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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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