(Austin, TX) The record summer temperatures in the Lone Star State are bound to get even hotter when Grammy-winning musical artist Eric Johnson and his band Alien Love Child with bassist Chris Maresh and drummer Bill Maddox hit the road for a round of four special Texas shows in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. The mini-tour comes in the wake of finishing the recording of his next studio album. Johnson will now be giving various tracks to three of the top engineers in contemporary music to mix: George Massenberg, Gary Paczosa and Andy Johns. “I’ve spent the last year and a half in the studio, and I really want to get up on stage and do some playing,” says Johnson. After a recent one-off Alien Love Child show in Dallas, “the band was sounding better than ever, so I want to keep that going.” Hailed as “one of the most respected guitarists on the planet” by Guitar Player magazine, Johnson formed Alien Love Child in the mid-1990s while recording his Venus Isle album to enjoy performing spontaneous music live as a break from and counterpoint to working in the studio. The band began with every other week club gigs in an Austin club and quickly drew packed houses of enthusiastic and appreciative fans, taking on a life of its own within Johnson’s varied and distinguished career. They recorded a live album in January 2000 at Antone’s nightclub in Austin, Live and Beyond, that was released later that year on Steve Vai’s Favored Nations label. Amazon.com hailed it for capturing the trio “at the peak of its powers” and its “groove-laden, flavorful yet delicate playing, and the band's tight, fluid jams.” The disc earned a Best Pop Instrumental Grammy nomination for the song “Rain” to go alongside Johnson’s Best Rock Instrumental Performance award and five other nominations. “The majority of the music we make is spontaneous and fueled by the emotion of the three of us playing together,” Johnson says. “It’s fun and the vehicle is a really cool way to just make music.”
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