Roots Johnny Winter

Stepping into the role of a whirlwind albino electric blues guitar player from Texas with a brilliant slide style and a roaring voice was the very role Johnny Winter was born to fill. He released nearly 30 albums of blues and blues-rock in his 40-plus-year career, and delivered countless memorable concerts as well. His death in the summer of 2014 at the age of 70 left an unfillable void in the international blues community. Step Back is his final studio album, and it follows his 2011 release Roots in paying tribute to his various blues influences, and, like Roots, it is essentially a series of duets with all-star guests, with Eric Clapton, Ben Harper, Billy Gibbons, Joe Perry, Dr. John, Leslie West, Brian Setzer, and Joe Bonnamassa helping out this time around…

Johnny Winter begins Raisin' Cain, his ninth studio album since signing to CBS Records in 1969 (his records are now issued on the Blue Sky subsidiary), with "The Crawl," a rock & roll dance tune, and he ends it with "Walkin' Slowly," which employs a Fats Domino-style New Orleans rhythm and the saxophone work of Tom Strohman. The two songs serve to reinforce Winter's allegiance to his roots in ‘50s rock, which define him as much as his blues work. In between these bookends, he presents his usual mixture of familiar cover songs and specially written (by others, that is) material, all of which serves, as usual, to showcase his fast-fingered lead guitar playing. His slide guitar dominates "Sittin' in the Jail House," for example, while much of the disc's second side is played in a Chicago blues style that recalls his recent efforts as producer to give Muddy Waters a late-career renaissance, notably the side-opening performance of Waters' "Rollin' and Tumblin'." A notable inclusion is a cover of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone".

Let Me In is a star-studded all-blues set from Johnny Winter, featuring cameos from Dr. John, Albert Collins, and several others. Though the set focuses on blues material, Winters can never leave his rock roots behind – the sheer volume and pile-driving energy of his performances ensures that. For most of the record, his enthusiasm is contagious, but there are a couple of bland, generic exercises that fail to work up a head of steam. But there is a lovely acoustic number called "Blue Mood," which shows Winter trying to stretch a bit by playing jazzy licks. It's a refreshing change of pace.

Scorchin' Blues marries tracks from Johnny Winter's early Columbia albums - including the classic National steel-driven "Dallas" from his 1969 debut - with material from his return-to-roots Blue Sky period in the late '70s. The aggressive playing and raunchy vocals will appeal to both blues and rock fans, and Ben Sandmel crams an authoritative biography into seven pages, complete with interesting Winter quotes. The one downside: a miserly ten tracks spread over only 43 minutes of playing time.

Alligator Records shows a different side of its house-rocking face on this 13-cut collection of acoustic blues. While Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and Bukka White don't appear here, other performers – some of whom one normally associates with overdriven electricity – are. Buddy Guy is present, as is Stevie Ray Vaughan. Koko Taylor's "The Man Next Door" is here and it's one of her greatest performances on record. In addition, Johnny Winter, who was no stranger to a National Steel string bottleneck earlier in his career, returns to give it another go, and the true roots doctor Corey Harris is here with "God Don't Ever Change," and Carey and Lurrie Bell with "Stop Running Around." Guy's "Hi Heel Sneakers" is terrific as is Winter's "Evil on My Mind." But it's those that are normally associated with the acoustic blues like Harris, Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women, Cephas & Wiggins, John Jackson and the legendary Sonny Terry who come off best, bringing the true rhythm and mystery with them into their songs.