Johnny

This album comprised the first full-length work by Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings as a duo, though they had previously worked together as part of the Highwaymen, the existence of whose three LPs may account for the relative neglect that Heroes has received. And it is one of the most obscure records in either artist's output, a fact that's astonishing, given the quality of the music, the singing, and the overall production. Co-produced by Chips Moman, and with Cash and Jennings at the top of their game (and so good at what they do that they make it sound easy), there's not a weak point anywhere here.

This album was recorded in Dallas, in the fall of '69 that also featured B.B. King, Sly & the Family Stone and Ten Years After.. By this time Johnny's popularity was such that he was no longer merely an opening act but a headliner and just a everyone expected, he stole the show. Not only that, we're lucky enough to have a really good quality recording surviving from that unforgettable show.

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.

The rockin’ blues guitar legend Johnny Winter is showcased in a parade of relentless hot licks and menacing growls on this Alligator compilation. The material here was culled from three of Winter’s strongest Alligator albums-1984’s Third Degree, 1985’s Guitar Slinger and 1986’s Serious Business. It includes two previously unissued tracks in the Smiley Lewis flavored "Georgianna," which features Dr. John tickling the ivories, and the Delta-flavored "Nothing but the Devil," featuring James Cotton on harmonica.

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 Cash's populist fusion of folk, country, and gospel done up with an unhurried, plainspoken eloquence made him both a country icon and an American treasure. Whether singing his own songs or covering songs written by young alternative rockers in his autumn years, anything he touched became vintage Johnny Cash as soon as he stepped to the microphone. This collection includes the classics "I Walk the Line" and "Big River" as well as Cash's fine version of Bob Dylan's "Wanted Man," but it lacks essentials like "Ring of Fire" and "Folsom Prison Blues," and ends up being a little hit or miss, but – as they say – any Johnny Cash beats no Johnny Cash at all.

Culled from Johnny's 3 '80s Alligator albums (Guitar Slinger-Serious Business-Third Degree) these 12 tracks prove that after the guitar slingers CBS years he still had the fire to burn the fingerboard! Back by top notch Chicago blues players and the occassional guest's Dr. John & Tommy Shannon (ex Stevie Ray Vaughan bassist) during his Alligator years, these recordings show Johnny at his best with no confetti or studio razzle dazzle. These raw to the bone blues tracks boil red hot. If you don't own any of the guitar legends Alligator albums, you must get this one.