Johnson is God

In almost every successful musician's career, there is one legendary show that puts them on the map and gives them the necessary buzz for their breakthrough. For Eric Johnson, that show happened to be televised. In 1988, Johnson appeared on Austin City Limits and proceeded to tear the roof off, blowing away the audience and taking up the sceptre as his generation's greatest guitarist. Tapes of that show are much-coveted and hard to come by, so thankfully, ACL has released it as part of their recent series of CDs and DVDs. I've been a fan of Johnson's since 1990, when I first heard his song Cliffs of Dover on the radio. At the time, I was just starting to play guitar, and I bought a book of songs from Johnson's first two albums, hoping to teach myself to play like him. I remember the guy behind the counter at the guitar store wishing me good luck at figuring anything out, saying he had been playing for 20 years and couldn't make heads or tails of a lot of the songs. 15 years later, I understand why: human beings aren't supposed to be able to play the guitar like this. That is just sick fretwork. But until today, when I bought Live from Austin, TX, I assumed that much of Johnson's incredible sound could be attributed to studio trickery and overdubbing. Despite having seen him live way back in November 1991, I was still unprepared for this recording. Onstage, he is constantly dancing on his effect pedals to switch them on and off, but effects can only do so much. A lot of what he does with the instrument can only be appreciated by someone who plays, but even non-guitarists have to be blown away by this disc. This is the result of sheer, unadulterated talent. The speed, fluidity and tone that he's able to get playing by himself is unbelieveable, and it's made even more so by the fact that he doesn't limit himself to one genre, blowing through rock, blues, jazz and country styles, often in one song. Aside from cementing my belief that Johnson is from another planet, listening to this CD has managed to both make me feel incredibly untalented and also convinced me that it's time to buy an electric guitar. Hope my neighbors are tolerant...