Eric Johnson is known for being a perfectionist when it comes to his playing. Born and raised in Austin, TX, Johnson had constant exposure to blues music. He was born August 17, 1954. He was the youngest of five children—three sisters and a brother. He was three years old when he first became aware of music through his father's love for the classics and jazz. "He was always playing records," says Johnson of his father, a retired anesthesiologist now living in Houston. "And he liked all types of music too. Even when Elvis was getting big (around 1957), he liked Elvis and bought me an Elvis record. He had a positive embracing of that sort of thing. Both my parents loved music, so they tried to get us to take piano lessons and that kind of stuff." Piano lessons usually don't work with a rambunctious child, but not for Johnson, who started taking lessons when he was five. |
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He wanted to start taking lessons two years earlier, but says he couldn't focus his concentration enough. Between piano lessons and a steady procession of family outings to see musicals such as South Pacific, Oklahoma, and The Sound of Music, Johnson says his musical foundation was being laid. By the age of eight, he had already begun writing his own songs. Johnson's piano teacher constantly stressed the importance of ear development. He constantly practiced classical piano but started to lose interest in the "by the book" methodology.
He one day went home to find his brother had formed a band and they too were jamming—only they were using guitars. It was 1964, no one was hotter than the Beach Boys or the Ventures. When the younger Johnson heard his brother's band imitating that twangy, surf sound of the Ventures, he flipped. He decided at that moment that he wanted to play the guitar.
Johnson tore into guitar playing with a fury. He started playing small gigs whenever a chance presented itself. When Johnson signed an exclusive six-year contract with Bill Ham in 1977, not only was the guitarist joining a team that had brought the world that "little ol' band from Texas," ZZ Top, he was also joining a stable of several other hot local guitar studs: Stevie Ray Vaughan and Van Wilks. With demos in hand, a growing reputation as the new boy in Dodge, and Bill Ham at his back, Johnson seemed poised to take the next major step in career. Soon after, a debut album, Seven Worlds, was recorded, and it was time to sit back and field the offers. While the Joe Nick Patoski/Bill Crawford were booking Stevie Ray Vaughan, Ham was unable to get a label interested in Johnson's album, Johnson says there were only a few other offers on the table.
Johnson came into the light in 1984 when he got a spot on Austin City Limits. The world was now introduced to his soulful phrasing on the guitar. He performed "Soulful Terrain," which later appeared on Tones (released in 1986). Warner Bros. liked the record just enough to release it. Now it was up to Johnson to sell it city by city on the road. The only problem was that the record didn't hit the road with Johnson. Though out and supposedly in stores, Johnson himself could never find it. On tours with Blue Oyster Cult and Steve Morse (a longtime Johnson fan), Johnson was continually approached by fans enthused by his performances who couldn't find the album in stores either. Tones was not well promoted. Many couldn't find it until Ah Via Musicom was released three years later. His second release (on Capitol), Ah Via Musicom, contained the Grammy winning instrumental "Cliffs of Dover," which got some radio play and brought the guitarist to the public's attention. In the mid-'90s, Musician Magazine named Johnson among the 100 Greatest Guitarists of the 20th Century, he spent time collaborating with B.B. King, Chet Atkins, and Dweezil Zappa, and touring with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai under the name G3. The third album, Venus Isle, and playing with his side project Alien Love Child took up his attention in the late '90s, and the space blues recording Live and Beyond.
Eric Johnson is known for rarely making a mistake. His perfectionist train of thought lends itself to making him one of the cleanest-playing artists to ever pick up the instrument.
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