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Very few
musical artists achieve a true signature style — one which makes comparisons
to other musicians impossible. But Texas guitarist Eric Johnson arguably
comes as close to this echelon as any musician from the past quarter-century.
Like fellow Lone Star State guitarists Johnny Winter, Billy Gibbons,
and Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnson blends the rock style of Jimi Hendrix
and the blues power of Albert King. Yet Johnson's wide array of additional
influences (from the Beatles and Jeff Beck, to jazz and Chet Atkins)
make for a guitar sound as unique as his fingerprints. "When I first
heard Eric," Winter recalls, "he was only 16, and I remember wishing
that I could have played like that at that age." Former Doobie Brothers
guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter says, "If Jimi Hendrix had gone on to
study with Howard Roberts for about eight years, you'd have what this
kid strikes me as."
The Austin prodigy appeared on the cover of Guitar Player magazine while
working with Texas jazz/fusion band the Electromagnets and as a session
player (Cat Stevens, Carole King, Christopher Cross), and a 1984 performance
on the TV show Austin City Limits set his recording career in motion.
Johnson's 1986 debut album, Tones, certainly proved that the hype was
warranted. Playing with the ace rhythm section of bassist Roscoe Beck
and drummer Tommy Taylor, Johnson mixed blazing instrumentals ("Zap,"
"Victory") with Beatles-influenced vocal tunes like "Emerald Eyes" and
"Bristol Shore." Johnson used the same half-and-half format on the 1990
follow-up, Ah Via Musicom; but a trio of the album's tunes surprisingly
made him the first artist to have three instrumentals from the same
album to chart in the Top Ten in any format (with "Cliffs of Dover"
earning Johnson a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental).
But, if Johnson had a perceived weakness, it was the perfectionism that
caused four years to pass between recordings. Even in concert, he would
painstakingly tune his guitar between songs, by ear, for minutes on
end. With the success of Ah Via Musicom, the guitarist admitted to feeling
pressure to again raise the bar. But Johnson's studio nit-picking delayed
Venus Isle until 1996, and the disappointing CD contained fewer instrumentals
and sounded forced.
A stint on the 1997 G3 Tour with fellow headlining guitarists Joe Satriani
and Steve Vai, and its resulting live release, breathed new life into
Johnson and sparked the idea of a live album. Overhauling his band for
the 2000 CD Live and Beyond, Johnson brought in bassist Chris Maresh
and drummer Bill Maddox, and concentrated on more of a blues feel. The
guitarist still blended instrumentals with his vocal tunes ("Shape I'm
In," "Last House on the Block"), but perhaps realized that his thin
voice was too one-dimensional for guttural blues or R&B. Guest vocalist
Malford Milligan ignites "Don't Cha Know" and "Once a Part of Me," helping
Johnson's blazing debut on Vai's Favored Nations label and re-establishing
the versatile virtuoso's status for the 21st century. As Vai himself
testifies, "Eric has more colorful tone in his fingers than Van Gogh
had on his palette." Souvenir, an album available only through Johnson's
website, appeared in 2002, followed by CD and DVD versions of New West's
Live from Austin, TX and Bloom, the second album for Vai's Favored Nations
imprint, in 2005.
This
bio courtesy www.allmusic.com
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