintage, he has recently started using more modern equipment, including a
stereo chorus made by Analog Man and a Fractal Audio Systems Axe-Fx
Guitar Rig & Signal Flow
A detailed gear diagram of
Eric Johnson's 2001 guitar rig is well-documented
Recording
In late 2006, Johnson
switched from recording in analog to digital format.Popular culture Guitarist Alex Life son of Rush gave a thank you to Johnson in the
liner notes of Counterparts for being the inspiration for the guitar solo in the song "Cut To
The Chase”. Guitarist Steve Morse recorded a song titled "Truth Ola", which is a tribute to Jeff Beck, Alex Lifeson, and Eric Johnson. The
song is on Morse's album "Major Impacts".
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