The darkened stage explodes into light as guitarist Johnny A. touches off a cool and creamy A13th chord opening his gig at Birdy's in Indianapolis, IN with an original composition entitled "Up In The Attic." Johnny A. and his band are tight and the sound is clean and bright. What grabs the listener however is the tone, a remarkable, retro sound achieved by judicious use of a Bigsby tremolo and Johnny's deft playing ability. This is one smooth cat who knows how to play and he does play well, stunningly so.

For the uninitiated who have not heard of him or had a sample of his instrumental CD Sometime Tuesday Morning, they are certainly missing something very special in the world of guitar-featured music. There is a commonality among Johnny A. fans that find his music fresh, tasteful, and very, very cool. Guitar players especially find great appeal in his style and approach. Since signing with Steve Via's label – Favored Nations Entertainment – Johnny A. has been a road warrior, burning up the pavement working hard to reach the masses. His schedule bounces him from Boston one day, to Memphis the next to Minnesota the day after. Remarkably even with the long road trips, and the routine of being a travelling band Johnny A. loves it. And why not, his CD is doing well and in this era of cookie-cutter bands filled with screams and rhymes, Johnny A. let's his guitar do the talking for him. Experience Hendrix caught the artist just before his July 30th Indianapolis gig.

EXPERIENCE HENDRIX: Your sound is very different from the mainstream, how would you describe your music?

JOHNNY A.: For me it's just a very natural sound for me, it's just a combination of all my influences growing up; from Jimi Hendrix, to Chet, to The Beatles, whoever. So when I play songs like "Tex Critter" or "Walking West Ave" or any of the songs off of Sometime Tuesday Morning they all sound like the same genre to me, even though I know most people may think, "well it's kind of a bluesy thing, or a rock thing or a country thing."

I think the trick of making all those different elements stick together, the glue if you will, is to have a voice that's strong enough, so that whatever style you may be playing it's your own style. I think a lot of great players can do that, for example when you here Chet Atkins play whatever he plays, be it a Beatles tune or one of his own tunes he sounds like Chet. That is the key for me, I'm just trying to develop a sound that is a signature to myself and maintain the ability to cross genres and it still works. It can be a struggle and I work on it everyday.

EH: How long have you been a professional musician?

JA: For the past 25 or 30 years or so. The reality is that I've played music all my life and I was fortunate enough to have a support base that permitted me to be a full-time musician. As far as taking the full plunge, being a touring musician and recording artist, that all started about 1995 or '96. I've been touring on my own supporting this music since 1999.

EH: What motivated you to move away from being a sideman or session player?

JA: Essentially it's come full circle for me. When I first started playing I was a bandleader and a songwriter. Not being able to get that brass ring and strike a record deal… but getting close on several occasions, but never hitting the jackpot I decided to abandon the bandleader thing and just become a "hired gun". That's when I hooked up with people like Bobby Whitlock and Peter Wolf. It was great because I learned a lot because I took on a different role. It was rewarding and educational and I fed off a lot of other people's ideas and influences. But eventually after six years the person I was touring with, Peter Wolf, stopped touring and I needed to survive. I can sing but I'm not as good a singer as I am a guitarist so rather than put a band together with a lead singer, which I didn't want to do because in many cases bands take on the sound of the singer. I decided that I wanted my guitar to be the voice of my band.

It was just one of those things where I was playing ever other Monday night in my hometown and was given the opportunity to record a CD. My credo is that if you can't do something to the best of your ability being it playing, technical, or equipment don't do it. Consequently I set some very high standards for myself when I had the chance to record. In the end thanks to some great friends who assisted me with great gear, good studio rates, etc., I was able to make Sometime Tuesday Morning without having to compromise. It wasn't like I thought it would be a million selling record, I just wanted to make certain that if I never got to record another note I wanted this record to be something I could be proud of. I didn't want to think back and say, "I should have done this or that." I just basically made no compromises from a recording, mixing or stylistic standpoint.

EH: You remarked that Jimi Hendrix was one of your influences, when did you discover the music of Jimi Hendrix?

JA: It was '66 or '67 and I heard "Purple Haze" on the radio and it was simply amazing. I went out and bought Are You Experienced and I remember being in my basement with the black light on listening to it. It just blew my mind. I remember hearing the opening to "Foxey Lady" and not evening knowing that that was a guitar, but thinking it was some kind of electronic computer chatter, it was so different, it just couldn't be a guitar. I really never knew how that sound was made until I saw him live. It was just a total jaw dropping experience the first time I put that record on.

EH: When did you have the opportunity to see Jimi Hendrix?

JA: I tell the story live when I'm on stage because I do a crazy version of "The Wind Cries Mary" which is nothing like the original but it's a way for me to kind of tip my hat to a great teacher. I got to see him just when Axis: Bold As Love came out which was in a little place in Framingham, Massachusetts called the Carousel Theater (August 25, 1968). It was basically a tent, it was outdoors and the capacity was about 800 or so, it was very small.

