The guitar has been very good to Eric Johnson, earning him international renown as a player, composer, recording artist and live entertainer as well as an ever-growing audience of admirers. And Eric Johnson has been very good to the guitar, spotlighting its myriad melodic, sonic and lyrical splendors, paying homage to its heroes and innovators, collaborating and playing with many of its finest contemporary talents, and fostering its continuing vibrancy as a primarily instrumental genre in popular music.

“He's an extraordinary guitar player accessible to ordinary music fans,” notes the Memphis Commercial Appeal. That’s because Eric Johnson plays music and not just the guitar. He is also a gifted player of the piano (his first instrument) as well as songwriter, singer and song interpreter. Or more succinctly, Eric Johnson is a diverse, versatile and fully realized musical creator who plays guitar like no one else.

The pivotal event in Johnson's rise to becoming, as Guitar Player says, “one of the most respected guitarists on the planet," was his million-selling, now-classic 1990 album Ah Via Musicom (which loosely translates as "communicating through music"). It was his second release, following Tones, his 1986 major label debut.

Musicom yielded three Top 10 singles – "Cliffs of Dover," which has become Johnson's signature song and won a Best Rock Instrumental Grammy, and "Trademark" and "Righteous." It made him the first artist to ever score three Top 10 instrumentals. Now, 28 years later, he revisits that landmark recording with a 2018 tour on which he will play the album – hailed as a "masterwork" in Amazon.com's review – in its entirety.

The Austin, Texas-based Johnson also closes out 2017 with a new album, Collage, that combines five new original songs with five covers that reflect both his inspirations and range: An acoustic version of Jimi Hendrix's "One Rainy Wish," The Beatles classic "We Can Work It Out" in a Caribbean groove, B.B. King's "Rock Me Baby," the surf rock classic "Pipeline" and Stevie Wonder's 1966 #3 pop hit "Uptight (Everything's Alright)."

The years prior to Ah Via Musicom and since are rich with accomplishments. Over the now five studio albums that have followed it – Venus Isle (1996), Bloom (2005), 2010's Up Close (and its revised European version Up Close – Another Look, now being issued in the US), EJ (2016) and the latest – Eric has broadened and enriched his rock guitar palette and further delved into his love for blues, jazz and country. He's earned six Grammy nominations, has topped or been listed high in countless greatest guitarist lists in music publications, and been featured on the cover of most every guitar magazine, many more than once.

Johnson released an album in 2014 with jazz guitarist Mike Stern, Eclectic, that also landed him on the cover of Downbeat. His catalog further includes a collection of outtakes, demos and live treats, Souvenir (2002). And in 1998 his never-before-issued very first album recording from some 20 years before, Seven Worlds, was finally released by its producer (All Music Guide hailed as a "classy false start to a great career").

As an ardent live performer who regularly tours, "Few rock guitarists can take an audience on an unforgettable journey like Eric Johnson can," observes Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. His primary live performance configuration is as a trio, most often with some of Austin's top players, including drummer Tommy Taylor and bassist Kyle Brock, who toured with him following Ah Via Musicom's success and return for the 2018 outing. He's also done acoustic tours both solo and as a trio with noted players Peppino D'Agostino and Andy McKee, and electric guitar tours with his hero B.B. King and pal and peer Sonny Landreth.

His concert performances have been captured on a number of releases. Europe Live (2014) "serves as a fine introduction to this stunning musician," says All Music, as also do the his two Live From Austin TX CDs plus a DVD from his "Austin City Limits" performances and Anaheim Live (2008). Eric's side project Alien Love Child as well released an in-concert disc, Live and Beyond, in 2000. His 1996 tour with Steve Vai and Joe Satriani hit stores the following year as G3: Live in Concert.

Johnson is an avid admirer of fellow guitarists past and present, and has recorded and/or performed with such other notables as Chet Atkins, B.B. King, James Burton, Jerry Reed, Steve Miller, John McLaughlin, Jimmie Vaughan, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Dweezil Zappa, Adrian Legg, John Petrucci and others. He has paid homage in song to such players as Jerry Reed (“Tribute to Jerry Reed” on Bloom), fellow Texan Stevie Ray Vaughan (the Grammynominated track “SRV”) and Wes Montgomery (who Johnson saluted in his Ah Via Musicom song “East Wes”). He has to date appeared on eight Experience Hendrix tours paying homage to one of his seminal guitar icons.

Eric's artistic journey began in his teens in the Austin clubs, not long after joining the psychedelic rock band Mariani and later touring with the jazz-rock fusion group The Electromagnets. Eric's burgeoning reputation and touts from both Prince and Christopher Cross helped win him a deal with Reprise Records in the mid 1980s. The album that resulted, Tones, failed to chart. But it did earn him his first Grammy nomination for the song "Zap" and landed him on the front of Guitar Player magazine with the cutline: "Who is Eric Johnson & why is he on our cover?"

Once Ah Via Musicom hit, the Los Angeles Times noted how he had already "been compared with rock's immortals." But Eric himself modestly demurs. "I don't think I'm a rock god. I just keep playing. It's fun, and I'm glad people enjoy it."

