Album
Eric Johanson
Live In Mississippi
Ruf (label)
21 March 2025 (released)
5 d
Blues as a genre was always best appreciated live. Most of the original artists developed their songs in front of the crowd and the spirit of the music was always enhanced by the feedback from an ecstatic audience.
Eric Johanson has been growing as a Bluesman over the years. His breakthrough came in ’23, with the ‘The Deep And The Dirty’ album topping the Billboard charts and his first European tour behind the album.
This new release was recorded live at Ground Zero in Biloxi.
“I want Live In Mississippi to make people feel like they're at our show,” says the Louisiana-born bandleader.
“Whether they've just seen the band and want to take a piece of that home with them, or they’ve never seen us perform at all, I want it to bring across the energy and emotion of the live show.”
The result is superb. Johanson plays a wicked slide guitar, as well as more regularly picked, and as a vocalist he is definitely one of the most listenable to, clear and tuneful but still carrying emotion.
“I'm really thrilled with how Live In Mississippi turned out,” says Johanson. “The great thing about making a live record is you just play your heart out at the show, and the record captures where you are at that moment in your life. You don't have a chance to overthink or re-do anything – or at least you shouldn't. I just focus on sharing an experience with the people in the room, and I think the listener at home can feel that…”
There are 5 songs from ‘The Deep And The Dirty’ in this set along with a brilliant version of ‘I Walk On Gilded Splinters’ – pitched somewhere between Dr John’s deep and dense New Orleans miasma and Humble Pie’s straight out rock. He also has an intense and dark ‘Hard Time Killin’ Floor Blues’ in his canon that just hits you between the eyes.
My favourite number is ‘Changes The Universe’, a slow Blues with all the emotion you can get from a guitar, reminding me a lot of Ian Parker’s guitar playing while he was with Ruf.
It’s an excellent album, well recorded and with some fine content. I think it gets over the essence of a great live show and I will definitely be looking out for him when next he treads these shores.
Eric Johanson has been growing as a Bluesman over the years. His breakthrough came in ’23, with the ‘The Deep And The Dirty’ album topping the Billboard charts and his first European tour behind the album.
This new release was recorded live at Ground Zero in Biloxi.
“I want Live In Mississippi to make people feel like they're at our show,” says the Louisiana-born bandleader.
“Whether they've just seen the band and want to take a piece of that home with them, or they’ve never seen us perform at all, I want it to bring across the energy and emotion of the live show.”
The result is superb. Johanson plays a wicked slide guitar, as well as more regularly picked, and as a vocalist he is definitely one of the most listenable to, clear and tuneful but still carrying emotion.
“I'm really thrilled with how Live In Mississippi turned out,” says Johanson. “The great thing about making a live record is you just play your heart out at the show, and the record captures where you are at that moment in your life. You don't have a chance to overthink or re-do anything – or at least you shouldn't. I just focus on sharing an experience with the people in the room, and I think the listener at home can feel that…”
There are 5 songs from ‘The Deep And The Dirty’ in this set along with a brilliant version of ‘I Walk On Gilded Splinters’ – pitched somewhere between Dr John’s deep and dense New Orleans miasma and Humble Pie’s straight out rock. He also has an intense and dark ‘Hard Time Killin’ Floor Blues’ in his canon that just hits you between the eyes.
My favourite number is ‘Changes The Universe’, a slow Blues with all the emotion you can get from a guitar, reminding me a lot of Ian Parker’s guitar playing while he was with Ruf.
It’s an excellent album, well recorded and with some fine content. I think it gets over the essence of a great live show and I will definitely be looking out for him when next he treads these shores.
