Published: October 6, 2000

As a teen, guitarist Richard Leo Johnson was inspired by an unmarked tape a friend had made featuring 12-string wizard Leo Kottke and fusion-jazz master John McLaughlin - later saying he thought it was just one remarkable artist doing it all. No wonder, then, that the music Johnson writes on his acoustic 6- and 12-string guitars echoes Kottke's percolating rhythms and McLaughlin's brainy soloing, but in a style that is all his own. Having just released his second major-label album, "Language," the 44-year-old Savannah resident is fast becoming the guitar phenom of the moment, earning raves in guitar trade magazines and comparisons to everyone from John Fahey (Washington Post) to Thelonious Monk (Billboard) to Jimi Hendrix (Playboy). What all the comparisons miss, however, is that Johnson's acoustic pieces are highly original blends of musical styles that fuse improvisational jazz with rock and New Age. Think, Keith Jarrett with a guitar. Using a series of odd tunings and turn-on-a-dime time changes, Johnson's fretwork is that rare combination of technique and "feel" that delights guitarists listening for technique and dazzles music lovers listening for soul.