Review: Eric Johanson 'Covered Tracks Vol. 1'

Eric Johanson

By Mike O’Cull

New Orleans guitarist/singer/songwriter Eric Johanson absolutely slays his favorite cover tunes on his new record Covered Tracks: Vol. 1. Set to come out April 23rd, 2021, the album features the monstrously-talented Johanson reinventing, reinterpreting, and generally having his acoustic way with a carefully selected batch of songs by a diverse list of artists that includes Nine Inch Nails, Skip James, The Cardigans, Chicago, The Allman Brothers Band, and Taj Mahal. The record was a result of the touring lockdown brought to us all by the Covid-19 pandemic and grew out of a weekly livestream event Johanson started doing last year to remain plugged into his fans. Live-streaming gave him a chance to reconnect with songs from his past as well as requests that were brand-new to him. Johanson recorded his favorites on his own in his home studio and Covered Tracks: Vol. 1 was born.

Before being discovered by Louisiana blues/rock star Tab Benoit, Eric Johanson spent much of his life as a touring guitarist for Cyril Neville, and shared stages with Anders Osborne, JJ Grey, Eric Lindell, and The Neville Brothers. Benoit signed Johanson to his Whiskey Bayou Records imprint and released his debut solo effort, Burn It Down, in 2017. After touring as Benoit’s opening act for the next two years, Johanson signed with Nola Blue Records and dropped his second record, Below Sea Level, in September of 2020. Roots music legacy/legend Luther Dickinson produced the sessions at his Zebra Ranch Studios facility with typically blazing results. Thanks to the pandemic, Johanson was able to make a quieter, more personal album this time out that gives listeners new and old a fascinating glimpse into his musical makeup and history.

Cover song choices are wonderful statements of influence and culture for any musician and Johanson doesn’t disappoint in either department here. He opens the new record with a stripped-down, driving take on Chicago’s ageless horn rock anthem “25 or 6 to 4.” Johanson’s minimalist version emphasizes the rock songwriting lurking beneath that big horn arrangement that’s always on the radio somewhere and he gets the song to breathe in a whole new way. His guitar playing is sweet and strong in all the right places and his vocal performance is pure and true. It’s obvious that Johanson respects the classic rock tradition a song like this belongs to but it’s equally obvious that he hears it his own way.

Eric’s complete reimagining of Nine Inch Nails’ cynical rager “Head Like A Hole” is conceptual genius. Johanson turns the greatest industrial rock song ever into a chilling slide guitar swamp music lament and it’s mind-blowing on many levels. Taken at face value, it’s a killer retelling of one of the songs that turned the 80s into the 90s. Even cooler, though, is the culture cross that this track simply being here represents. Rendering Reznor’s formerly all-electronic anger jam as a free form acoustic slide guitar blues shows a vast familiarity and creative vision on Johanson’s part. That it can even be done, though, shows just how deeply blues culture has integrated itself into American music. Nine Inch Nails is no blues band but there’s an influence in this track that can be heard if it’s articulated the right way. Johanson brings it out for us and it’s stellar.

Willie Dixon’s canonical “My Babe” gets a Southern back porch slide workout from Johanson and will rock any house party anywhere. It’s fun to hear it as something besides a harmonica number and Johanson again extracts something new from an often-played song. He keeps the magic going on his soul-shaking acoustic redo of The Allman Brothers all-timer “Midnight Rider.” Eric strips it down to its bones and turns in a stirring guitar-and-vocal experience. Every bit of Covered Tracks: Vol. 1 matters but pay special attention to Johanson’s “House Of The Rising Sun” and “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues.” The record is tons of fun from end to end and belongs in your rotation. Take it for a test drive and it’ll follow you home.

Watch “Head Like A Hole”