During a brief phone interview in 2013, I asked Johnny Winter if he thought 45 years after playing Woodstock in 1969, he’d still be out playing and touring today. “I was hoping I would,” he laughed, “I’m lovin’ it.” That love, passion and dedication to his craft and the blues have resulted in nearly 30 studio and live albums of his own, as well as contributions as a guitarist and producer on dozens of others, including the last four albums by Winter’s hero, Muddy Waters. Indeed, Johnny Winter’s career is one of extraordinary opportunities and challenges. Through it all, he’s stayed true to his calling, overcoming personal demons, maintaining a busy and constant touring schedule, and making it all the way to the ripe age of 70 on February 23, 2014. Fans, freaks and curious onlookers can get the cream of the crop of Winter’s music on the four-CD box set, True To The Blues: The Johnny Winter Story.
Organized chronologically, True To The Blues: The Johnny Winter Story begins with the swampy, low-down acoustic blues of “Bad Luck and Trouble” and the upbeat, rollicking “Mean Town Blues,” both original compositions from Winter’s very first record, The Progressive Blues Experiment. At once, you’re swept up by the fervent, agile guitar licks and Winter’s roar of a voice. The next thing you know, Mike Bloomfield is introducing a young Johnny Winter to the Fillmore East, calling him the “baddest motherfucker, man” and adding “this cat can play,” which he proceeds to do for almost 11 minutes on John lee Hooker’s “It’s My Own Fault,” with Bloomfield and Al Kooper at his side. It was Winter’s first visit to New York City, and resulted in landing him a six-figure advance from Columbia Records, reportedly the largest advance of it kind’s at the time. Johnny Winter was on his way.
Selections from the Columbia debut, 1969’s Johnny Winter, include original songs like “I’m Yours And I’m Hers” and “Dallas,” along with “Mean Mistreater” featuring Willie Dixon and Walter “Shakey” Horton. Through it all, the man’s measure as a guitarist, vocalist and bandleader seemingly leaps, evolves and tightens its rein. He swings and sways on the guitar like a fearless outlaw on Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited,” a song he continues to regularly play live to this very day. Speaking of live, aside from Winter’s Fillmore East break-out performances, the first disc features a song from Woodstock (“Leland Mississippi Blues”) and finishes up with two smoldering oldies, “Black Cat Bone” and “Johnny B. Goode,” from the Royal Albert Hall.
The second disc lifts off with three live songs — “Eyesight To The Blind,” “Prodigal Son” and “Mean Mistreater” — from the 1970 Atlanta Pop Festival. By this time, Winter was integrating more rock and roll into his blues framework and he had a new group too: Johnny Winter And with Rick Derringer on guitar, Randy Hobbs on bass and for the Atlanta gig, his brother “little” Edgar filling in on drums. The songs from the group’s self-titled studio album — “Rock And Roll Hoochie Koo “Guess I’ll Go Away” and “On The Limb” — takes Winter’s marriage of rock and blues even deeper. But it always seems on stage where Winter was most at home. His guitar burns and soars on “It’s My Own Fault” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” while the 17-minute workout on “Mean Town Blues” is an exercise in feel, timing, intensity and sheer brilliance.
The third disc includes material from 1973’s Still, Alive And Well, the album Winter says is his “greatest rock album.” Indeed, the title track, penned by Rock Derringer, remains one of his most signature rock tunes, though it, like every other song Winter recorded, wasn’t a hit single. Even with rock songs like this, the blues were never too far away, and Winter’s ripping take of “Rock Me Baby” makes sure they’re here to stay. The guitarist’s own “Rock & Roll” and “Bad Luck Situation” are booming amalgamations of incendiary blues-rock at its delectable finest. Winter’s jaunty run-through of John Lennon’s “Rock And Roll People,” from 1974’s John Dawson Winter III, has the rare distinction of being a Lennon song the singer never released in his lifetime (it has since appeared on John Lennon posthumous collections).
Winter’s sizzling live performance of Larry Williams’ “Bony Moronie,” another staple of his set, may reaffirm the guitarist’s loyalty to the blues, but by 1977, that loyalty went a step further when he made Nothin’ But The Blues. Not only was Winter paying tribute, he was joined by legends of the blues Muddy Waters, James Cotton and Pinetop Perkins. Needless, the style and approach may be a bit more restrained on “Tired Of Tryin’,” “Walkin’ Thru The Park” and “I Done Over It,” but the interaction between the players is phenomenal.
The fourth and final disc takes it from 1978 up to 2011. Brother Edgar joined Johnny on Red, White & Blue for the blues-based album. The brothers duet beautifully on “Honest I Do,” while a stripped-down “Nickel Blues” slips on as comfortably as an old sweater. The same could just be said for the catchy “Talk Is Cheap,” from 1980’s Raisin’ Cain. The records may not have been flying off the shelves, the rock audiences dwindled, and the label changed to Alligator, but Winter didn’t lose his appetite for the blues. It wasn’t just the horns on “Bon ton Roulet”; Winter’s proclivity towards more sophisticated arrangements and a broader musical landscape come to a head on 1984’s Guitar Slinger and 1985’s Serious Business, which both earned Grammy nominations. The leads are still burning on “Don’t Take Advantage Of Me” and “Master Mechanic,” but the general slow is more tame and orderly than on Winter’s earlier records.
But even live, with extra musicians on stage, Winter’s playing is front and center. Just track through “Stranger Blues” or the performance of “Highway 61 Revisited” from Bob Dylan’s 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration, and you’ll hear that despite the extra dressing, the beef is still there. Fast forward to 2011 for Roots, Winter’s last album, and you’ll hear the guitarist trade licks with Vince Gill on “Maybellene,” and then wildly slide up and down the fretboard with Derek Trucks on “Dust My Broom.” It’s as if, despite his frail and abused body, Winter comes alive when a guitar is placed in his hands. These days, with manager and co-guitarist Paul Nelson by his side, Johnny Winter is active as ever, touring and recording. And the legend grows. A big 70th birthday party at B.B. King’s in New York City; a forthcoming follow-up to Roots called Step Back, with, according to Nelson, “a little more rock edge” and such guests as Leslie West, Mark Knopfler, Joe Bonamassa, Brian Setzer, Joe Perry, Billy Gibbons, David Grisman, and Eric Clapton; and the 56-track box set, True To The Blues: The Johnny Winter Story. What else can you say, but: “Go Johnny Go!”
~ Shawn Perry
