Eric Johnson

Austin, Tex., has a deserved reputation as a town full of seriously good guitar players, such as the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughn and Butthole Surfers' Paul Leary. Eric Johnson labored in relative, local-hero obscurity, playing bars and clubs for nearly twenty years before his first hit song "Cliffs of Dover" (1990). He plays in a style that effortlessly brings together aspects of country, blues, Fusion jazz, and just about any other form of popular music you can think of. Johnson can be a flashy soloist, spraying out dizzying flurries of notes with ease, but it's obvious that he puts a lot of energy into crafting highly structured, musically flowing compositions.