Johnny Winter: Blues Adventures

 

John Dawson Winter III (February 23, 1944 – July 16, 2014) was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter and record producer. Winter was known for his high-energy blues rock albums, live

performances and slide guitar playing from the late 1960s into the early 2000s. He also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues singer and guitarist Muddy Waters. After his time with Waters, Winter recorded several Grammy-nominated blues albums. In 1988, he was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame and in 2003, he was ranked 63rd in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
             

Johnny Winter was born in Beaumont, Texas, on February 23, 1944. He and his younger brother Edgar Winter (born 1946) were nurtured at an early age by their parents in musical pursuits. Both were born

with albinism. When Johnny Winter emerged on the national scene in 1969, the hope, particularly in the record business, was that he would become a superstar on the scale of Jimi Hendrix, another blues-based rock guitarist and singer who preceded him by a few years. That never quite happened, but Winter did survive the high expectations of his early admirers to become a mature, respected blues musician with a strong sense of tradition.
                     

In 1968, Winter decided to focus exclusively on blues-rock, and he formed a trio with Tommy Shannon

on bass and John "Red" Turner on drums. He signed with the Austin, Texas label Sonobeat Records, and in August cut The Progressive Blues Experiment, released locally. His life was changed irrevocably with the publication of the December 7, 1968, issue of Rolling Stone magazine, which contained an article by Larry Sepulvado and John Burks about the Texas music scene. "The hottest item outside of Janis Joplin," they wrote, "...remains in Texas.
              

     
If you can imagine a hundred and thirty-pound cross-eyed albino with long fleecy hair playing some of the gutsiest fluid blues guitar you have ever heard, then enter Johnny Winter." Among those who read the article was New York club owner Steve Paul, who hopped a plane to Texas and convinced Winter to

hire him as manager. Winter got his biggest break in December 1968, when Mike Bloomfield, whom he met and jammed with in Chicago, invited him to sing and play a song during a Bloomfield and Al Kooper concert at the Fillmore East in New York City. As it happened, representatives of Columbia Records (which had released the Top Ten Bloomfield/Kooper/Stills Super Session album) were at the concert. Winter played and sang B.B. King's "It's My Own Fault" to loud applause, and within a few days, was signed to what was reportedly the largest advance in the history of the recording industry at that time—$600,000.
                  

    
Meanwhile, Winter appeared at the Woodstock festival in August 1969. (In 2009, The Woodstock Experience, an album of his performance, was released.) His second Columbia album, Second Winter, was released in November 1969 and reached number 55. In the spring of 1970, he disbanded his trio

and enlisted the former members of the McCoys to back him: Rick Derringer (guitar), Randy Jo Hobbs (bass), and Randy Z. (drums). The group was dubbed "Johnny Winter And." Their self-titled album was released in September and peaked at a disappointing number 154, but they followed with a concert collection, Live Johnny Winter And, released in February 1971, and it reached number 40; in 1974, it was certified gold. (In 2010, Collectors' Choice Music released another concert recording from the Johnny Winter And band, Live at the Fillmore East 10/3/70.)
               

Winter continued to perform live, including at festivals throughout North America and Europe. In 1993 Winter married Susan Warford who died in 2019. Winter was professionally active until the time of his death near Zürich, Switzerland, on July 16, 2014. He was found dead in his hotel room two days after

his last performance, at the Cahors Blues Festival in France. The cause of Winter's death was not officially released. According to his guitarist friend and record producer Paul Nelson, Winter died of emphysema combined with pneumonia. Writing in Rolling Stone magazine, after Winter's death, David Marchese said, "Winter was one of the first blues rock guitar virtuosos, releasing a string of popular and fiery albums in the late Sixties and early Seventies, becoming an arena-level concert draw in the process" ... [he] "made an iconic life for himself by playing the blues".

                  

1. JOHNNY WINTER - FIRST WINTER 1969

                     

First Winter, is a huge success for Johnny Winter, and not only illustrates the talents of the man himself

thru his playing of some standard blues tracks from the early days, but it also shows by his inclusion of some of his new songs his ability to write and keep folks entertained with those songs as well. If you are a Johnny Winter collector and believe that you have all his material then you simply have to have this disc, it is a great CD.

