Date: FRIDAY, July 14, 2000

Section: Playbook

Page: G2

Illustration: photo

Source: By Jody Callahan The Commercial Appeal

Edition: Final

As the old saw goes, guitar players who watch Eric Johnson have one of two reactions:

Go home and practice until your fingers bleed, or

Quit.

Yes, he's that good.

For four years in a row, the quiet Texan was named Guitar Player magazine's best overall guitarist. Musician Magazine named him to its list of the top 100 guitarists of the 20th Century. Guitar luminaries - B.B. King, Chet Atkins, Billy Gibbons, the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, even Prince - get giddy at the mention of his name.

Eric Johnson plays B.B. King's Wednesday night. But, strangely, despite his reputation, expect to see a lot of nonguitarists in the audience as well.

Johnson seems to have that rare ability to attract the guitarheads - people who could spend hours talking about an effects pedal or an amp - as well as those who love music, but couldn't play a riff if they had to.

"With what we're doing now, (the audience is) a lot of people that are not necessarily guitarists, just a cross-section of people," Johnson said, calling from his native Austin. "It's up to me to try to project a musical statement. Obviously, it wouldn't be fair to the fans if I didn't try to be the best on guitar, but it should always be put into a musical vein."

Of course, Eric Johnson fans should be prepared for a show that's a bit different from the last time he played B.B. King's, on Aug. 18, 1997. Then, it was only his band, playing mostly songs from his solo records. This time, he's touring with a side project called Alien Love Child, which he calls blues-based pop and rock.

Alien Love Child began a few years ago when Johnson and friends Bill Maddox and Chris Maresh started playing together in and around Austin. Johnson was finishing up "Venus Isle," his most recent record, and the noted perfectionist was "stressed out."

"I was like, `I just wanna go play.' (So) a couple of friends and I got together. We decided to play some clubs, just for fun," Johnson said. "It kind of blossomed into a thing, where once every couple of months we'd do a show."

From there, the band has toured parts of the country and will hit the East Coast later this summer. There's talk of a live record, which Johnson hopes will be out this fall.

But don't worry: while it's Alien Love Child playing, Johnson promises that you'll still hear Cliffs of Dover - the guitar instrumental that was all over the radio a few years back - as well as other familiar songs such as Trademark, Forty-Mile Town, Desert Rose and Nothing Can Keep Me From You.

"In my teenage years, I listened to a lot of blues, (Jimi) Hendrix and Cream kinda blues and B.B. King. It'll be a little bit more blues based than usual. Other than that, it's a lot of what I (play) anyhow," he said.

Johnson, 45, has had a star-crossed career, to say the least. At 11, he picked up the guitar. At 16, he was surprising fellow musicians with his talent. At 21, he was playing in a fusion band called The Electromagnets. Soon after, Johnson was signed to ZZ Top's management company.

From there, he recorded "Seven Worlds," expecting it to be his debut record, his introduction outside Texas. But disaster struck: the management company rejected all offers for the record, holding out for a better deal.

So, "Seven Worlds" never was released, leaving Johnson without a record and still tied to that management company for six years.

Finally, in 1984, Johnson was freed and set about resuscitating his career. He made a legendary appearance on the popular Austin City Limits television series that apparently excited Prince so much that the Purple One convinced Warner Bros. to sign Johnson (the surprisingly
humble Johnson has heard the story repeatedly, but never asked Prince if it was true).

That led to "Tones," his 1986 debut, which received a Grammy nomination for the song Zap. Then, four years later, Johnson released "Ah Via Musicom."

And his career exploded. Radio began playing Cliffs of Dover, which won a Grammy for best rock instrumental in 1992. His shows began selling out. He toured with Rush and B.B. King, among others. "Ah Via Musicom" went on to sell a million copies, unheard of for a record that was mostly guitar instrumentals.

"I guess that record people vibe on the most of anything I've done," Johnson said. "I worked really hard on that one to get a certain effect going. We just got really good basic tracks on that record, then I went back and tried to play the best guitar stuff I could. Then it was like an Olympic trainer. I really pushed myself so hard. I was not in a good way when I finished that record."

Then came "Venus Isle" in 1996. Even Johnson says that, upon reflection, the sedate record was somewhat disappointing.

"The next record had a lot of potential, but I think it got di-luted in certain ways," he said. "We didn't have the same vibe with the band, and I had some health problems. I don't think I pushed myself as hard as the last one. There's a sedateness to it."

But, for fans who waited six years between "Ah Via Musicom" and "Venus Isle," Johnson has finished seven tracks for a new CD. He hopes to have a new studio record out after spending the fall recording another four or five songs.

Which, when complete, will surely inspire more guitar players to go home, plug in and practice.

Or quit.


On the town

WHAT: Eric Johnson with Alien Love Child

WHERE: B.B. King's at 143 Beale

WHEN: Wednesday, 8:30 p.m.; doors open at 6:30 p.m.

PRICE: $25

CALL: 524-5464

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