My mother purchased tickets because she knew I was a fanatic about Hendrix. So we went to the show and being in a tent theater, it was a round stage so he played in the round. I was very excited because I appeared I had good seats, maybe 10 or 12 rows back. The problem however turned out to be behind the amplifier stacks. At the time of course Jimi was using two Marshall stacks and I was directly behind them and knew I wasn't going to see anything and I was very disappointed.

During the intermission between the bands, there were three playing that night, Soft Machine, a band called Eire Apparent and The Jimi Hendrix Experience I spoke with the guitar player from Eire Apparent, I don't remember his name but I know he used a white Stratocaster with a Telecaster neck on it. In any case, he was very friendly and he was very sympathetic to how much I wanted to see Jimi. Considering how unfortunate I was in seat locations, he was kind enough to walk me past all of the security guards and he put me right in the orchestra pit directly in front of where Jimi would be playing.

The only thing in the orchestra pit besides me was road cases and covers to amps. I remember seeing the cases marked with something like "J.H. Exp". I essentially sat with my chin on the stage right in front of Jimi Hendrix. I can remember he started with an instrumental version of "Sunshine Of Your Love," he did all the essentials, "Red House," "Foxey Lady," "Little Wing." I remember that he was wearing all black with a ruffled shirt and his bell-bottom pants flared at the knee. It was simply phenomenal.

EH: Your own tone is very unique, do you work hard to try not to sound like everyone else?

JA: No, that's not what I'm really not trying to sound unlike anyone else, I'm just trying to uncover the tone that I hear in my head and in my soul. It's something I work at every single day. I'm happy with the sounds I have on my records and while I don't listen to it every day I'm very satisfied with the work. As for the live show I'm constantly working on my tone. Some nights I think it's good and other nights I can use the same settings and it's just not doing it for me. All of us who are tone fanatics really are driven to sing with the best possible voice. It's really an endless search. For example I've spoken to Eric Johnson about this and it's the same thing for him. I'm never satisfied and I think that once I am satisfied that's when I'll start to deteriorate.

EH: How have things been since Favored Nations picked you up?

JA: It's been wonderful, you know Steve Vai has been a great friend as well as a big supporter to my music and very inspirational for me to keep going. He's very interested in me building a catalog and I couldn't think of anyone who has been more supportive. He telephoned me on my birthday and that's when he told me he had been turned on to Sometime Tuesday Morning and that he wanted to distribute it. We've been successful together and since then I've signed a deal to do three additional records. He seems to be committed to me to help me develop my career and I couldn't ask for more.

EH: Regarding your choice of guitars you seem to prefer Gibson guitars equipped with a Bigsby.

JA: Yes, I'm very impressed with Gibson guitars and I used several different guitars on my CD. Most of the record was done with a Gibson ES-295 and I really do prefer a Bigsby [tremelo] because it's very expressive in a subtle way. I like subtle things and I think a whisper is louder than a scream. That's how I feel about the Bigsby tailpiece it's a very subtle romantic sound and it's a sound that I like listening to. Many guitarists have used it and perhaps is a throw-back thing even though I'm not trying to sound retro but it's just a harder tailpiece to work. A PRS or a Fender tailpiece is very sensitive and almost over bend. For my music I'm just trying to add a little shimmer and expression.

As for Gibson guitars thing, I switched back to Gibson in 1993. When I was a kid I owned several various guitars but my first real guitar was a Les Paul Deluxe, which I still own and which Les Paul actually signed for me on the back! Though the years I played a lot of different guitars and for a time I played Strats and Tele's trying to get that quintessential Fender tone. I mean there are some undeniably great tones, Jimi's tone, Jeff Beck's tone, and others. But there came a time for me when Stevie Ray Vaughan was very successful and obviously Stevie listened to a lot of Hendrix and I remember people would come up to me an say, "Hey, you must really listen to a lot of Stevie Ray Vaughan" but that wasn't the case. I took it as a compliment because he is an awesome player.

However, there was this point in time where he had such an impact on guitar players that everyone was using strats and you couldn't go to a blues jam or play a gig without seeing white strats and that specific strat tone. Personally I just started to OD on it and I was into something else. For a long time Gibson didn't make good guitars and they started to make great guitars back in 1993 when they started the historic collection. I picked up a gold-top in 1993 and then my first flame top in 1994.

In 1995 Gibson started to endorse me and at the time I was playing with Peter Wolf who has an R&B base, well he took me to school and I started to realize that a lot of these early R&B records were recorded with Gibson guitars. So it was very coincidental with me overdosing on the Fender guitar and being turned on to the fact that so many early artists used Gibsons, plus the fact that they were making great guitars again, I just got back into Gibsons. And I love them! When I recorded Sometime Tuesday Morning I was looking for a specific sound and a Gibson 295 fit the bill. I did use Les Pauls and several other Gibson guitars on the recording. I think the history of the product line and the people who use them from all genres speaks very highly of the guitars. I'm honored to be associated with that company.

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