This is a photo of Derek Trucks from 08/25/2008. Although he’s well known for playing an SG, he added an original 1959 Les Paul to his playing arsenal during his tour in 2008.

Photo credit: Copyright 2008 moemoephoto.com

Music Radar recently asked readers to submit questions for Eric Johnson. He has answered the questions, and Music Radar has posted his responses. One really interesting question and response was about Gibson potentially creating an Eric Johnson signature ES-335:

“That’s a really good question…and an intriguing one. The truth is, I had wanted to do that very thing, and there were some people at Gibson who were into the whole idea. When it got to the higher-ups, however, they kind of nixed it. It was pretty strange. I tried to get something going with the company. I talked to some of the people there, and they were like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it. Call this guy at this number.’ So I’d call up and…I don’t know, they just sort of dropped the ball on everything.

“Eventually, I blew the whole thing off, which was a drag because I love the red 335 from 1964. I was looking forward to trying to work with Gibson on some pickups and get going on a model that was really cool and special. What can I say? I guess they weren’t interested in pursuing it with me. [laughs] It happens.”

I’m really surprised that Gibson wouldn’t want to create an Eric Johnson signature ES-335, considering how successful his signature Strats seem to have been. Read the rest of the questions and EJ’s responses here.

Writer Jas Obrecht has recently posted an interview he did with Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1989. The interview was for a Jimi Hendrix cover story for Guitar Player magazine, so they discuss Hendrix as well as details about recording In Step. Here’s Stevie discussing why Jimi was becoming more popular at that time:

I think a lot of people need what he had to offer musically – there was a lot of honesty in it. Yeah, there was a lot of drugs and things, but people are looking back because they miss something that’s here. A lot of people tend to look somewhere else for something that they want to fix them. His music, though, is wonderful. It’s full of emotion. It’s full of fire. At different points it’s full of different things. It’s full of light and heavy things, you know, feelings. By “light feelings” I mean uplifting feelings, and “heavy” – well, you know what “heavy” means! It could mean anything from one day to the next, really. But I think a lot of people miss what his music was doing for them. A lot of new people are coming around to going, “What’s this?!” In very few instances has anybody surpassed what he did. And it should be popular! It’s a damn shame that he’s dead and gone, and now is when people are listening. But, at the same time, I’m glad they’re listening!

With SRV’s passing just a short year after the interview, I think much of what he said can now apply to his music.

Read the full interview here.

Jimmy Page is one of my favorite guitarists. There are a lot of iconic pictures of Page that have been made over the years, but I like this one because it puts the focus on his Les Paul:

Photo credit: This photo was apparently taken in Detroit in 1975. I’ve been unable to determine who took the picture. If you know, please let me know in the comments and I’ll update this post.

This is a photo of Sean Costello playing his beloved ’53 Goldtop Les Paul:

Photo credit: Copyright 2007 Trish Imbrogno

This photo of Stevie Ray Vaughan has always had an impact on me:

Photo credit: Copyright © 1997 – W.A. Williams

Guitar International has recently posted a new interview with Eric Johnson where he talks about the new album, including what caused the album to be delayed a month:

The CD has been done for four months. It’s a subjective way in which they make CD duplication. In my opinion they do it quicker with a different type of material and press the sound in quicker to the medium. I heard two test pressings and I said, “Wow what happened to the sound?” I was compelled to go back to back to the old school type of pressings they did 5 or 6 years ago. It sounds much more like my mastered CD now. It took us a while to figure what was going on.

It seems that our reference point of high quality of audio is changing with our technology. There is a lot of music that can prevail. It’s not saying that those types of music are not as good. There are certain types of electronic music or music with heavy drums where it’s not as noticeable. It shows up more on jazz or symphonic music that have different tonality. It’s an interesting point that depends on the music.

You can now listen to a preview of Eric Johnson’s upcoming album Up Close on his website. Based on the previews, I think the album’s going to be very good. I’m looking forward to listening to the whole album next week.

Harmony Central has posted some new videos with EJ talking about his studio, the new album, and the gear he used to record the album.

Eric Johnson Up Close Part 1 – Saucer Studios:

Eric Johnson Up Close Part 2 – Songs From Up Close:

Eric Johnson Up Close Part 3 – Guitars, Amps, Effects:

Be sure to watch all of part 3 for a special tone secret from EJ.