Article Contributed by Gratefulweb
Published on 2026-09-10
Eric Johanson has never been interested in choosing between the raw emotional pull of the blues and the freedom to take it somewhere stranger, heavier, and entirely his own.
On The Open Bayou, due October 16, 2026, through his newly launched Levee Ward Records, Johanson leans further into that freedom. Self-produced and captured as a power trio over three days while on tour, the album moves through massive fuzz riffs, expressive slide guitar, trance-like rhythms, and dreamlike psychedelic stretches without losing the emotional directness at the center of his writing.
The album opens a new independent chapter for Johanson, who has spent years building his audience on the road in the U.S. and abroad. His 2023 album The Deep And The Dirty reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Blues Albums chart, while Live In Mississippi, released by Ruf Records in March 2025, captured the volatility and improvisational force of his touring band onstage.
Johanson produced The Open Bayou himself and is releasing it through his newly formed Levee Ward Records, distributed by Amplified. The move reflects a desire not simply to own the record, but to protect the instincts behind it.
“My north star is what feels true and exciting to me,” Johanson says. “Once you start wondering what a label, a producer or somebody on your team is going to think, part of you steps outside the music and starts trying to explain it. With this record, I didn’t explain anything. I followed the ideas all the way through.”
For The Open Bayou, Johanson wanted the immediacy of his live band to carry into the studio. Bassist Will Repholz and drummer Jake Gartenstein joined him for the core sessions, recorded during only three days off from touring and split between Split Window Studios in Texas and Dyerville Recording in Rhode Island, the studio owned and operated by Eric Hanson, longtime guitar technician for Warren Haynes.
“We were on the road, so the band was already operating on instinct,” Johanson says. “I brought the ideas in, we found the pulse of each song and we went after it. I didn’t want to lose that by turning everything into a construction project.”
To shape the album’s sonic identity, Johanson worked closely with Bill Skibbe, whose work has helped define the sound of Jack White’s recent studio albums, as well as records by The Raconteurs, The Kills, Jon Spencer, and others. Skibbe mixed and mastered The Open Bayou, working with Johanson for weeks to push the weight and impact of the performances without sanding down their raw, live-wire edge.
“We connected over the idea that a lot of blues-influenced music has become too clean and too safe,” Johanson says. “We wanted this record to feel immediate and physical. The guitar needed to feel thick, the drums needed to hit you, and the whole thing had to stay alive.”
The arrangements remain deliberately lean. There are no walls of doubled guitars or stacked vocal choirs manufacturing scale; the weight comes from Johanson on guitar and vocals, Repholz on bass, and Gartenstein on drums playing together as a single, responsive unit. The result draws deeply from the blues while stretching that language into heavier riffs, hypnotic movement, and less predictable terrain.
The first single, “Shake the Fever,” released August 28, is built around a massive fuzz riff and offers an early glimpse of those contrasts. “Alligator Smile,” the album’s swampy second single, arrives September 18.
On The Open Bayou, Johanson is not leaving his roots behind.
He is finding out how far they can reach.
Eric Johanson’s The Open Bayou arrives October 16, 2026, through Levee Ward Records, distributed by Amplified.
“Shake the Fever” — out now
“Alligator Smile” — September 18, 2026
Album Personnel
Eric Johanson — vocals and guitar
Will Repholz — bass
Jake Gartenstein — drums
Produced by Eric Johanson
Mixed and mastered by Bill Skibbe
Pre-save / pre-order: https://ffm.to/tob
