Eric Johnson wows Atlanta with Acoustic and Electric Sets at Variety Playhouse

Eric Johnson visited Atlanta Sunday night on his 2023 “Treasure” tour, the name reflecting the pandemic era where he found enough unfinished tracks and other snippets to release two new albums, The Book of Making and Yesterday Meets Today. perhaps treasuring touring post-pandemic or the opportunity to share songs new and old.

A guitarist’s guitarist? Probably. Should be. For being named among the “100 best guitarists of the 20th century” by Musician magazine, he’s still an unfamiliar name to many.

Johnson is known for his perfectionism in his playing and his tone, down to the brand of batteries in his pedals and the number of string wraps on each tuner post. Fluidity, tone, vertical triads/”string skipping,” clever use of minor pentatonics, bounce picking where he brushes upstrokes instead of plucking them, rapid fire arpeggios… That’s the technical side.

The fan side of the equation is that he has a unique sound, generally sweet and warm, with every note hit as intended, but maintaining a sense of melody where others as gifted might get lost in music theory. As a result, even cover songs sound different.

The evening began with an acoustic set accompanied by Roscoe Beck on standup bass. For those who haven’t seen Johnson in concert, you quickly note the concentration. While he may look to a bandmate occasionally or briefly glance towards the office, Johnson’s focus is on where his fingers are and where they’re going next. There’s no guitar theatrics except the sound, and that’s exactly what fans came to hear.

The acoustic set was a gift in several ways. First, acoustic is an introduction to some songs that were recorded for electric guitar, so it’s a new interpretation. Also, as they’re shorter, it allows Johnson to have some conversation with the audience. We learn that “Song for George” is not… Gershwin, for example, but a friend named George Washington. Or, for a new song, “The Ballad of Elrod and Girlene,” requiring a “hillbilly-caster,” he borrowed the name from a sign in Texas for “Girlene’s Knitting Service.” And, it’s a great song.

“Song for Lynette” showcased his skills at piano and at the same time adding to the sonic space by inviting Dave Scher on guitar/keyboards and Wayne Salzmann on drums. This added a deft, jazz club flavor with light cymbals and percussion.

“Black Waterside,” his take on a traditional song most notably captured by Led Zeppelin’s “Black Mountain Side,” demonstrated his nimble fingerpicking and probably left some people scratching their heads as the interpretation is significantly different. It was a great way to close out the set.

After a 20 minute intermission, the band returned for the electric set.

Watching him play, whether playing rhythm or lead, generally involves picking arpeggios rather than wandering through scales note by note. “Righteous,” a hit from his most familiar album, Ah Via Musicom, started the set followed by another hard hitter, “Soundtrack Life” from one of his latest albums.

During the course of the show, it’s clear that Johnson has his influences and his heroes. No stranger to Hendrix in his recordings, he served up “Drifting,” a deep cut from Hendrix’ The Cry of Love, and the oft-covered “Little Wing,” which, characteristically, sounded familiar but distinctively Johnson’s style. “Impressions” replaces Coltrane’s sax with his lead guitar, “S.R.V.” is a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan’s style but delivered with Johnson’s tone. And, there was “Freeway Jam,” a tribute to recently deceased Jeff Beck and probably one of his more familiar songs to a general audience.

Finally, at the end of the set, Johnson served up “Cliffs of Dover,” a song likely familiar to everyone over a certain age, which would include the audience. It ranked # 17 in Guitar World magazine’s list of 100 greatest guitar solos, just ahead of Hendrix’ “Little Wing.” Johnson played a largely unaccompanied intro of five minutes before the band joined in and eventually came to the familiar chords – not that anyone doubted what song he was playing. It was phenomenal.

Only, at this point, while the audio in the acoustic set had been tremendous, it revealed a muddled guitar sound, and overall mix, that had nagged throughout the electric set. Variety Playhouse is usually an extremely reliable venue to enjoy artists, but on this they failed, as well as casting a pedestrian lighting show. They’re capable of so much more. Still, the song was greeted by raucous applause, and he shortly returned with “Zap,” a song he first recorded in 1978 and that became a nominee for the Grammy’s Best Rock Instrumental. Not a bad way to close out the night!