 

Johnny Winter – First Winter
Label: Talking Elephant Records – TECD345
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered Sep 30, 2016
Country: UK
Released: 1969   
Genre: Rock, Blues, Pop
Style: Blues Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Rock & Roll

TRACKS

           

01. Bad News   2:50
Written-By – J. D. Loudermilk
02. Leavin' Blues   2:39
Written-By – J. Winter
03. Take A Chance On My Love    2:27
Written-By – J. Winter
04. Easy Lovin' Girl   1:30
Written-By – J. Winter
05. I Had To Cry   1:57
Written-By – Mathis, Scott, Ames
06. Birds Can't Row Boats   3:03
Written-By – J. Winter
07. Out Of Sight   2:07
Written-By – T. Wright
08. Coming Up Fast Part I   2:32
Written-By – J. Winter
09. Coming Up Fast Part II   2:31
Written-By – J. Winter
10. Parchment Farm   2:28
Written-By – M. J. Allison
11. Please Come Home For Christmas   2:43
Written-By – Brown, Red

Flac Size: 167 MB

JOHNNY WINTER - ORIGINAL ALBUM CLASSICS 2010
             

Johnny Winter – Original Album Classics
Label: Columbia – 88697656172, Legacy – 88697656172, Sony Music – 88697656172
Series: Original Album Classics
Format: 5 x CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, Box Set, Compilation
Country: Europe
Released: 2010
Genre: Blues
Style: Blues Rock

                       

2. JOHNNY WINTER - JOHNNY WINTER 1969 (34:16)

                   

Johnny Winter is Johnny Winter's second studio album. Columbia Records released the album in 1969,

after signing Winter to the label for a reported $600,000. As with his first album, The Progressive Blues Experiment, Winter mixes some original compositions with songs originally recorded by blues artists. The album reached number 24 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

 

 

 

TRACKS

             
                   

01. I'm Yours And I'm Hers   4:27
Written-By – J. Winter
02. Be Careful With A Fool   5:15
Written-By – R. King, J. Josea
03. Dallas   2:45
Written-By – J. Winter
04. Mean Mistreater   3:53
Acoustic Bass – Willie Dixon
Harmonica [Harp] – Walter "Shakey Horton
Written-By – J. Gordon
05. Leland Mississippi Blues   3:19
Written-By – J. Winter
06. Good Morning Little School Girl   2:45
Alto Saxophone – Edgar Winter
Tenor Saxophone – A. Wynn Butler
Trumpet – Karl Garin
Written-By – B. Love, D. Level
07. When You Got A Good Friend    3:30
08. I'll Drown In My Tears   4:44
Alto Saxophone – Stephen Ralph Sefsik
Backing Vocals – Carrie Hossell, Elsie Senter, Peggy Bowers
Baritone Saxophone – Norman Ray
Piano – Edgar Winter
Tenor Saxophone – A. Wynn Butler
Trumpet – Karl Garin
Written-By – H. Glover
09. Back Door Friend   2:57
Written-By – Hopkins, Lewis

Flac Size: 213 MB

3. JOHNNY WINTER - SECOND WINTER - 1969 (46:59)

           

Second Winter is the third studio album by Texas blues guitarist Johnny Winter, released in 1969. The

original plan was to edit the songs from the recording session into one album but it was later thought that all the recordings were good enough to be released. The album was released as a "three-sided" LP, with a blank fourth side on the original vinyl. Two more songs, "Tell the Truth" and "Early in the Morning" were left unfinished but released on a 2004 re-release of the album.
               

Johnny Winter – Second Winter
Label: Columbia – 88697352432, Legacy – 88697352432
Series: Legacy Edition
Format: 2 x CD, Album, Reissue 2004
Country: Europe
Released: 1969   
Genre: Blues
Style: Electric Blues

3a. CD1.

            

01. Memory Pain   5:29
Written-By – Percy Mayfield
02. I'm No Sure   5:18
Written-By – Johnny Winter
03. The Good Love   4:40
Bass – Dennis Collins
Written-By – Dennis Collins
04. Slippin And Slidin'   2:42
Written-By – A. Collins, E. Bocage, J. Smith, R. Penniman
05. Miss Ann   3:38
Written-By – R. Penniman
06. Johnny B Goode   2:44
Written-By – Chuck Berry
07. Highway 61 Revisited   5:07
Written-By – Bob Dylan
08. I Love Everybody    3:48
Written-By – Johnny Winter
09. Hustled Down In Texas   3:30
Written-By – Johnny Winter
10. I Hate Everybody   2:33
Written-By – Johnny Winter
11. Fast Life Rider   7:02
Written-By – Johnny Winter

PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED BONUS TRACKS

       
12. Early In The Morning   3:47
Written-By – D. Bartley L. Hickman, L. Jordan
13. Tell The Truth [Instrumental]   4:30
Written-By – L. Pauling

Flac Size: 367 MB

 
3b. CD2. LIVE AT ALBERT HALL - 4/17/1970    (All Tracks Previously Unreleased)       

               

