Craig Erickson Project
"Shine"
Grooveyard Records

Cedar Rapids native Craig Erickson has been compared to guitar icons from Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jeff Beck, and while this is pretty elite company, when you hear the first 15 seconds of his latest CD Shine (Grooveyard Records), you know what the fuss is all about. The disc opens with the blistering solo guitar work that has defined Craig both a local and international talent. He has completed five solo albums, toured France, England and the US and contributed his fiery licks to numerous projects--including a co-writing stint with Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple and Trapeze fame.

For blues/rock enthusiasts, Shine is bread-and-butter with lots of jam. Sixty-eight minutes of scorching guitar work strafe down on the disc's 13 tracks, Erickson's Stratocaster providing the heavy firepower. His repertoire mixes everything from standard blues chops to lightning-fast fretting, throwing in an occasional stomp on the wah-wah pedal to capture that elusive Hendrix trademark sound. Craig's guitar virtuosity is so evident that you get the feeling he could turn the juice up at any time and leave you standing in a cloud of sonic dust.

Rob Lamothe (ex-Riverdogs) provides strong vocals on six of the 13 tracks and Glenn Hughes contributes his soulful pipes to a rendition of "Wild Dogs," a Tommy Bolin cover (Bolin, a Sioux City native, was best known as the guitarist who replaced Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple and is cited as a major influence by Erickson).

Craig also pays homage to Hendrix via a dreamy version of "Angel." The only weak link on this disc is the lyrics-but one can easily forgive when the riffage is so solid. The Craig Erickson Project's live shows don't disappoint either, where material from Shine highlights the track record of an exceptionally gifted guitarist whose work promises to light up stages for years to come. Catch them this Friday atIowa City's Q-Bar and Feb. 2 at the Eastside Maidrite in Cedar Rapids

---Joe Wilford
Icon Magazine - Critic's Pick - 2001