Exhilarating ‘Soul-chedelic’ Guitarist Eric Tessmer Tours California and Texas Before Release of EP 2

Here’s a gilt-edged, music tip in two words — Eric Tessmer.

And, you heard it here.

If you want to get down on a night out at upcoming gigs in California and in Texas, grab some tickets where the Austin-based Eric Tessmer Band is performing. Then hold onto your hat because his fans, older and newer, get downright enthusiastic, i.e. “really wild” as Tessmer says. And, his musical tool of choice is a beautifully weathered '59 Fender Strat that wears its nicks and bruises as a badge of honor from touring North America and Europe, captivating audiences at Montreal Jazz Fest, Summerfest, and MusikFest.

Or, if you want to crank it at home and listen to some “soul-chedelic” — Tessmer’s own cocktail of R&B, soul and blues rock — then “drop a needle” on his latest (EP 1) or upcoming (EP 2) releases, and groove on a guy who pays homage to songwriter/guitarists Jimi Hendrix, Curtis Mayfield and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Tessmer is a modern progeny of this axis of virtuosity.

With a mischievous grin, he lives by personal haikus — like, “whatever you’re doing, you’re doing it right now” — while getting his music out there, keeping his head down, staying focused, making right connections, and, mostly “just writing songs that people want to listen to, man.”

Tessmer, who was named Eric James by his fellow guitar-playing father who himself was inspired by the fret brilliance of Clapton and Hendrix, was born surrounded by music. No wonder music is his life, as he cxplains:

My grandma, Willo, grew up in the Great Depression in rural Wisconsin and desperately wanted a guitar and ended up learning how to play. In her late teens, she joined the Army, traveled the world, and even ran an Air Base in WWII. Later, she got my dad, who grew up in the 60s, to take guitar lessons. My dad says there was always music going in their house, as she was into the Beatles, Chet Atkins, Hendrix, Cream — okay, she was a pretty cool lady. Dad says she’d wake him up by blasting the Beatles. When she passed away, she left me her whole record collection including original 45s, with Hendrix, Cream, and also Doris Day to Sinatra and Glen Campbell, she just loved music.

He says her eclectic tastes were “pretty mind blowing” and it influenced both his dad and him, adding:

When my dad was young, he bought a new ‘72 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe gold top guitar after he saw a photo of Jimmy Page playing one. So I grew up with this amazing looking and sounding Les Paul like it belonged to a king or something. But then Hendrix, Clapton and Stevie and Gilmour are all playing these Stratocasters, and once I got one, I never played anything else — me and my battered '59 Fender Stratocaster.

After arriving in Austin at age 19, Tessmer started playing with gospel choirs as he was too young to get into clubs, and he noticed that they wouldn’t think too much about stuff, they’d “open their mouths and start singing, not second guessing themselves.” In his twenties, he earned a reputation as one of the top live guitarists in Austin’s ‘city limits.’ He now admits it screwed with his head being compared to those past legends.

But he had an epiphany a couple of years ago when he also became sober:

I began focusing on what I wanted to say musically. Guitar music is great and gets people hepped up, but if that’s all you do, it can get boring. I really reconnected with music I really liked. I re-listened to Hendrix’s first album where he wrote 3-minute pop songs that were still psychedelic. And the Beatles were perfecting efficient short songs that killed. And no one’s done it better than that. Instead of being remembered as this guy who could really show off with a guitar, I wanted to take what I love somewhere new. I really dig that early Curtis Mayfield thing and also modern guys like John Legend — consummate songwriters with grooves that get people dancing. That’s what I’m aiming for, a soul-chedelic groove — opening myself up and becoming a musical conduit, you know. Not over-thinking it, just creating.

Tessmer says his first concert was Pink Floyd when he saw how lyrical ace guitarist Dave Gilmour was, and then decided at age 12 that “guitar was my thing.” Now, he’s also inspired by a longtime, Austin pal he used to co-bill shows with, Grammy award winner Gary Clark Jr.

We’ve been friends a long time, and he’s blown up right now. Gary’s new single is an electric cover of the Beatles’ ‘Come Together.’ And what he’s done is to show a bunch of Austin musicians that you CAN do it. It’s possible. Austin has also blown up the last few years, but when I got there it was a pretty small scene, and we didn’t realize that success was available on the level that Gary has taken it.

What’s next for Tessmer? Well, if an early mix of a new tune from EP 2 expected in the New Year — the explosive “Song & Dance” — is an indication, we’re catching an electric comet by its tail.

He enthuses:

Just tying to hone my sound, practice a lot, do as much songwriting as possible, getting out on the road and really testing how audiences respond. As for those guitar legends, I feel a connection because what they were doing is a spiritual thing — complete musical freedom, purity and honesty. That intangible but undeniable human element that makes music so amazing and such a great connector to us all worldwide.

So take that tip — Eric Tessmer has some voodoo thing going on.

Drop in on Tessmer on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and at his website for upcoming gigs like at Hotel Cafe in California and others in Texas.