Bio

Eric Johanson is a multiple Top 10 Billboard-charting guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose original music stretches beyond traditional genre lines of blues, rock, and progressive Americana, all while feeding off the groove and history of his home in New Orleans. His five most recent solo releases – The Deep And The Dirty, Live at DBA: New Orleans Bootleg, Covered Tracks: Vol. 1, Covered Tracks: Vol. 2, and Below Sea Level – all reached top-ten positions on the Billboard blues charts, and Guitar Player Magazine recently listed him as one of 25 Top New Blues Guitarists (Jan 2023 issue).  

As a touring performer, Johanson’s solo festival appearances include the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, Las Vegas Big Blues Bender, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Crescent City Blues Fest, and others. He and his band have appeared in more than 100 cities across the United States. As a guitarist, Johanson has been a special guest to artists such as Cyril Neville, Anders Osborne, the Neville Brothers, Samantha Fish, Tab Benoit, JJ Grey, Eric Lindell, and a host of other torch bearers of modern roots music.

A self-taught child prodigy, Johanson grew up in Louisiana, where he was gifted his first guitar at age five. By his pre-teen years, his love of the blues records played in his childhood home, by artists like Freddie King, Robert Johnson, and Buddy Guy, merged with his love for hard rock records by the likes of Metallica, White Zombie, Soundgarden, and Nine Inch Nails. Throughout his teenage years, he performed frequently with older blues musicians, generating for himself considerable acclaim as a budding regional star. What would prove to become a lifelong exploration of his varied musical interests began in his college years in New Orleans, where he delved into progressive rock and beat-making while simultaneously developing his blues voice. After graduating from the University of New Orleans, Johanson spent several years in New Zealand before being called back to his home, and the improvisational, extemporaneous nature of roots music in the Crescent City. 

Johanson has since established himself as an in-demand guitarist and guest performer for some of the most prolific names in New Orleans’ diverse roots music scene. In 2017, blues rock icon Tab Benoit took notice and signed Johanson to his Whiskey Bayou Records label. That same year, Johanson released his Benoit-produced debut solo album, Burn It Down, which led to two years of national touring with Benoit. 

In 2023, Johanson has been burning up the road supporting Samantha Fish on cross-country tours as well as headline dates, and on July 28, 2023 Johanson released his highly anticipated 3rd studio album, The Deep And The Dirty.