Damon Johnson is one of the “unsung heroes” of Rock. Between his day job of being Alice Cooper’s lead guitarist, songwriting for the stars (Stevie Nicks, Santana/Steven Tyler and of course Alice Cooper have recorded his songs), leading a band called Brother Cane that released three very strong albums back in the 90’s, and his membership in a country rock band called Whiskey Falls, he’s still found time to produce a new album called Release which he was in Dallas to promote.

Songwriters that Johnson appreciated were also featured in the evening’s performances. The first mentioned was Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy. Johnson covered the weary sounding “Borderline.” He also performed a very touching version of Bob Dylan’s “Girl from the North Country” and a hard-driving cover of “Workin’ Man Blues” by Merle Haggard. One songwriter that Johnson greatly touted was Ray LaMontagne whose song “Jolene” was performed (and it was used to actually name Johnson’s daughter).

Johnson’s own creations made up the bulk of the evening and they were very much cheered on by the fans in audience. Most of the Brother Cane songs required alternate tunings on the guitar that made them lower and more menacing sounding. This was really apparent in songs like the “Lie in the Bed I Make”, “And Fool Shine On” and the biggest Brother Cane hit “Got No Shame.” These songs probably got the largest reactions from the crowd during the evening aside from Johnson’s fast strumming guitar theatrics on the aforementioned “Workin’ Man Blues” and his amazing cover of Alice Cooper’s “I’m Eighteen.”

The new songs from Release showed a lot stylistic variety and were consistently excellent. “Leave It All Behind” has some great Southern funk licks that draw you in. “Release (Hard Rain Comin’)” had a mixture of Dylan-like talking blues and pretty melodic choruses. “Because Our Love’s that Strong” had strong, heartfelt lyrics referring to troubled marriages that still managed to stay together despite the odds.

One of Johnson’s other side projects was a band called Slave to the System which featured him and members of Queensyche. Their 2006 self-titled album was featured in the concert by the song “Will You Be There.” Also featured was the song that Johnson wrote that Carlos Santana and Steven Tyler covered called “Just Feel Better”. He said he was so honored to have two legends cover one of his songs, but he wanted to perform “the original version.”

There was no doubt that Johnson put on a superlative show and the audience stayed around a lot longer after the show to meet with him. Johnson was very friendly and humbled by his reception in Texas.