Eric Johnson (born August 17, 1954 in Austin, Texas, USA) is a Grammy Award winning guitarist and songwriter. He began his professional music career in the band Mariani in 1968. Their release of one hundred copies of a demo album is one of the rarest of all psychedelic records of that era valued at over $3000 a copy. He joined The Electromagnets in 1974. Johnson then recorded The Electromagnets album in autumn 1974 and toured with them until their breakup in 1977.

In 1977 he worked on an album only released much later, Seven Worlds and signed a management contract which tied him up for five years. In 1985 he recorded his first solo album Tones which was released in April 1986. In 1987 he quit Warner Brothers and switched to Capitol Records before he recorded his next album in 1988-1989, Ah Via Musicom which was released in March of 1990. His next album, Venus Isle, was released in 1996. He formed a new band, Alien Love Child, in 1999.

Eric Johnson has a masterful technique, and is renowned for replicating his recorded sound live, and vice-versa. By many he is considered the best “overall” guitarist because of his broad tonal pallete and wide range of techniques, including his wide intervals and string-skipping runs. He is often associated with the Fender Stratocaster, but has used other guitars, such as those by Gibson. He is also well versed in hybrid picking. Johnson has become legendary for being a perfectionist when it comes to getting the best tone possible. In an interview for Guitar Player magazine, he had confirmed he prefers Duracell-brand batteries to power his effects pedals, because they give him better tone. He has also mentioned that, by cleaning his signal path, he has managed to remove the grit from his sound. This actually does make sense and is similar to what many audiophiles do, by using power conditioners and even purchasing battery-powered amplifiers.

Johnson received a great deal of criticism regarding the amount of time he spent preparing his follow-up to Ah Via Musicom. When that album’s track “Cliffs of Dover” became a popular hit on radio and at sporting events, Johnson was expected to deliver a follow-up album quickly to capitalize on his sales success. Instead, he took six years perfecting his next work, reportedly mastering and subsequently trashing several complete albums, repeatedly starting from scratch. When Venus Isle was finally released on September 3, 1996, it received mixed reviews. The lukewarm response was attributed partly to the long wait and elevated expectations, as well as the fact that Johnson’s fans wanted more guitar and less focus on vocals.
One of Johnson’s most successful side projects is Alien Love Child, a blues trio that he created with former Electromagnet’s drummer Bill Maddox and bassist Chris Maresh as an outlet to blow off steam during the Venus Isle recording sessions. The band released their first album, Live and Beyond, in 2000 on Steve Vai’s Favored Nations label to overwhelming critical acclaim. Alien Love Child swept the 2001 Austin Chronicle Reader’s Poll by winning Band of the Year, Favorite Blues Band, Favorite Single (“Rain”), Best Electric Guitar, Best Bass, and Best Drums. “Rain,” the luxurious Wes Montgomery-inspired instrumental penned by bassist Chris Maresh, was also nominated for a Grammy in the Best Pop Instrumental category in 2001.

Currently performing with Johnson on the Souvenir tour is drummer Tommy Taylor, who played on the albums Tones, Ah Via Musicom and Venus Isle. Reunited with Johnson for the first time since the critically acclaimed and wildly popular Ah Via Musicom tour, Taylor was a charter member of the group Christopher Cross and he has toured or recorded with numerous other artists including Jake Andrews, Lance Keltner and Mandy Mercier.

Now, as Eric Johnson moves deeper into the new millenium, this commanding artist is expanding his creative options even more. Not only will this year find him on the road touring behind Souvenir, he is also contemplating a solo guitar tour, and he is on the verge of putting out another studio album of fresh material on a major label. With the release of each new album, you can be sure of one thing: whatever emotional place the music came from, whatever ethereal current Johnson wove into his songs, they will all touch us deeply as they carry us forward.

You can find more information regarding Eric Johnson and Souvenir at ericjohnson.com.