Johnny Winter - First Winter '1969

Tracks list

Tracklist:

1. Bad News (02:50)
2. Leavin' Blues (02:39)
3. Take a Chance on My Love (02:27)
4. Easy Lovin' Girl (01:30)
5. I Had to Cry (01:57)
6. Birds Can't Row Boats (03:03)
7. Out of Sight (02:07)
8. Coming Up Fast Pt. I (02:32)
9. Coming Up Fast Pt. II (02:31)
10. Parchment Farm (02:28)
11. Please Come Home for Christmas (02:43)


 moreIn 1968, Winter decided to focus exclusively on blues-rock, and he
formed a trio with Tommy Shannon on bass and John "Red" Turner on drums. He
signed with the Austin, Texas label Sonobeat Records, and in August cut The
Progressive Blues Experiment, released locally. His life was changed irrevocably
with the publication of the December 7, 1968, issue of Rolling Stone magazine,
which contained an article by Larry Sepulvado and John Burks about the Texas
music scene. "The hottest item outside of Janis Joplin," they wrote, "...remains
in Texas. If you can imagine a hundred and thirty-pound cross-eyed albino with
long fleecy hair playing some of the gutsiest fluid blues guitar you have ever
heard, then enter Johnny Winter." Among those who read the article was New York
club owner Steve Paul, who hopped a plane to Texas and convinced Winter to hire
him as manager. Paul set up a bidding war among major record labels that was won
in February 1969 by CBS Records, which signed Winter for an advance of $600,000,
the largest sum the label had ever paid to a new solo artist.

Winter quickly went into a recording studio with his band to cut his debut for
CBS' Columbia label, but in the meantime other labels discovered that he had
made a lot of recordings in his youth, and they began buying or leasing the
early material. Imperial Records bought The Progressive Blues Experiment from
Sonobeat and re-released it in March 1969; it entered the charts and peaked at
number 40. Winter's Columbia debut, titled Johnny Winter, was released on April
15 and peaked at number 23. In August, GRT Records released The Johnny Winter
Story, consisting of material recorded in the early '60s; it got to number 111.
In October, Buddah Records followed with First Winter, and Janus Records
released About Blues in November. (Unfortunately, repackagings of Winter's early
recordings continued to litter his discography throughout his career.)

Meanwhile, Winter appeared at the Woodstock festival in August 1969. (In 2009,
The Woodstock Experience, an album of his performance, was released.) His second
Columbia album, Second Winter, was released in November 1969 and reached number
55. In the spring of 1970, he disbanded his trio and enlisted the former members
of the McCoys to back him: Rick Derringer (guitar), Randy Jo Hobbs (bass), and
Randy Z. (drums). The group was dubbed "Johnny Winter And." Their self-titled
album was released in September and peaked at a disappointing number 154, but
they followed with a concert collection, Live Johnny Winter And, released in
February 1971, and it reached number 40; in 1974, it was certified gold. (In
2010, Collectors' Choice Music released another concert recording from the
Johnny Winter And band, Live at the Fillmore East 10/3/70.)

Winter was not able to capitalize on the career momentum generated by the
success of Live Johnny Winter And. He had become addicted to heroin and suffered
from suicidal depression, as a result of which he suspended his career and went
home to Beaumont. In this age before rehabilitation clinics, he was
hospitalized, initially in Beaumont and then, for nine months, at River Oaks
Hospital in New Orleans. His next appearance on disc was as a guest on Roadwork,
the live album released by Edgar Winter's White Trash in March 1972, which was
preceded by Edgar Winter's introduction in which he said people kept asking him,
"Where's your brother?" Johnny Winter was not able to return to action full-time
until the release of his comeback album, Still Alive and Well, in March 1973.
The album, which featured "Silver Train," a song specially written for Winter by
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, peaked at number 22.

Winter returned to touring. His next album, Saints & Sinners, appeared in
February 1974 and peaked at number 42. Before the year was out, he had another
one ready, and John Dawson Winter III, featuring "Rock & Roll People," a song
specially written for Winter by John Lennon, was released in November, peaking
at number 78. For Captured Live!, Winter was transferred to a Steve Paul-created
custom label within CBS, Blue Sky Records. The album was released in February
1976 and peaked at number 93. Edgar Winter was also on Blue Sky, and the
brothers combined for a live album, Together, released in June, which peaked at
number 89.

Veteran bluesman Muddy Waters was signed to Blue Sky, and Winter became his
producer on a comeback LP, Hard Again, released in February 1977. It won the
Grammy Award for Best Blues Album. Winter toured with Waters' band, then took
them into the studio for his next album, Nothin' But the Blues, released in July
1977. It peaked at number 146. Another Winter-produced Waters album, I'm Ready,
came out in February 1978 and was another Grammy winner. Winter returned to
working with his usual band for his next album, White, Hot & Blue; the album,
released in July 1978, got to number 141. Raisin' Cain, recorded in more of a
rock mode, appeared in March 1980 and failed to chart, concluding Winter's CBS
contract.

Winter signed to the independent blues label Alligator Records, for which he
made Guitar Slinger, released in May 1984. It returned him to the charts, and
its follow-up, Serious Business (September 1985) was another chart entry. He
completed his commitment to Alligator with 3rd Degree (November 1986). He was
then signed by Voyager Records, distributed by MCA Records, for The Winter of
'88 (October 1988). The album represented an attempt to take him in the more
commercial direction of ZZ Top's synthesized blues-boogie, but the attempt
backfired, and the album did not chart. Winter returned to more of a
straight-ahead blues approach after signing to Virgin Records' Point
Blank/Charisma imprint on his next album, Let Me In (July 1, 1991). He followed
it with Hey, Where's Your Brother? (November 3, 1992).

Winter focused more on concert work than recording after the early '90s. For
Live in NYC 1997 (March 10, 1998), he had fans vote on the tracks to be
included. Six years passed before the release of I'm a Bluesman (June 15, 2004).
Winter inaugurated a series of archival concert collections on Friday Music with
Live Bootleg Series, Vol. 1 (October 9, 2007), which was followed by Vol. 2
(March 4, 2008), Vol. 3 (July 29, 2008), Vol. 4 (February 10, 2009), and Vol. 5
(June 30, 2009). Meanwhile, a concert appearance resulted in his first new album
in five years, Live at the 2009 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, released
by Munck Mix on December 15, 2009. On January 12, 2010, he released Live Bootleg
Series, Vol. 6. In September 2010, he announced that he had signed to Megaforce
Records. His label debut, Roots, appeared in 2011. True to the Blues: The Johnny
Winter Story, a multi-disc retrospective spanning his six decades as a
professional musician, celebrated his 70th birthday in early 2014, but Winter
passed away on July 16 while on tour in Switzerland during the summer of that
year. His final album, the guest-laden Step Back, was released a little over a
month later, and it showed his skills as a guitar player in his last days had
not diminished. ~ William Ruhlmann

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