Any Johnny A. fans here?

[PurpleSport]

Sorry for yet another non-EB topic today...but I saw this guy last Friday nite here in NYC and he's just fantastic! Great tone and taste, didn't play a bum note the whole night, and definitely a graduate of the "make every note count" school.

This guy's been on the road as a sideman for years, is picking up a great word-of-mouth following, and deserves to be heard by a wider audience. He's not a shredder or a hard-rocker, but has great chops all his own. Like a certain guitarist or two from Austin, you can hear all his influences but he's not a clone of any because he's melded 'em into his own distinct style.

For the uninitiated, check him out at:

www.johnnya.com


(FYI, continuing the theme of my other postings today, his name is federally trademarked too!)

 

[peter71]

I had heard his clips on the Favored Nations site, and though he rocked. Definately a great guitarist with a great sound. I am anxious to get his CD, as soon as my wife lets me get CD's...

 

[Derek]

Yes, Johnny A is a great player and a great guy.
We had the oppurtunity to have a impromtu jam at our booth with Johnny A and his bassist Jesse Bastos. Johnny ran through all kinds of chord melody riffs as his bass player complimented him with cool underlying bass fills. The 2 work great together and are worth seeing live for anyone who enjoys guitar music. I spoke with Johnny a couple of weeks ago and the band plans on touring a lot this year behind there new CD released on Favored Nation.

Derek

 

[peter71]

That is awesome! Does he play your strings or anything? I think he is a semi hollow guy as far as guitars go right?

Maybe you should make a semi Johnny A guitar, so that my dream of having a MM Semi Hollow Body guitar could become a reality...

 

[Derek]

I know he has a Gibson Model and endorses those. I am not sure what strings he uses. Jesse
uses are new Bongo bass and loves it.

Thanks

Derek

 

[PurpleSport]

Maybe you should make a semi Johnny A guitar, so that my dream of having a MM Semi Hollow Body guitar could become a reality...

Too late, I'm afraid....he's been a Gibson guy for a while now, and they just worked up a Johnny A. model for him in the last year that's getting lots of accolades - he had nothing but 3 onstage at the show the other nite. He used several different Gibson models on his 2 records and before he usually used a couple of LPs for a lot of his live and studio work, but apparently he doesn't need to anymore - the new signature one seems to cover the whole gamut.

What's really amazing is that much of his stuff sounds like it's single coils (technically, it is - he used soapbars a lot) and Fender amps. But he manages to make humbuckered Marshall-ized guitars twang like a Tele then sound like a full-on Wes Montgomery jazzbo at the drop of a hat. Truly amazing command of his tones, and you can barely see when he hits a pedal or switches a pickup.

He's gone on record as saying he got tired of the "F" sound about 10 years ago, so him working with EBMM probably wouldn't have been in the cards. He seems to like those soapbars, tho, so it would be interesting to see him on an AL or an Axis Sport...but I'm sure he'd sound just the same. It's all in the hands, ya know....

 

[musikarero]

I like the tune that goes like....da da..da...da da..da da.....don't know the name of the song but it went like that

 

[KungFu Grip]

Wow! Hell of a player. I'm gonna have to pick some of his stuff up.

 

[GWDavis28]

Johnny A is the stones!!!!!!

He's a local guy for me, I always seem to miss him playing, but I've heard him play 100 times on different local radio stations.

Glad to see that our are starting to get into his stuff.

Just my $.02 worth.

Sorry, but here is the link for the Johnny A model guitar.

http://www.johnnya.com/sig_flash.htm

 

[hendmik]

I picked up his new CD a few weeks ago and love it. Instrumental guitar had been getting a little boring to me lately in how much everyone wanted to do the Vai thing. Johnny A can turn the styles on and off like a switch. Counrty, jazz, surf rock, blues, funk, it's all there. I swear I even heard some Zappa on his new CD.

That said, his new CD feels more like a sequel to his last disc. He revisits many of the same melodies and all in all makes it feel like he almost re-did his last release, to add some maturity and a finished sheen on it. Not to say I didn't enjoy it, I jsut felt like I had heard it before.

However, the production value on his last disc was awful. This time you can hear a bit of the money behind the production and it is just a tighter release all together.

And musikarero, you're thinking of "Oh Yeah!" Hardest song to learn... He loves the tri-tone thing.