Eric Johnson: talks about his new CD

Eric Johnson lets out a sound of profound relief and says that his new album is almost finished. "We have 12 cuts done, which means we're gonna be putting this CD out soon."

Those words are bound to be cause for celebration for Johnson's legion of fans across the globe who have been waiting anxiously for the follow-up to the guitarist's last studio effort, 2005's Bloom.

But Johnson thinks for a second, and then, in his soft, easygoing Texas drawl, says, "Of course, I do have another song I'm trying to work out. Maybe two. Hopefully, I'll nail those by the end of the week. Then the record will really be finished."

One gets the feeling that 'finished' is a subjective term for Johnson. The venerated musician, perhaps the closest thing to Stanley Kubrick the pantheon of guitarists has ever known, an artist willing to record, rerecord and ultimately scrap masters of songs in his unyielding and intensely personal pursuit of perfection, has released only five studio albums since his debut 32 years ago with 1978's Seven Worlds.

full interview