ERIC JOHNSON B Y R A N DY PAT T E R S O N , B O O M E R O C I T Y. C O M
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UITAR AFICIONADOS are
all too aware of guitar maestro, Eric Johnson. His 1990 release Ah Via Musicom, which was certified platinum plus and launched Eric’s signature hit “Cliffs Of Dover,” won the Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance and made him a much envied and mimicked guitarist. Eric and his band will be performing at the historic Bijou Theatre on October 10th, which promises to be an incredible evening of amazing guitar mastery. I called Eric at his Texas home and asked about what his current tour and show will be like for Knoxville. “This is a retrospective thing with the original members of the Ah Via Musicom record – Tommy Taylor (drums) and Kyle Brock,” he said. “We did almost a threemonth tour about six months ago, and it went really well, so we decided to do a second leg to try to go to all the places that we didn’t get a chance to go to on the first run.” When asked when he last played the Knoxville area, Eric said, “You know, it’s been years. We’ve played Nashville, Memphis. We
haven’t been to Knoxville in quite a while. Probably been 10 years.” I asked if Eric was going completely acoustic or going full-blown electric for this leg of the tour. “I might do a few acoustic things, but it’s with the bass player and drummer, originally, that I played with on the Ah Via Musicom record,” he said. “Basically, I’ll do like a short set of just whatever to start the evening and then take a quick break and come back and play the whole Ah Via Musicom record from start to finish for the second set.” As for what it was like for Eric, Tommy, and Kyle to get back together and play again, whether it was different, and if it bred a new feeling and interpretation for the album, Eric said: “There’s a lot of improvisation with most stuff I do – especially the electric stuff. So there’s a lot of room for improvisation that will be a little bit different than it originally was. But the main frame of the theme once we got together was, like, immediately, there was a chemistry that we had originally. I think certain people have certain chemistry and they’re able to do certain things. It just kinda fell into place – as if there had been no time in between.” Every tour seems to have a crowd favorite with a particular artist. I asked Eric if there is a particular tune that seems to draw the biggest reaction.
“I think everybody likes to hear ‘Cliffs of Dover,’” he said. “There are a couple of other ones like ‘Trademark’ and ‘Righteous” and stuff that did well when they came out back in the ’90s. I think they enjoy just hearing the vibe of that record. I guess it’s nostalgic, obviously. They’re pretty open to whatever we want to play.” His tour runs into early November, so I asked what was on his plate after that and what’s going on for him next year. “Well, I’m really well into an acoustic and piano record right now,” he said. “I’m more than halfway finished with that. I’ve just been working on that for the last month and a half. Gonna try to get that done and out. Next year I’ll probably do some new touring on the new stuff. I just want to keep recording and got a bunch of new tunes and ideas for a new electric record as well. Doing a two-volume acoustic record.” While Eric will likely be entertaining us for many, many years to come, I asked him how he would like to be remembered and what he hopes his legacy will be. “I think being remembered for just trying to make people feel good while we’re here, you know?” he said. “Standing on that side of the balance system that is making people feel a little more good or more positive or more wholesome. God knows the world needs it! The more people that stand on that balance, the more energy – you truncate that energy. We’re here, so what are we gonna do while we’re here? Are we gonna use our fantastic talent or art or gift or whatever gift we have… how do we use it? Do we use it to disperse more pandemonium or negativity, or do we want to use it to put smiles on somebody’s face? Nothing more, nothing less is what I’d like to be remembered for.” Then, putting a bit of levity into his final comment to me, Eric adds: “Other than that, I want a 200-foot sculpture right in the middle of Austin, Texas. Just kidding!” Tickets can be purchased at www.knoxbijou. org. The extended version of this interview can be read at www.boomerocity.com. Randy’s first interview was at the tender age of 13 with none other than Col. Tom Parker. Thirty-six years later he founded the webzine, Boomerocity.com, and has conducted close to 200 interviews with some of the most interesting people in music.
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EVERYTHING KNOXVILLE October 2018
Photos by Max Grace