Interview: Eric Johnson

Eric Johnson is a truly amazing guitarist. But while he certainly has the ability to blow you away with six-string flash and speed, he’s much more about feel, tone, and serving the song.

Such an approach allowed his 1990 guitar-heavy album Ah Via Musicom to become a crossover hit, selling over one million copies. This album included his signature song “Cliffs of Dover” and other gems like “Trademark” and “Righteous”. Other acclaimed albums followed, most recently the 2017 album Collage.

Johnson is revisiting Ah Via Musicom on tour, joined by Kyle Brock on bass and Tommy Taylor on drums, both of whom played on the original album and toured with Johnson after the album first took off. This interview was for a preview article for noozhawk.com for the tour’s 1/24/18 concert at the Majestic Ventura Theater. It was done by phone on 1/8/18. (Max Crace photo)

Interview: Albert Lee

If you’re the sort of person who pays attention to liner notes, you’ve probably seen the name Albert Lee pop up so many places that you think that it can’t possibly all be the same guy. Could the guitarist who recorded and toured with Eric Clapton really be the same one who played with Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band, and who played with the Everly Brothers for their Albert Hall reunion show (and stayed on for 26 more years), and who also shows up on recordings by Joe Cocker, Jackson Browne, Bill Wyman, Chris Farlowe, and Deep Purple’s Jon Lord?

Well, it is the same Albert Lee who did all these things, and more. And somehow he has also found time to lead his own smokin’ hot bands over the years.

This interview was for a preview article for noozhawk.com for Lee’s 8/19/17 concert at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara. It was done by phone on 7/31/17.

Interview: Christopher Cross

Christopher Cross is best-known for his Grammy Award winning song “Sailing”, the Oscar winning song “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” co-written with Burt Bacharach and others, and his hit “Ride Like the Wind”, all of which came within a short span at the beginning of the 1980’s. In fact, in 1980 he won Grammys for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist, a feat that has not ever been duplicated.

While he wasn’t able to maintain that incredible initial string of success, Cross has continued to release new music since that time, most recently his well-received new album Secret Ladder. This interview was for a concert on 11/22/14 at the Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara in support of this new album. It was done by hpone on 11/19/14. (Ethan Hill photo)

Concert Review: Deep Purple

Review of Deep Purple at the Ventura County Fair, 8/5/14.

Photos: Deep Purple

Deep Purple at The Greek Theatre, Los Angeles, 6/24/11 (L. Paul Mann photos, copyrighted and all rights reserved)