BILLY’S ADVENTURES IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS; ERIC JOHNSON PART 1

Published by Billy Stull. August 16, 2024

Years ago when I owned and operated my now legendary Music store, Billy’s Band Aid, in Amarillo, I had a good customer from Hereford, TX that would tell me every time he came in about this new young guitar player from Austin that was phenomenal. I humored him but thought “I’ve seen lots of guitar players, from Freddie King to Jimi Hendrix, to Jimmy Page and in between”. But after a while I acquiesced. I told him that the next time Eric performed in Lubbock to let me know and I would schedule a trip to my Lubbock store and coordinate to be able to see him play. This guitar player was Eric Johnson. He had signed a contract with Bill Ham, manager of ZZ Top. After signing, Eric insisted on being in control of his recorded product, they disagreed and Eric had to wait out the 5 year contract to be able to accomplish his wishes. Meanwhile, Eric had a trio that would play a small regional circuit that included shows in Lubbock. The band and their manager would travel in a van pulling a trailer with all of their gear.

My customer told me of the upcoming date in Lubbock so my employee Mark and I went to Lubbock, did some managerial business at my Billy’s Band Aid store, and then went to the small club where Eric was playing. My customer had gone to the club in the afternoon and held a table right in front of the small stage where Eric would perform. So the first time I saw him play I was about 20 feet in front of him at the front row table. There were no recordings of him at the time (other than some bootlegs of his live shows which I had not heard) so I didn’t know what to expect. Eric played that first set and I was astonished. It was like I had never heard a guitar played before! His tones, His runs, songs, and techniques were something I hadn’t experienced before. I’m pretty sure I saw him cover 7 frets with a single chord!...

Mark and I had planned to watch the first set and then make the 100 mile drive back to Amarillo. After the set I asked Mark if he wanted to go or watch the second set. He said “I want to watch it! I said “I do too!”

During the second set, Eric’s manager, Joe, came up to the table and invited us backstage after Eric finished. He said Eric knew who I was (owner Billy’s Band Aid) and wanted to meet me. I said “Sure”. I was still in shock and was trying to process what I was seeing and hearing so was excited to meet Eric.

Backstage, Eric was super nice, soft spoken, warm, and instantly loveable (more than likeable). He said he heard about a 1959 Stratocaster I had at my Lubbock store. I told him I had one (rare) and he said how much did I want for it. I had just seen him play for the first time and was so impressed that I thought ” I want to just give him that guitar”, but then I realized I have to make some on all of my merchandise to prosper and stay in business and support it all. I was asking $1,500 (about 2.5k in today’s money) but I told him I would sell it to him for $800.

Eric said that he was going to do a 2 week tour of the Carolinas and he was looking for another Strat with that “Violin Tone”. He asked if he could try it out for the 2 week tour; said he would put new strings on, set it up and take great care of it, and ship it to me in Amarillo if it didn’t work out. I agreed and told him I’d call my store manager and arrange for him to get it.

After the 2 week tour, Eric called me and said he loved the guitar, but he was going to send it back to me because he didn’t have the $800.

Fast forward a few years -I was working with a Band from Albuquerque at the Norman Petty Studio in Clovis, I had sold Billy’s Band Aid and had taken over the operations for Norman’s widow and moved to Clovis N.M. I was recording and producing from the Downtown Studio built in a 500 seat movie theater. I told the Albuquerque band” Virtue” to go see Eric play on a date he had coming up in their town. They hadn’t seen him before. I told them His show was a “must see”, and if they got to speak to him after the show tell him I said “Hi” and that I was living in Clovis running the Norman Petty Studio.

That next Sunday, I was home and in the afternoon, I got a call. It was from Eric, They were passing through Clovis on the way to do a show in Lubbock. He said he had met Virtue and they gave him the message about where was and what I was doing. After a quick chat Eric asked” Do you still have that Strat? I have the 800 DOLLARS NOW!”

I had to tell him I sold it to a rare guitar dealer in California. It’s probably worth $50K or more now.

Eric has continued on to be hugely popular and successful.

He just released some new recordings and videos. Here‘s a link to one of my favorite new songs called Sound Track Life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hzK-ZL3rUo&t=237s

Much more on EricJohnson.com.    Order the Physical recordings and instantly get the digital versions for listening right away.

More Eric Johnson stories on Part 2 this week…