Eric Johnson - A Legendary American Virtuoso Guitarist

Eric Johnson is a legendary American virtuoso guitarist. He was born in a musical family on 17 August, 1954 in Austin, Texas, United States. In addition to being a master at his craft on the electric six string, Eric Johnson is also a talented and creative composer and vocalist and can also play on the piano and bass guitar as well as on acoustic guitar, lap steel guitar, and resonator guitar. His music is a complex mixture of multiple genres, more specifically rock, blues, jazz fusion, soul, folk, new-age, classical, and country. In 2006, Keyboard magazine considered him to be ‘one of the most respected guitarists on the planet’.

The legendary American virtuoso guitarist Eric Johnson performing live at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, United States in 2025. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

He is best known for his second studio album entitled Ah Via Musicom which was released in 1990. The respective LP (i.e. long play) was a commercial success which was certified gold by the R.I.A.A. (i.e. Recording Industry Association of America). One song in particular is very well known from this studio album, more specifically the very beautiful and touching instrumental rock masterpiece Cliffs of Dover which won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1992.

He started playing guitar at 11 and was influenced by other legendary guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Wes Montgomery, Ric Bailey, Mike Bloomfield, Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, Bob Dylan, or Django Reinhardt. He started to play in the band for the first time when he was 15, namely in Mariani, a professional psychedelic rock group.

Subsequently, after finishing high school, Eric Johnson attended the prestigious University of Texas at Austin and became a member in the local fusion group the Electromagnets. The Electromagnets were known locally and regionally but failed to attract more attention and disbanded in 1977. Afterwards, he formed his own band, called the Eric Johnson Group, a touring trio with bassist Kyle Brock and drummer Bill Maddox. They performed locally in Austin, Texas.

Between 1976 and 1978, Eric Johnson recorded his debut studio album entitled Seven Worlds at Odyssey Studios in his native Austin. Because of some contract issues, the release of the album was eventually delayed to 1998 through the record label Ark21 Records. Eventually, at around this time he became a session guitarist, working with notable artists such as Cat Stevens, Carole King, and Christopher Cross while continuing to perform locally in his native Austin.

In 1984, Eric Johnson signed to Warner Bros. Records and his career took a better path after he was recommended to the label by Christopher Cross (with whom he had collaborated in the past) and producer David Tickle. His popularity and success continued in the upcoming years as he achieved his breakthrough through his memorable appearance at the Austin City Limits live music TV program on 31 July, 1984 (a live performance subsequently released on CD/DVD format many years later in 2010). Eric Johnson also achieved critical acclaim thanks to Guitar Player magazine in May, 1986.

Throughout his long, impressive, highly-creative, and commending musical career, Eric Johnson released a total number of 12 studio albums (listed in chronological order below):

Tones (1986)
Ah Via Musicom (1990)
Venus Isle (1996)
Seven Worlds (1998)
Souvenir (2003)
Bloom (2005)
Up Close (2010)
Eclectic (2014)
EJ (2016)
Collage (2017)
EJ Vol. II (2020)
The Book of Making / Yesterday Meets Today (2022)

Aside from these studio albums, Eric Johnson also released 5 live albums, one of them being a G3 concert collaboration with two other legendary, highly-talented, and highly-technical guitarists, more specifically Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. Below you can listen to some of my all-time favourite songs from his solo discography embedded via YouTube. Thank you so much for your time, attention, and readership! It means a lot to me and you are very appreciated! All the best and rock on!