Eric Johnson is a guitarist from Austin, Texas, who has crafted a style all his own. He burst onto the music scene back in the 1970s, while working with Texas jazz/fusion band the Electromagnets. The Electromagnets released an album in 1975 for an Austin-based label which was virtually unknown until Rhino Records reissued it on CD in 1998. After the Electromagnets disbanded, Johnson started doing session work for various artists, including Cat Stevens and Carole King. His next appearance was with fellow Texas musician, Christopher Cross. Johnson played guitar on Cross' smash hit debut album in 1980, which helped garner interest in the young guitarist. Johnson made an appearance on Austin City Limits in 1984, which helped to earn him a major label record deal.
In 1986, Johnson released his first album, Tones. Playing with the ace rhythm section of bassist Roscoe Beck and drummer Tommy Taylor, Johnson mixed blazing instrumentals, including "Zap" and "Victory", with vocal tracks like "Emerald Eyes" and "Friends". Unlike many guitarists who tended to have bad vocal abilities, Johnson's vocals proved surprising pleasant to listen to.
Four years later, Johnson released his second album, Ah Via Musicom. The album turned out to be Johnson's masterpiece, and featured three instrumentals charting in the Top Ten, including the smash "Cliffs Of Dover".
With huge success on his shoulders, Johnson was determined to create a followup album that would outdo "Ah Via Musicom". But it was this perfectionism that caused six years to pass between recordings. Even in concert, he would painstakingly tune his guitar between songs, by ear, for minutes on end. This kind of nit-picking delayed his third album, Venus Isle, until 1996, and the album sold far less than its predecessor. Highlights included an instrumental tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughn, aptly titled "S.R.V.", and other instrumental tracks like "Manhattan" and "Camel's Night Out". A stint on the 1997 G3 Tour with fellow headlining guitarists Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, and its resulting live release, breathed new life into Johnson and sparked the idea of a live album.
In 1998, Ark 21 Records reissued the album Seven Worlds, which was an album that Johnson recorded in the late 1970s as his first solo album, but it was never released. The album contained Johnson's original versions of the songs "Zap" and "Emerald Eyes", and was sort of a way to appease his fans while he worked on his next album.
In 2000, Johnson put together a new band called Alien Love Child, and decided to record a live album of new songs. He recorded three nights of concerts in Austin, Texas, and released the album Alien Love Child-Live And Beyond that year on Favored Nations Records, the label founded by fellow guitarist Steve Vai. The album showed that Johnson seemed to be more inspired, with a sound much like "Ah Via Musicom". Highlights included "Zenland" and "Enzo Shuffle".
Johnson returned to the studio in 2001, and continued working on his next official studio album. In 2003, fans were treated to another album of lost tracks, Souvenir, released independently. The album featured such highlights as "Get To Go" and a cover of "Paperback Writer" by the Beatles.
In 2005, Johnson released the album Bloom on Favored Nations Records. It featured more great guitar instrumentals, including a poignant tribute to the Columbia astronauts titled "Columbia". Later that year, Johnson's performance on Austin City Limits was released as the album Live From Austin, TX.
Today, Eric Johnson is touring in support of the "Bloom" album, along with guitar great Joe Satriani.