The blues guitarist that a 1968 Rolling Stone article described as “a cross-eyed albino with long, fleecy hair, who plays some of the gutsiest, fluid blues you’ve ever heard” and the magazine later went on to declare the musician number 63 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, Johnny Winter died Wednesday, July 16, 2014 in a Zurich, Switzerland hotel room. Mr. Winter had just performed at the Cahors Blues Festival in France just two days before his death. Obvious cause of death remains unknown and an autopsy has been scheduled. Mr. Winter was 70 years old.
Born John Dawson Winter III on February 23, 1944 in Beaumont, Texas, Johnny Winter’s musical career started early as he along with his brother Edgar Winter appeared on a kids show plying their versions of Everly Brothers’s songs while playing the ukulele. His recording career began in earnest at the age of 15 when Johnny and the Jammers recorded “School Day Blues” on a Houston, Texas label, before going on to record the 1967 single “Tramp” with the Traits backed by “Parchman Farm” on Universal Records and releasing his first album The Progressive Blues Experiment in 1968 on Austin, Texas label Sonobeat Records. But the big break was a chance opportunity to sing B.B. King’s “It’s My Own Fault” at a Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper concert at the Fillmore Ease in New York City that earned Mr. Winter a choice recording contract with Columbia Records.
Mr. Winter would go on to record such studio albums as Johnny Winter, Second Winter, Still Alive and Well and Saints & Sinners on the Columbia label before hitting the Blue Sky label for recordings like John Dawson Winter III, Nothin’ But the Blues and Raisin’ Cain. Other studio recordings include Guitar Slinger, Third Degree, I’m a Bluesman and Roots. His live albums include Live Johnny Winter And, Live in NYC ’97, Live Bootleg Series, Volumes 1-10, The Woodstock Experience and Rockpalast: Blues Rock Legends Vol. 3 recorded in Essen April, 1979. But it was as producer and guitarist on Muddy Waters recordings Hard Again, I’m Ready, Muddy “Mississippi” Waters, King Bee and Breakin’ It Up, Breakin’ It Down with Muddy Waters and James Cotton, that brought Mr. Winter face to face with his own guitar hero and proved to be financially lucrative.
During his career Mr. Winter earned several Grammy nominations, with three of the Muddy Waters recording earing the Grammy Award, earned a spot in the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1988 and was on the first issue of Guitar World magazine in 1980.
The 4-CD boxed set True to the Blues: The Johnny Winter Story was released in February of this year on the Legacy label and a new album Step Back with guest artists Eric Clapton, Ben Harper, Joe Perry, Dr. John, Brian Setzer and Joe Bonnamassa is set for release on September 2nd on the Megafore Records label.
Mr. Winter is mourned by his wife, bandmates and fans. No announcement has been made regarding funeral or memorial arrangements.
Author: TJ Nelson
TJ Nelson is a regular CD reviewer and editor at World Music Central. She is also a fiction writer. Check out her latest book, Chasing Athena’s Shadow.
Set in Pineboro, North Carolina, Chasing Athena’s Shadow follows the adventures of Grace, an adult literacy teacher, as she seeks to solve a long forgotten family mystery. Her charmingly dysfunctional family is of little help in her quest. Along with her best friends, an attractive Mexican teacher and an amiable gay chef, Grace must find the one fading memory that holds the key to why Grace’s great-grandmother, Athena, shot her husband on the courthouse steps in 1931.
Traversing the line between the Old South and New South, Grace will have to dig into the past to uncover Athena’s true crime.