01. Help Me   4:59
Written-By – R. Bass, Sonny Boy Williamson, W. Dixon
02. Johnny B. Goode   3:41
Written-By – C. Berry
03. Mama Talk To Your Daughter   5:16
Written-By – A. Atkins, J.B. Lenoir
04. It's My Own Fault   12:00
Written-By – R. King, J. Taub
05. Black Cat Bone   5:38
Written-By – J. Winter
06. Mean Town Blues   11:12
Written-By – J. Winter
07. Tobacco Road   11:05
Written-By – J. D. Loudermilk
08. Frankenstein   9:11
Written-By – E. Winter
09. Tell The Truth   9:08
Written-By – L. Pauling

Flac Size: 479 MB

4.  JOHNNY WINTER AND LIVE - LIVE JOHNNY WINTER AND 1971 (40:14)

                    
              

Live Johnny Winter And is an album by Johnny Winter, recorded with his group Johnny Winter And live during the fall of 1970 at the Fillmore East in New York City and at Pirate's World in Dania,

Florida. It was released in March 1971. Besides Winter, the group included guitarist Rick Derringer and bassist Randy Jo Hobbs, both former members of the McCoys, and drummer Bobby Caldwell. (Caldwell had replaced ex-McCoy Randy Zehringer after the group recorded their self-titled studio album a few months earlier). The album was one of Winter's most successful on the album charts in the U.S., U.K., and Canada. A single from the album, "Jumpin' Jack Flash" backed with "Good Morning Little School Girl", was his highest showing on the U.S. Hot 100 chart. In 2010, additional songs recorded during the same tour were released on Live at the Fillmore East 10/3/70.

TRACKS

01. Good Morning Little School Girl   4:38
Written-By – B. Love, D. Level
02. It's My Own Fault   11:55
Written-By – R. King, J. Taub
03. Jumpin' Jack Flash   4:28
Written-By – M. Jagger, K. Richard
04. Rock And Roll Medley    (6:47)
4.a. Great Balls Of Fire
Written-By – J. L. Lewis
4.b. Long Tall Sally
Written-By – E. Johnson, R. Penniman, R. Blackwell
4.c. Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
Written-By – D. Williams, S. David
05. Mean Town Blues   9:00
Written-By – J. Winter
06. Johnny B. Goode   3:23
Written-By – C. Berry

Flac Size: 261 MB

5.  JOHNNY WINTER - Still Alive And Well    1973 (44:34)

            

Still Alive and Well is an album by blues rock guitarist and singer Johnny Winter. It was his fifth studio

album, and his first since Johnny Winter And almost three years earlier. It was released by Columbia Records in 1973. Many of the songs on the album have a more rock-oriented power trio sound, with Randy Jo Hobbs playing bass and Richard Hughes on drums.[1] Rick Derringer, who produced, plays guitar on three tracks. Still Alive and Well features two Rolling Stones songs — "Silver Train" and "Let It Bleed".

TRACKS

           

     
01. Rock Me Baby    3:49
02. Can't You Feel It    3:01
03. Cheap Tequila    4:05
04. All Tore Down    4:32
05. Rock & Roll    4:45
06. Silver Train    3:34
07. Ain't Nothing To Me    3:05
08. Still Alive And Well    3:44
09. Too Much Secondal    4:22
10. Let It Bleed    4:11

BONUS TRACKS

    
11. Lucillie    2:45
12. From A Buick Six    2:38

Flac Size: 292 MB

6.  JOHNNY WINTER - SAINTS AND SINNERS 1974 (41:50)

        

Saints & Sinners is the sixth studio album by Johnny Winter, released in 1974. It follows Winter's

pattern of mixing original songs with cover versions. After covering two Jagger-Richards songs on his previous album and previously issuing a live version of "Jumpin' Jack Flash," he covers a further one in "Stray Cat Blues" on this release.

 

 

 

 

TRACKS

                   

01. Stone County    3:36
02. Blinded By Love    4:29
03. Thirty Days    3:02
04. Stray Cat Blues    4:18
05. Bad Luck Situation    2:50
06. Rollin' 'Cross The Country    4:35
07. Riot In Cell Block #9    3:12
08. Hurtin' So Bad    4:41
09. Bony Moronie    2:39
10. Feedback On Highway 101    4:26

BONUS TRACK       

    
11. Dirty   4:00

Flac Size: 261 MB

7.  JOHNNY WINTER - THE PROGRESSIVE BLUES EXPERMENT 1969

              

The Progressive Blues Experiment is the debut album by American blues rock musician Johnny Winter. He recorded it in August 1968 at the Vulcan Gas Company, an Austin music club, with his original trio

of Tommy Shannon on bass guitar and John "Red" Turner on drums. The album features a mix of Winter originals and older blues songs, including the standards "Rollin' and Tumblin'", "Help Me", and "Forty-Four". Local Austin, Texas-based Sonobeat Records issued the album with a plain white cover in late 1968. After Winter signed to Columbia Records, the rights were sold to Imperial Records, who reissued it in March 1969.[3] The Imperial edition, with a new cover, reached number 40 on the Billboard 200 album chart. In 2005, Capitol issued a 24-bit remastered edition of the album on compact disc.

