Johnny Winter

Johnny Winter returns to major-label distribution for the first time in eight years with The Winter of '88, released by Voyager Records via MCA. This is a project produced and engineered by Terry Manning, who also contributed some keyboards, and Manning's intent seems to have been to move Winter in a more commercial direction, specifically toward the synth-enhanced boogie of ZZ Top. That effect is particularly notable on the lead-off track, "Close to Me," and on "Show Me"; otherwise, Manning is more subtle. Still, after three straight blues albums for the independent Alligator Records label, Winter had established a pure blues pedigree, and a move back toward the mainstream may not sit well with his more purist fans. It isn't really that overt, for the most part, but this is clearly a more highly produced, more commercially intended record than any Winter has made since he left the CBS Records subsidiary Blue Sky after Raisin' Cain in 1980.

Muddy Waters left Chess only when the label folded upon its sale in the mid-'70s, but by that point he was in need of the kind of career revival that only comes with a new label and new set of collaborators. That's precisely what Muddy received in 1976, when he signed with Blue Sky Records and teamed up with the hotshot blues-rock guitarist Johnny Winter, who produced Waters' acclaimed 1977 comeback, Hard Again, and its sequels, 1978's I'm Ready and 1981's King Bee, along with supporting Muddy for the 1979 concert set Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live. All four albums are cherry-picked for Raven's 2009 compilation The Johnny Winter Sessions 1976-1981, which also adds a cut from the 2003 deluxe edition of Live and Muddy's duet "Walking Thru the Park" from Winter's 1977 album, Nothin' But the Blues…

Blues(Rock)fans can these days really the heart go on, what new concert-DVD's concerns. Recently, these really highly satisfactory 1981 appearance by Muddy Waters has also come out only with the stones, and so now this delicacy. Sure - Johnny is no longer quite so fast as in the past and sometimes playful he even a little, but truly does not on its authenticity and the feeling that lies in his still impressive Blues game. On this DVD "live from Tokyo", is just this "late" Johnny winter game captured and preserved…..

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…

If you ever wondered what the white blues monster sounded like at the very peak of his name, this is it! Recorded at a 1969 Johnny Winter concer in Houston, Johnny and his regular band members (brother Edgar, I.P. Sweat, Uncle John Turner) display the honed-to-perfection combination of blues with rock that ws catapulting Johnny to stardom at tis very time in music history. No longer was he merely a regional blues man doing old favorites for a cult following; Johnny was blazing forth with a totally new sound that captured big audiences everywhere.

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’s new release entitled “ROOTS” on Megaforce/Sony is out now! This recording finds Johnny performing a selection of songs that helped shape his legendary talent. Produced by guitarist Paul Nelson the CD features such notable guests as: Vince Gill, Warren Haynes, John Popper, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi and more along with his new band.