During the pandemic, some people baked, others indulged in TV binge-watching. Eric Johnson emerged with two albums– The Book of Making and Yesterday Meets Today—featuring nine songs on each LP. The Grammy-winning, multi-genre guitarist took inventory—both emotionally and musically—delving into the many unfinished tracks, outtakes, demos, and sonic ideas in his archive to compile the 18 songs that ultimately ended up on the albums.
“I started pulling these recordings out of the vault at my studio. Some were professionally done, some were just scratch tapes, some were rehearsal recordings on cassette,” Johnson explains. The music spanned 25 years of “personal creations, thoughts and ideas that remained unfinished for many years.” The vast amount of work occupied Johnson’s time and mind during the darkest days of 2020-21, and six of the resultant 18 songs are being released prior to the two LPs shared July 29 release date. In some of the deeply personal music, Johnson discovered a “certain personal magic” and decided to allow song cuts to remain as they were initially created. Others were embellished; a few songs are new.
During the pandemic, some people baked, others indulged in TV binge-watching. Eric Johnson emerged with two albums– The Book of Making and Yesterday Meets Today—featuring nine songs on each LP. The Grammy-winning, multi-genre guitarist took inventory—both emotionally and musically—delving into the many unfinished tracks, outtakes, demos, and sonic ideas in his archive to compile the 18 songs that ultimately ended up on the albums.
“I started pulling these recordings out of the vault at my studio. Some were professionally done, some were just scratch tapes, some were rehearsal recordings on cassette,” Johnson explains. The music spanned 25 years of “personal creations, thoughts and ideas that remained unfinished for many years.” The vast amount of work occupied Johnson’s time and mind during the darkest days of 2020-21, and six of the resultant 18 songs are being released prior to the two LPs shared July 29 release date. In some of the deeply personal music, Johnson discovered a “certain personal magic” and decided to allow song cuts to remain as they were initially created. Others were embellished; a few songs are new.