Premier Guitar has posted a rig rundown with Eric Johnson from his Up Close tour:

Johnson’s rig has remained pretty consistent over the past few years, but it’s interesting to see his acoustic set up in addition to his typical electric set up.

During their recent European tour, Black Country Communion recorded footage for a DVD titled Live Over Europe that will be released later this year. They have released a trailer for the DVD today, which you can view below:

I’ve heard a lot of good reports from the tour, so I’m looking forward to checking out the DVD.

UPDATE: Some new details about the release have been announced. Live Over Europe will be released as a two-DVD set on October 24, 2011. The track listing for the set is:

1. Revolution of the Machine
2. Black Country
3. One Last Soul
4. Crossfire
5. Save Me
6. The Battle For Hadrian’s Wall
7. Beggarman
8. Faithless
9. Song of Yesterday
10. I Can See Your Spirit
11. Cold
12. The Ballad of John Henry
13. The Outsider
14. The Great Divide
15. Sista Jane
16. Man In The Middle
17. Burn
18. Smokestack Woman

Bonus Features

-Forging BCC – The Making of Live Over Europe
-Photo Collection – Live On Tour
-Photo Collection – Behind The Scenes

I don’t listen to much metal these days, but Mastodon is one of the few metal bands that I still like, primarily because of their imaginative riffs and groove-oriented songs. Their new single “Curl of the Burl” from their forthcoming album The Hunter definitely falls within those parameters. I really dig the riffs in this track.

Friend to the blog Darren M. pointed me to this story on Imelda May on Spinner.ca, where she talks a little about how she met Jeff Beck, and how their collaboration came about:

How did you meet Jeff Beck?

Well, Darrel had already worked with Jeff before, through the Big Town Playboys. They did an album together. But Jeff didn’t know that we were together. Do you want to hear the full story?

Absolutely.

Well, I was walking through the park one day and I found a tiny little baby crow. And nobody would take it in, nobody would rescue it. I was ringing all these animal rescue centers and they said, “A crow?! No.” I didn’t know what to do, so I brought it home. And we fed him, Darrel and I. Darrel named him Dave. And we fed Dave by hand, fed him bread. It took me two hours to find out what to feed him. Darrel was online trying to find out. He eventually grew from a little bruised, little baldy thing into this beautiful grown crow. He used to sit on my shoulder and we’d bring him to gigs, because you can get someone to mind a dog, but you can’t get someone to mind a crow when you go on tour.

So we’d bring the crow with us and he’d sit on my shoulder and we had a little cat box for him, for in the car. We’d let him out and he’d fly around the gigs. I was trying to get him to fly. I wanted to release him back to the wild, because he was healthy. He started to get very tamed, though. He’d fly up into a tree, wait through the gig, fly back down. I’d go “Dave!” and then he’d fly back down to me. He wouldn’t go to anybody else. So he was pretty safe.

So then we had a gig and Jeff and his wife Sandra were there, a Jools Holland gig. And then it came about, Sandra his wife — this is a weird story, I know, but it’s weird how life works — Sandra rescues animals. And I didn’t know what to do with Dave, because he was getting too big. People would say, “Put him into a zoo or something,” and I’d say, “No way, I wouldn’t,” though he was getting huge. So she said, “I’ll take this crow, I’ll take him off you.” And then we got to chatting, and Jeff goes, “Oh, you two are together?” And then she said, “Come back to the house, I just happen to have an aviary free, if you want to have a look at it.” And then we went back to the house and had brandy and a little jam session and Jeff said we need to work together, that we should record and go on tour. [Laughs] I don’t know how to get around that full story!

So, if wasn’t for Dave the crow, we probably never would have worked together. It’s weird how life goes.

I love it. Also, if you’re into Imelda May’s music, she has recently released a new album, titled Mayhem.

Eric Johnson is a newly featured artist in the iPad app On the Path, an app that provides lessons in various styles taught by some of the greatest players in world. In addition to Eric Johnson, you can watch lessons taught by ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro, Jackson Browne, Scott Tennant, and blues guitarist Kenny Sultan, among others.

Johnson’s contribution is a 68-minute master class lesson teaching you how to play “Cliffs of Dover.” In the lesson, Johnson provides insight into his techniques, and there are 25 play-along sessions within the lesson. This looks like a unique opportunity to learn the song from Johnson himself. The On the Path app and the lesson (which costs $14.99) are available from the iTunes App Store.

The following video is a promo video for the app. In it, Johnson plays the piece with no bass or drum accompaniment.

This weekend, the Country Music Hall of Fame opened an exhibit in honor of Chet Atkins. The exhibit is titled Chet Atkins: Certified Guitar Player.

As part of the exhibit, Tommy Emmanuel will be giving a special performance saluting Chet Atkins on August 27, 2011 at 2:00 PM CST. If you can’t attend the event in person, the event will be streamed for free on the Country Music Hall of Fame website.

On September 27, Johnny Winter will release a new album titled Roots, which pays homage to the heroes that helped shape Winter’s own guitar style. The new album will feature a number of special guests, including Sonny Landreth, Derek Trucks, Edgar Winter, Warren Haynes, Susan Tedeschi, Jimmy Vivino, John Popper, Vince Gill, John Medeski, and Paul Nelson. That’s quite a collection of special guests.

The track listing for Roots is:

1. T-Bone Shuffle (featuring Sonny Landreth)
2. Further On Up The Road (featuring Jimmy Vivino)
3. Done Somebody Wrong (featuring Warren Haynes)
4. Got My Mojo Workin’
5. Last Night (featuring John Popper)
6. Maybellene (featuring Vince Gill)
7. Bright Lights, Big City (featuring Susan Tedeschi)
8. Honky Tonk (featuring Edgar Winter on sax)
9. Dust My Broom (featuring Derek Trucks)
10. Short Fat Fannie (featuring Paul Nelson)
11. Come Back Baby (featuring John Medeski)

(via Guitar Noize)

Harmony Central recently caught up with Eric Johnson while he’s out on tour in support of his latest album Up Close. In the video, Johnson talks about some of the songs he’s playing on this tour and some of his gear, including hints to an upcoming EJ signature Fuzz Face and Eminence speaker. The video also includes some excellent live footage. Check it out:

(via the Guitar Buzz)

Red Hot Chili Peppers will be releasing their upcoming album I’m With You on August 30. To promote the release, they are performing the entire album in sequence for the first and only time in an event that will be broadcast in select theaters across the world on August 30. Note that some theaters will get a delayed release of the concert. You can visit RHCPLiveHD.com to see if the concert will be shown in your area.

The Black Crowes guitarist Rich Robinson will be releasing a new solo album on October 11, titled Through a Crooked Sun. You can listen to three tracks from the new album by “liking” Robinson’s BandPage on Facebook. The three new tracks include “Gone Away,” “Lost and Found,” and “Hey Fear.”