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| Eric Johnson and Jessica Simpson |
Guitar Player magazine has called Johnson "one of the most respected guitarists on the planet". Johnson's stylistic diversity and technical proficiency with the guitar have been praised by Bill Hicks,. His critically acclaimed, platinum-selling 1990 recording Ah Via Musicom produced the single "Cliffs of Dover", for which Johnson won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
Life and career
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 Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfield, Chet Atkins, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, 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 compact 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 in 1978 recorded a full length album entitled Seven Worlds. Although the album showcased the band'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 public 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.
Success
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 Capitol Records debut Ah Via Musicom in 1990, 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.[citation needed] 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[18] 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 his vegetarian 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. Johnson promoted Souvenir with an electric tour in 2003 and an acoustic tour in 2004.
In 2004, Eric Clapton invited Johnson to perform at his first successful Crossroads Guitar Festival. According to Johnson, he was scheduled to perform onstage with Clapton, but it fell.
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 colorful 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 game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. 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.
Guitar and equipment
Guitars
Johnson is best known for playing stock Fender Stratocasters and Gibson ES-335 electric guitars through a triple amp setup that consists of Fender amplifiers, Dumble Amplifiers and Marshall amplification. Johnson has also played other guitar brands such as Robin, Rickenbacker, and Jackson 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. 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. In early 2009, 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 position markers.
Effects
He uses effects pedals such as the Ibanez Tube Screamer, Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, BK Butler Tube Driver, TC Electronic Stereo Chorus, Vox Cry Baby wah-wah, Electro-Harmonix Memory Man Delay, a MXR Carbon Copy, a Line 6 Echo Pro Studio Modeler, and a Maestro Echoplex tape delay. 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 setup is vintage, he has recently started using more modern equipment, including a stereo chorus made by Analog Man[citation needed] and a Fractal Audio Systems Axe-Fx Ultra.
Recording
In late 2006, Johnson switched from recording in analog to digital format.
Popular culture
Guitarist Alex Lifeson 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 "TruthOla", which is a tribute to Jeff Beck, Alex Lifeson and Eric Johnson. The song is on Morse's album "Major Impacts".
Solo albums
Seven Worlds (1978) (re-issue, 1998)
Tones (1986)
Ah Via Musicom (1990)
Venus Isle (1996)
Souvenir (2002)
Bloom (2005)
Live from Austin, TX (2005)
Live From Austin TX '84 (2010)
Up Close (2010)
Early singles played on
Mariani (1970) – Tracks "Re-Birth Day" and "Memories Lost and Found" – Sonobeat Records
Jay Aaron Podolnick (1975) – Track "Come In Out Of The Rain"
Christopher Cross (1976) – Tracks "It's All With You" and "Talkin' About Her" – Starburst ARC
Bill Maddox – Project Terror (1977) – Track "Thermal Underwear" – E. G. Records
Cat Stevens (1978) – Track "Bad Breaks" – A&M Records
Bill Colbert (1982) – Track "That Rider Down" – Texas Re-Cord Co.
Albums played on
Group albums
Perpetuum Mobile (1970) by Mariani
Electromagnets (1975) by Electromagnets
Live and Beyond (2000) by Alien Love Child
Electromagnets 2 (2006, originally recorded in 1976) by Electromagnets – Vortexan Records
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