Eric Johnson的吉他风格很有趣,对于一个吉他手来说,在各种各样的音乐品味中保持自己独特、高贵、鲜明的风格,并不是一件容易的事,而Eric Johnson做到了.正因为如此,他的音乐吸引了各种音乐类型的爱好者,不论男女老少.人们津津乐道的不仅是他那惊人的、巫术般的技巧,轻松融入声望显赫的乐队的本领,而且还有他在各种风格诸如老摇滚、前卫摇滚、乡村音乐、爵士、古典和布鲁斯中穿梭自如、游刃有余的演奏,听起来好像他在全世界任何地方都生长过而且熟知那里的音乐. by Bill MeredithVery few musical artists achieve a true signature style — one which makes comparisons to other musicians impossible. But Texas guitarist Eric Johnson arguably comes as close to this echelon as any musician from the past quarter-century. Like fellow Lone Star State guitarists Johnny Winter, Billy Gibbons, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnson blends the rock style of Jimi Hendrix and the blues power of Albert King. Yet Johnsons wide array of additional influences (from the Beatles and Jeff Beck, to jazz and Chet Atkins) make for a guitar sound as unique as his fingerprints. When I first heard Eric, Winter recalls, he was only 16, and I remember wishing that I could have played like that at that age. Former Doobie Brothers guitarist Jeff Skunk Baxter says, If Jimi Hendrix had gone on to study with Howard Roberts for about eight years, youd have what this kid strikes me as. The Austin prodigy appeared on the cover of Guitar Player magazine while working with Texas jazz/fusion band the Electromagnets and as a session player (Cat Stevens, Carole King, Christopher Cross), and a 1984 performance on the TV show Austin City Limits set his recording career in motion. Johnsons 1986 debut album, Tones, certainly proved that the hype was warranted. Playing with the ace rhythm section of bassist Roscoe Beck and drummer Tommy Taylor, Johnson mixed blazing instrumentals (Zap, Victory) with Beatles-influenced vocal tunes like Emerald Eyes and Bristol Shore. Johnson used the same half-and-half format on the 1990 follow-up, Ah Via Musicom; but a trio of the albums tunes surprisingly made him the first artist to have three instrumentals from the same album to chart in the Top Ten in any format (with Cliffs of Dover earning Johnson a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental). But, if Johnson had a perceived weakness, it was the perfectionism that caused four years to pass between recordings. Even in concert, he would painstakingly tune his guitar between songs, by ear, for minutes on end. With the success of Ah Via Musicom, the guitarist admitted to feeling pressure to again raise the bar. But Johnsons studio nit-picking delayed Venus Isle until 1996, and the disappointing CD contained fewer instrumentals and sounded forced. 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. Overhauling his band for the 2000 CD Live and Beyond, Johnson brought in bassist Chris Maresh and drummer Bill Maddox, and concentrated on more of a blues feel. The guitarist still blended instrumentals with his vocal tunes (Shape Im In, Last House on the Block), but perhaps realized that his thin voice was too one-dimensional for guttural blues or R&B. Guest vocalist Malford Milligan ignites Dont Cha Know and Once a Part of Me, helping Johnsons blazing debut on Vais Favored Nations label and re-establishing the versatile virtuosos status for the 21st century. As Vai himself testifies, Eric has more colorful tone in his fingers than Van Gogh had on his palette. Souvenir, an album available only through Johnsons website, appeared in 2002, followed by CD and DVD versions of New Wests Live from Austin, TX and Bloom, the second album for Vais Favored Nations imprint, in 2005.