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Eric Johnson |
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FEATURE
ERIC JOHNSONBLOOMS WITH HIS LATEST RELEASE
by Ernie Thomas
One can certainly be regarded as a stellar guitar talent, when the likes of Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Buddy Guy all number among an artist’s fans and supporters.
Though not bearing the same high profile name recognition as those players, Austin’s Eric Johnson, is without a doubt in the same league and on the same short list of guitar icons as those prestigious gents.
Johnson was invited to share several summer concert dates with Buddy Guy; is currently recording for Steve Vai’s custom label, Favored Nations Records; and has stood shoulder to shoulder with both Vai and Satriani on the now famous G3 guitar hero tours.
Soft spoken and humble, Johnson clearly loves talking about music, guitars and his latest CD, Bloom, which hit stores in early June.
“I’m not pushing a specific song. We’re just letting radio feel it out and chose what songs they want to play,” said Johnson. “I’ve talked to a few radio stations and they kind of like, ‘Good To Me,’ and this radio guy I talked to last night felt ‘From My Heart’ was strong, even though it’s kind of long.”
Bloom has 16 tracks in all and is broken down into three suites –– “Prelude”, “Courante” and “Allemande” –– with a fairly even split between vocal numbers and instrumentals.
Though Johnson received a Grammy nomination for the instrumental “Cliffs Of Dover” (from 1990’s Ah Via Musicom), and is best known for his string bending talents; he also shines as a vocalist.
When asked if having his lyrical composition and vocal talents so grossly overlooked because of his “guitar god” image was irritating, Johnson responded – “Once you get known for a certain thing, the general tendency is to freeze frame it. Sometimes it’s hard to change that freeze-framed image people have of you. But that can also be a good thing, because it tends to challenge you. It makes you rise to the occasion to be strong enough in whatever you are doing, to grab people’s attention with it.”
Johnson’s current emphasis on vocalizing is due to his recently having spent a good deal of time playing solo piano gigs.
“When you are writing songs and singing and sitting at a piano, there is just no way people can interpret that you are going out there to be some kind of viking guitar god,” he laughed. “It’s what it is -- a voice and some soft piano music. Doing that brought out more of these kinds of songs in me and made me focus more on writing lyrics.”
The only song on Bloom not written by Johnson is his delightful take on Bob Dylan’s forgotten 1964 chestnut, “My Back Pages,” which is remarkably well done and could be fodder for A/C radio.
Several selections from Bloom will be featured in the live show that Johnson’s trio performs on September 9th at Mokena’s Pearl Room concert hall, along with tunes from previous albums and a few surprises.
In the past, Johnson has even honored his audiences with requests, though it was not known if that will be the case this time through.
Though out with Adrian Belew of King Crimson for this date, much of Johnson’s summer has been spent doing live dates with Buddy Guy.
Johnson speaks very highly of Guy and also of Favored Nations founder/president, Steve Vai, whose label has given refuge to Johnson’s muse.
“Steve is a very creative artist, so he understands the feelings and needs of other artists. Favored Nations is a great place for an artist like me, because there is a freedom to do what you do [musically]. That’s usually not the case at most other labels,” he said. “Take this album, Bloom. I took some chances with this. I experimented some and tried some new things. It has a lot of guitar on it, but it’s more orchestrated guitar rather than being a big blow out guitar record. I just didn’t want to go shred through a whole record.”
Though Johnson is currently only booked to play North America, he expects to return to the Far East later in the year.
“Japan in particular is really good to us and a great place for us to tour,” he said. “It’s been a few years since I’ve been to Europe, but I’d like to try and get back there with this album too.”
Johnson cites Chicagoland as being one of his very best U.S. markets, along with Los Angeles, New York, Colorado and a few cities in his home turf of the Lone Star State.
See ERIC JOHNSON with ADRIAN BELEW on September 9 at The Pearl Room In Mokena, IL |
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