Eric Johanson
Splicing together six-string theatrics with a colorful throwback aesthetic and tempering his blues-rock with a hint of an exploratory edge, Eric Johanson carved out a reputation as an adventurous, blues-based musician with a series of albums he released in the 2020s, culminating in the release of The Deep and the Dirty in 2023.
A native of Alexandria, Louisiana, Eric Johanson started playing the guitar when he was a child. Absorbing blues and jazz in the household, he eventually gravitated toward metal and harder edge alt-rock towards a teen, yet he continued to play blues. As he got older, he frequently made the trek to New Orleans, where he eventually attended the University of New Orleans. While in college, he regularly played clubs, earning a foothold in the city's renowned blues scene. Hurricane Katrina put a stop to that in 2005. Losing most of what he had in the storm, he departed the States for New Zealand in 2006, spending four years woodshedding and gigging.
When he returned to New Orleans in 2010, he played sessions by such New Orleans stalwarts as Cyril Neville and spent time in Terrance Simien's band. By the end of the decade, he graduated to a solo act. Signing with Tab Benoit's Whiskey Bayou Records, Johanson released Burn It Down in 2017. Two years later, he teamed with his cousin Tiffany Pollack for Blues in My Blood, which appeared on Nola Blue Records, an imprint that also released his solo Luther Dickinson-produced record Below Sea Level in 2020. It was his first album to appear on the Billboard Blues Charts.
Johanson spent the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic recording and independently releasing a series of covers, first through acoustic live streams, then as the Covered Tracks albums in 2021. Live at DBA: New Orleans Bootleg, another self-released record, arrived in 2022, and he returned in 2023 with The Deep and the Dirty, an ambitious studio affair produced by Jesse Dayton.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
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Discography
19 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Come on in My Kitchen
Alastair Greene, Eric Johanson, Katarina Pejak
Blues - Released by Ruf Records on 8/03/2024
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Below Sea Level
Blues - Released by Nola Blue, Inc. on 18/09/2020
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
The Deep and the Dirty
Blues - Released by Ruf Records on 28/07/2023
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
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The Deep and the Dirty
Blues - Released by Ruf Records on 23/06/2023
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Blues Caravan 2024 (Blues Caravan 2024 Live)
Alastair Greene, Eric Johanson, Katarina Pejak
Blues - Released by Ruf Records on 20/09/2024
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Live at DBA: New Orleans Bootleg
Blues - Released by Eric Johanson on 18/02/2022
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Burn It Down
Blues - Released by Whiskey Bayou Records on 13/10/2017
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
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Covered Tracks: Vol. 2
Blues - Released by Eric Johanson on 4/06/2021
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Covered Tracks: Vol. 1
Blues - Released by Eric Johanson on 23/04/2021
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
One Way Out (Blues Caravan 2024 Live)
Alastair Greene, Eric Johanson, Katarina Pejak
Blues - Released by Ruf Records on 6/09/2024
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Live in Mississippi (Live)
Blues - To be released on 21/03/2025 by Ruf Records
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
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Down to the Bottom
Blues - Released by Nola Blue, Inc. on 24/07/2020
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Galaxy Girl (Live)
Blues - Released by Ruf Records on 24/01/2025
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Head Like a Hole
Blues - Released by Eric Johanson on 26/03/2021
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
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Changes the Universe (Live)
Blues - To be released on 14/02/2025 by Ruf Records
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo