Eric Johanson – The Deep and the Dirty
Ruf Records RUF 1305
12 songs – 48 minutes
Louisiana-based guitarist Eric Johanson is no stranger to mixing stylings on his CDs, and he’s done so with amazing success, hitting the Top 10 on Billboard’s blues chart four times in recent years. And he cuts new ground on his latest album, teaming with Supersuckers/Rob Zombie producer Jesse Dayton to deliver a unified, all-original message across the music spectrum that we should embrace every breath we take regardless of the circumstances.
And Eric definitely knows what he’s singing about, having been at ground zero in New Orleans during Hurricane Katina, losing everything and emigrating to New Zealand for a while to find his center again.
Born into a musical family and a professional since age 17, Johanson worked as a sideman in the bands of Cyrill Neville, Terrance Simien and Corey Henry – three Big Easy legends – before venturing out on his own. His latest effort ranges from fuzz-toned blues-rock to swamp and more, all of which is delivered in three-piece format with backing from Terence Higgins, a Grammy-winning percussionist best known for his work with Ani DiFranco, Warren Haynes and Tab Benoit, and bassist Eric Vogel of Big Sam’s Funky Nation fame.
But thanks to his rich voice and stellar work on the guitar, the true star here is Eric himself.
“Don’t Hold Back,” a deep-in-the-pocket rocker, opens the action. As the title infers, the message is simple: Give it all you’ve got in giving up your love and opening your mind and heart to the effort. Johanson drives the idea home with a stinging guitar hook throughout. The title track, “The Deep and the Dirty,” follows the same pattern, announcing that even though he’s from the Bible Belt, Eric’s no saint and he can raise some hell as he treats his lady right through the night if that’s her desire.
“Beyond the Sky” opens quietly but quickly builds in intensity as finds Johanson searching for the warm embrace of his lady love, and he’s gambling that he’ll find her by hitting the open road while “Undertow” opens with rapid-fire drumbeats and some tasty fretwork before erupting into a rocker that wonders how far a person wants to go in the troubled water. It gives way to “Just Like New,” a sweet acoustic number that expresses the singer finds that he achieves more by letting go when the thoughts streaming through his head make him blind to the right path to go.
Next up, Johanson’s going to take a ride to the “Elysian Fields” and remain on that higher plane on a night with a crescent moon and a storm about to blow. A funky beat propels the hard-driving “Galaxy Girl,” which describes his lady, a woman with a gift for burning up the singer’s mind along with a smile like the morning sun. Then things quiet temporarily and go acoustic again for “Familiar Sound,” a tune based on Eric’s sojourn Down Under and the realization that troubles follow you no matter how far you go.
“Gets Me High” offers up another tribute to a lady who serves up an impossible-to-refuse invitation when the singer finds himself “halfway to nowhere and in a fog.” It flows seamlessly into “Stepping Stone,” a song that yearns for some kind of success despite working fingers to the bone. Two more pleasers — “Borrowed Time,” which finds Eric haunted by troubling dreams despite taking advantage of every chance he’s given in life, and “She Is the Song,” a ballad that worships someone who’s “a vision of a world unseen” – bring the disc to an upbeat close.
If your taste runs to blues with bite, you’ll love this one.
