Eric Johnson

Eric Johnson
Master of Tone

By Brian Tarquin

The man who needs no introduction to the world of guitar and outstanding tone: Eric Johnson. The first time I heard Eric was back in 1985 when he did a guest appearance on Steve Morse’s solo record, Stand Up. He contributed vocals on the song, “Distant Star,” in addition to his signature guitar tone. The following year, Guitar Player magazine showcased Eric’s song “Cliffs of Dover” on their promo vinyl record that came with every issue. Spinning that song for the first time on the record player had a very powerful effect on me and prompted me to see him at the China Club in New York the very same year. He put on an amazing show, and I felt like I had witnessed a great guitar player before he really exploded onto the scene. Four years later, “Cliffs of Dover” earned Eric a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental, topping fellow nominees the Allman Brothers Band, Danny Gatton, Rush and Yes. Even before this song gave him the recognition he deserved, he had been a session player in the seventies for such artists as Cat Stevens, Carole King and Christopher Cross. In fact, Eric had played on the Grammy sweeping Christopher Cross self-titled album in 1980.

BTQ: When did you start your musical journey?
Eric: I started playing piano when I was five and took piano lessons for seven years. When I was eleven, I started playing guitar and I got really into The Ventures, "Nokie" Edwards in particular. And then I got into the Yardbirds, The Rolling Stones and of course John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers. Then BB King and all those guys and branched out from there. I was in a band called The ID and don’t even know what the word meant. The guys were older than me and I think we might have played one gig. Then I got into this copy band, Top 40 group called The Sounds of Life, and we did fraternity parties and gigs. When I really got more serious with original music, I joined this group called Mariani when I fifteen led by the drummer Vince Mariani. Vince and I played together over the years and wrote together. When I was nineteen, I joined the group called The Electromagnets which was a fusion rock group.
BTQ: How did you kindle your long friendship with Chritopher Cross?

Eric: When I was in the group Mariani we opened up for Deep Purple in San Antonio. Ritchie Blackmoore was sick, and they got Christopher Cross to fill in for Ritchie Blackmoore because he was a huge Deep Purple fan and lived in San Antonio and he knew all of their songs. I was fifteen and Chris was nineteen and we met at that gig when he was sitting in and playing with Deep Purple. Yeah, when Chris first started, he was a real rocker, and had a Flying V.
BTQ: How did spark a comradery with Steve Morse?
Eric: Steve Morse was really responsible for getting my career started because he talked Guitar Player Magazine in to doing an article on me. Which was very nice, and I owe him a debt of gratitude for getting things rolling. I saw him play in The Dixie Dregs when The Electromagnets were playing, and every once and a while we’d cross paths. I remember going to see The Dixie Dregs and saying, “God these guys are great.”

BTQ: “Cliffs of Dover” was a huge hit for Eric in the early 90’s, but I saw him perform the song back in 1985 in NYC at The China Club. He explains the song’s metamorphosis.
Eric: Yeah, I wrote the song five years before it became a hit, but it just never got put on a record. There was a guy at Capital Records named Jeffrey Shane who really loved the song and was relentless about trying to promote it. He was just dedicated to try and make it work. And I think initially they started playing it right before the news and during commercial breaks on radio. I guess people liked it enough -they started calling and asking what is that song?

BTQ: Eric talks about his most recent release The Book of Making/Tomorow Meets Today
Eric: My concert tour in 2020 was cancelled because of COVID. I came home and started digging stuff out of the closet, and I found about twenty-eight pieces of music to work on. I wound up letting go of a lot and cutting seven new things. I ended up with 18 pieces and said, well this is a double record. The record company said instead of making it a double record, let’s release them as two separate records. There’s also a third record with seven songs that are out takes. Seven of the songs are brand new and the rest are songs that I started years ago. Anywhere from twenty years ago to three years ago. Just all sorts of little things that I never finished. A lot of the engineering was done by Richard Mullen, Kelly Donnelly and a lot of the overdub stuff, since it was over COVID, I did myself. Kelly was always helping with it, but I produced it. I have a singer named Arielle with Tom Brechtlein on drums and Roscoe Beck on bass.
During the sessions somebody would just nail the vibe and that's it. That's great. You don't have to do anything. Or you start extrapolating to them what you want. And after they get it, then they take the ball and run with it. They do their own thing, and it ends up being different to what you want it. Yesterday Meets Today are older takes that I overdubbed on them. So, it's like the stuff from years ago meets today because they were recorded then as well as right now. The Book of Making was a title that my friend Vince came up with and I just thought it was a nice title. I just thought it might be cool to call each record something different.

“Columbia” Dedication Song
Eric also recorded a very nice dedication song called “Columbia” that appeared on his 2005 release Bloom.
He wrote it in memory of the space shuttle Columbia that disintegrated over Texas, his home state. Being a born and breed New Yorker having witnessed the 911 tragedy, I could relate to his need to express himself over such a devastating event hitting so close to home. Eric told me that he had always been a fan of astronomy and NASA, so when the tragedy hit, he immediately felt compelled to sit down and write a song. Written as a commemoration and tribute to the lives that were lost, Eric said, “I wanted to make it more of a positive message, a salute, a celebration rather than just concentrating on a few moments of tragedy, but instead the bigger picture of these brave people’s lives.” After the song was released, he mentioned that crewmember Kalpana Chawla’s husband contacted him and told him that he, along with other astronauts at NASA, really enjoyed the song because it was an uplifting tribute instead of a dirge.

Gear
When Eric first started out, he had a custom Roland Pleated 2x15 amp, a Fender Dual Showman and then moved to a Fender Twin Reverb. He used the Twin Reverb for a long time, but when he was sixteen, he started using a Marshall. Today Eric’s typical setup is a BK Butler Tube Driver or an AC Booster through a Marshall JMP Super Lead and a Dunlop Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, or an old Ibanez Tube Screamer through a Marshall JTM45.

Eric stated: “I have a couple of different Marshalls with a little different circuitry. Some are more Hendrix rhythm, big- Fender-sounding and not as grainy with bigger, thicker rhythm tones and overdrive. Then I have some that are more Super Lead JMP that have a lot of gain within the amp. I’ll crank that up and get a lot of distortion from the amp. I also have a Twin Reverb that has Eminence speakers and when you crank it up it has an interesting type of lead tone.”