There are few artists whose names are synonymous with one instrument and how it's played in service to an entire genre. Utter the phrase "young blues guitarist" within earshot of anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the modern musical vanguard and the first name they are most likely to respond with will be Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Still barely in his 30s, the Louisiana born axeman and songsmith has been selling millions of albums, throwing singles into the Top 10, shining a light on the rich blues of the past and forging ahead with his own modern twist on a classic sound he has embodied since his teens. He met Stevie Ray Vaughan at 7, shared the stage with New Orleans legend Bryan Lee at 13. As an adult, he continues to create genre-defining blues-infused rock n' roll.Kenny Wayne Shepherd's How I Go not only serves as a strong reminder of the chops that caused Guitar World to place him right behind B.B. King and Eric Clapton on their list of blues guitarists, but it's the strongest indication yet of his gifted songwriting talent. The album pairs Kenny's deeply soulful and impassioned takes on classic material like Bessie Smith's "Backwater Blues," Albert King's "Oh, Pretty Woman" and The Beatles "Yer Blues" alongside the strongest writing and co-writing of his career thus far.Let's not forget that Kenny co-wrote "Blue on Black" very early on. The song was #1 on the Rock Charts for 17 consecutive weeks. All of the accolades heaped upon his playing are well deserved and well earned. But there is so much more to offer.  Kenny Wayne Shepherd is very cognizant of the emotional role music can play in the lives of his listeners. He's in awe of that responsibility and works hard to bring happiness to people with his considerable gifts. With that said, he's bound and determined to be remembered as a guy who just straight-up kicked a lot of butt. "I get up on stage every night to play my heart out and to try to turn people on their ear, man. I want to bring light into people's lives with my music. If I can make people feel good for an hour and a half to two hours and forget about whatever might be stressing them out, then I'm doing my job."

Lauded by critics and fans alike, the multi-artist Experience Hendrix Tour is set to return in 2017 to celebrate the music of Jimi Hendrix, long hailed as the genre’s greatest innovator. This latest edition of the annual tour will be the most ambitious one to date, encompassing 29 performance dates in February and March, including a special engagement in Seattle, Hendrix’s hometown, at the city’s historic Paramount Theater.

Now in its second decade, the tour celebrates the musical genius of Jimi Hendrix by bringing together a diverse array of phenomenal musicians, ranging from blues legend Buddy Guy to Black Label Society and former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde, as well as Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Keb’ Mo’, Doyle Bramhall II, Ana Popovic, The Slide Brothers, Mato Nanji from Indigenous, and Beth Hart will also be featured among many others. Billy Cox, bassist for both the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Band of Gypsys, anchors a rhythm section that provides the foundation for exciting renditions of numerous signature Hendrix favorites such as “Purple Haze” and “Little Wing.” The new tour comes on the heels of the 2016 Experience Hendrix Tour, which sold out nearly every one of the 27 venues that hosted it.

Jimi Hendrix was a pioneer in both rock and blues; he expanded the possibilities of what could be achieved on his instrument and in popular music. Likewise, the Experience Hendrix Tour continues to expand as Jimi’s legacy grows. In 2004, the first tour came to fruition with a three-date string of shows on the west coast, starting in Hendrix’s hometown of Seattle. By 2008, the Experience Hendrix Tour had become a full-fledged, coast-to-coast expedition and continuing to date without showing any signs of slowing down. Audiences are presented the opportunity to see great artists paying homage to Hendrix while collaborating with each other in ways they’d never do in their own live shows.

Multiple Grammy Award winner and Kennedy Center Honoree Buddy Guy, whose involvement in music pre-dates even that of Hendrix, shed light on his personal friend, “He was so creative, especially everything he did with the special effects. He took it all to this other place, and he could really play. He was one of a kind. Hendrix brings us together, everybody on this tour.”

Experience Hendrix Tour veteran Zakk Wylde, who named his own son “Hendrix,” spoke about being on the road with the other musicians. “When you listen to all the fellas and the gals that are out there on the tour, it isn’t just the great solos. They are great songs, you know. It’s not just about shredding. I’m totally honored to be part of it.”

Kenny Wayne Shepherd, who has closed every show he’s ever played since the age of 15 with the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s “Voodoo Child (Slight Return),” commented, “The music of Jimi Hendrix has always been a large influence on my life and music – in no small part due to his blues roots. He showed a lot of his influences and the foundation from which he built his music.” He went on to say, “Jimi Hendrix was one of the greatest performers, entertainers and songwriters of all time, but as far as the guitar goes, he made a statement with his instrument that has yet to be matched.”

2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s debut album Are You Experienced (released on May 12, 1967) as well as the follow up album Axis: Bold as Love (released in the UK on December 1, 1967). 1967 was also the year Jimi Hendrix rose to intercontinental prominence, when he made his U.S. debut at the Monterey International Pop Music Festival, lighting his guitar on fire to a mesmerized audience. The repertoire from this stage of Jimi’s career serves as a cornerstone in Experience Hendrix Tour sets, as songs like “Fire,” “Manic Depression,” and “Are You Experienced” are played by various musicians on a nightly basis.

During his lifetime, Jimi Hendrix always used the live performance context as a platform for exploration. The fact is evidenced by the release this week of the new live album Machine Gun: The First Fillmore East Show 12/31/1969. The album is a thorough document of Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys’ first concert ever, in its entirety. This trio of Jimi, Buddy Miles and Billy Cox was short lived, but left an indelible mark on music by combining funk, rock and soul at a time when all three genres were in their formative stages. It’s expected that some of the songs featured on the Machine Gun album, including “Hear My Train A Comin’,” and “Power of Soul,” will be heard on the Experience Hendrix Tour. Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. and Legacy Recordings are releasing the album, on CD, LP and digitally this Friday, September 30.

Fans will get the latest Jimi Hendrix CD Machine Gun: Fillmore East First Show 12/31/69 with their purchase of a pair of tickets from participating venues. Every pair of tickets purchased comes with one (1) physical CD of the new Jimi Hendrix album, Machine Gun scheduled to be released on September 30th, 2016. Check local listings for details.