johnny winter Archive
26 Aug 2016
The Edgar (W)interview, Part 2
Continued from Part One … Dan Hartman was also an original member of The Edgar Winter Group; he was with the band 1972-75. Winter says that “Dan was the first person I enlisted for The Edgar Winter Group. It was a huge talent search; I listened to hundreds of demo tapes to choose talented people
25 Aug 2016
The Edgar (W)interview, Part 1
Edgar Winter was one of the most popular rock artists of the 1970s. From his solo debut – 1970’s Entrance – through his first album of the next decade (Standing on Rock, 1981), Winter crafted catchy and intriguing music that folded in the many styles of music that had influenced him. From gritty rhythm and
24 May 2016
Album Review: Johnny Winter with Dr. John — Live in Sweden
There are countless recordings of Johnny Winter live onstage; they all exist at various points on the spectrum of legitimacy. A new archival release, Johnny Winter with Dr. John – Live in Sweden has a number of things to recommend it. The recording dates from near the end of Winter’s time on Alligator Records, a
25 Aug 2015
Album Review: Muddy Waters 100
I’m on record stating my belief that the majority of tribute albums are generally a waste of nearly everyone’s time. Often, the tribute version of the tributee’s songs are too reverent by half, adding nothing to the original. Or, in other cases, the artists go too far, applying their own trademark “sound” for better or
02 Jan 2015
Those We Lost in 2014
The older we baby boomers get, the more that our pop culture heroes pass away before us. As my good friend (and highly regarded behind-the-scenes music biz guy) Cary Baker recently wrote, “The only takeaway is to closely monitor your own health (and that of those you love), get out and enjoy life, and make
17 Jul 2014
In Memoriam: Johnny Winter, 1944-2014
According to his publicist, legendary guitarist John Dawson Winter III died on July 15 in his Zurich, Switzerland hotel room. I count myself lucky to have interviewed Johnny Winter twice (please see the list of links at bottom of this essay), and to have seen him play onstage once. I know very little about albinism,
30 Oct 2012
DVD Review: Johnny Winter – Live From Japan
There’s no point in tip-toeing around it: blues guitarist Johnny Winter is old and frail. The cumulative effects of decades of drug and alcohol abuse/addiction (happily, he’s clean now) coupled with the medical problems associated with albinism make the odds unlikely that Winter would even still walk this Earth at age 68. But indeed he
31 May 2009
DVD Review: Johnny Winter — Live Through the 70s
The DVD kicks off with a true oddity, a performance that is bizarre in any number of ways. This excellent-quality Danish TV clip from 1970 finds Winter playing with his original blues rhythm section (Tommy Shannon on bass and Uncle John Turner on drums), but they don’t kick off with a blues tune. Instead they
30 May 2009
Album Review: Johnny Winter — The Johnny Winter Anthology
First things first. Whenever a career-spanning anthology crosses this reviewer’s desk, three questions immediately come to mind: Has this artist’s career been summarized on disc before? How’s the sound quality on this disc? Does the package include some sort of added value? The answers to these questions (and to the further questions they suggest) pave