Follow Friday: David Ryan Harris, Jesse Johnson, Pears and More.

David Ryan Harris

David Ryan Harris is an Illinois-born, Atlanta raised, and Los Angeles dwelling singer-songwriter who oozes with some of the best rhythm, blues, and rock tone and feel we’ve seen in awhile. It’s no wonder he has been playing with artists like John Mayer, Dave Matthews and Santana since 2002.

David credits the music of Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Prince, blended with his appreciation for thrash metal and more, for creating his wide range of guitar chops, but the one thing that binds it all together is David’s knack for feel and groove. David not only has been writing and releasing his own solo music but he has had varying success with groups like Follow for Now in the 80s and 90s, Brand New Immortals in the early 2000s, and has ultimately supported artists like John Mayer, Collective Soul, Dave Matthews and more. This wide-range of musical demands met Harris’ capabilities perfectly while he himself has a hard time pinning down what his signature sound is.

Musically and in terms of capturing the music, I always try to remember the idea of capturing moments that aren’t necessarily perfect. It’s not about making sure you have the perfect amp for this particular part, it’s about capturing the emotions. A lot of times people go past the emotional part to get the perfect thing and they miss the performance. Performances are more important than being perfect.

David Ryan Harris to Behind the Set List

Make sure to check out David’s music below and catch him on the road in 2021.

David Ryan Harris uses Power Slinky electric guitar strings and Earthwood Silk and Steel acoustic guitar strings.

Jesse Johnson

From Prince and D’Angelo, to Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul, Jesse Johnson has been lending his funk rock guitar chops to some of the most impressive names since the early 1980s.

After moving to Minneapolis in 1981, Jesse Johnson met and played guitar with Morris Day which led to Day becoming the lead singer of Prince’s funk rock group The Time. While playing with The Time, Jesse found a home for his unique brand of hard rock and funk guitar playing. Jesse Johnson and The Time helped define the sound of the generation, blending funk riffs with Hendrix-style blues soloing and phrasing. Johnson eventually went on to form his own band with the release of a debut album, Jesse Johnson’s Revue, which held multiple successful singles throughout the 80s and into the early 90s. Johnson also found success in contributing to soundtracks of the era, including Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club and more. Now, Jesse has been lending his funk rock riffs to D’Angelo both as a touring musician and playing on the album. Johnson’s knack for heavier blues/rock riffs and soloing fit right in with D’Angelo‘s modern and heavy beat R&B.

People think blues is a 12-bar thing. I hear the blues in everything – especially early Van Halen. Blues is a feeling. Anybody can pick up a guitar and play those notes, but very few people ever arrive to get the English behind those notes. You can’t artificially conjure the feeling that should accompany those notes.

Jesse Johnson to Vintage Guitar Magazine

Check out some of Jesse’s solo efforts below and while you’re at it, check out The Time and D’Angelo‘s music to hear Jesse doing his thing.

Jesse Johnson plays Extra Slinkys and Super Slinky Cobalt electric guitar strings.

Pears

A full assault of the band’s signature hardcore with melodic tongue and cheek, PEARS has released their third full-length album via Fat Wreck Chords. The high energy, always surprisingly catchy band takes on a different creative approach on their self titled album, with tracks like “Naptime” which wavers between pop and group chant hardcore. The band’s ability to navigate explosive punk with witty pop melodies is like being on a rollercoaster you can’t help but have fun on. The New Orleans based quartet shows no signs of stopping, taking their D.I.Y cred to new heights, and never being afraid to own who they are. 

I feel like this record is really just us digging our heels into our own identity… the choice to self-title this album is clearly deliberate. It’s the band’s way of saying, “You know us, and you know why we’re here.”

Zach Quinn (vocalist) to Hard Noise

Make sure to listen to PEARS below and keep up to date with their latest projects and tour dates on their website.

PEARS parties with Ernie Ball Not Even Slinky, Skinny Top Heavy Bottom, and Burly Slinky electric guitar strings, and Regular Slinky bass strings. 

Slift

Ernie Ball is proud to extend a welcome to the family to SLIFT. Rooted in deep instrumental grooves and driving guitar, their riffs come down the mountain like an avalanche of psychedelic-fuzz fog covering the valley below. Drenched in distant echoes and grimey bass tones, there is no escaping a headbang when the doom-ridden apocalyptic riffs hit you over their cosmic backbeats. Jean Fossat’s voice barrels through like an inter-dimensional ancient ancestor when he isn’t digging into a heavy riff or saturated melody on his guitar. SLIFT‘s lastest album released in 2020, UMMON has received much love amongst the prog community. Check out their explosive live performance on KEXP above to get a feel for yourself.

The influences change and we no longer have the impression on our side of finding our sound. It’s like all the bands, the more you advance, the more you mature your sound and the more you know precisely what you want to do.

Jean Fossat to Rock Fanch

Listen to SLIFT below and make sure to keep up with them on their official website here.

SLIFT creates their vibe with Ernie Ball Custom Gauges .012 -.054 and Not Even Slinky electric guitar strings.

MR SIPP

Castro Coleman, aka MR SIPP, aka “The Mississippi Blues Child,” has been playing guitar since he was 6 years old, but it wasn’t until he won the 2014 International Blues Challenge and the 2014 Gibson Best Guitarist Award, that MR SIPP really started to turn heads. Born in Mississippi, Sipp has been honing his chops in Delta Blues his entire life. After spending 22 years in the Gospel Music Business as an artist and producer, he began to push his own music and played live with challenges transitioning from church music into secular.

When you play C in church, it’s the same C you play in the blues. When you play C in the blues, it’s the same C you play in rock and roll.

MR SIPP to Blues Blast Magazine

Bouncing from slow hand classic and heavy blues, to upbeat tracks, MR SIPP floats effortlessly between them all. When he’s not out playing, Coleman also works with the Mississippi Arts Commission, teaches blues music, and was even cast in the James Brown biopic, Get on Up, as the lead guitarist. MR SIPP has released five full-length albums between his solo efforts as The Mississippi Blue Child and his group, The True Believers. Check out his tracks below and get well informed to his Delta Blues.

MR SIPP achieves his signature blues sound with Ernie Ball Regular Slinky electric guitar strings.