Johnny Winter – The Progressive Blues Experiment
Label: Capitol Records – 72438-66568-2-7, EMI – 72438-66568-2-7
Format: CD, Album, Club Edition, Reissue, Remastered 2005
Country: US
Released: 1969   
Genre: Rock, Blues
Style: Texas Blues, Blues Rock

TRACKS

              

01. Rollin' And Tumblin'    3:20
02. Tribute To Muddy    6:21
03. I Got Love If You Want It    3:55
04. Bad Luck And Trouble    3:43
05. Help Me    3:49
06. Mean Town Blues    4:33
07. Broke Down Engine    2:50
08. Black Cat Bone    3:49
09. It's My Own Fault    7:24
10. Forty-Four    3:37

Flac Size: 307 MB

8.  JOHNNY WINTER AND - JOHNNY WINTER AND 1970

          

Johnny Winter And is the fourth studio album by Texas blues guitarist Johnny Winter, released in 1970.

Besides Winter, the group included guitarist Rick Derringer, bassist Randy Jo Hobbs and drummer Randy Zehringer, all former members of the McCoys. This was the first album released with Rick Derringer as a sideman. It was also the name of his band for a short time.

 

 

 

 

Johnny Winter And – Johnny Winter And
Label: Columbia – COL 472769-2, Columbia – 472769 2
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered 1998
Country: France
Released: 1970
Genre: Rock
Style: Blues Rock, Southern Rock

TRACKS

        

01. Guess I'll Go Away   3:27
Written-By – Johnny Winter
02. Ain't That A Kindness   3:28
Written-By – Mark Klingman
03. No Time To Live   4:34
Written-By – Jim Capaldi, Stevie Winwood
04. Rock And Roll Hootchie Koo   3:30
Written-By – Rick Derringer
05. Am I Here?   3:23
Written-By – Randy Z
06. Look Up   3:33
Written-By – Rick Derringer, Robyn Supraner
07. Prodigal Son   4:17
Written-By – Johnny Winter
08. On The Limb   3:35
Written-By – Rick Derringer
09. Let The Music Play   3:13
Written-By – Alan Nicholls, Otis Stephens
10. Nothing Left   3:29
Written-By – Johnny Winter
11. Funky Music   4:55
Written-By – Rick Derringer

Flac Size: 249 MB

JOHNNY WINTER - TRUE TO THE BLUES (THE JOHNNY WINER STORY) 2014

             

True to the Blues: The Johnny Winter Story is a compilation album by blues rock guitarist and singer

Johnny Winter. Comprising four CDs, and packaged as a box set, it contains songs selected from numerous albums — some recorded in the studio and some live — released over a 43-year period, from 1968 to 2011, as well as several previously unreleased tracks. On AllMusic, Steve Legett said, "by the end of [the 1960s] Winter had returned to the blues, where being an amazing electric guitar player with a roaring voice brought him his true calling. That's where this four-disc, 56-track box set picks up the story, the first such set to span the commercial and in-the-public-eye portion of Winter's career,

beginning in 1968 and running all the way through to his Roots album, which was released in 2011, deftly drawing on some 27 albums from various labels ... It's an impressive catalog of blistering slide runs and manic, propulsive blues shuffles, stomps, and boogies, all delivered with Winter's roar of a voice. Winter's career has made him nothing short of a monument, really, in the postmodern blues world ..."

                  

Johnny Winter – True To The Blues: The Johnny Winter Story
Label: Columbia – 88883740852, Legacy – 88883740852
Format: 4 x CD, Compilation, Box Set
Country: Europe
Released: 2014
Genre: Rock, Blues
Style: Blues Rock

9.  Disc 1

         

From The Progressive Blues Experiment (1968):
01. "Bad Luck and Trouble" (Johnny Winter) – 3:44
02. "Mean Town Blues" (Winter) – 4:29
From Fillmore East: The Lost Concert Tapes 12/13/68 (recorded 1968, released 2003):
03. Mike Bloomfield's introduction of Johnny Winter – 1:04
04. "It's My Own Fault" (John Lee Hooker, Jules Taub, B.B. King) – 10:58
From Johnny Winter (1969):
05. "I'm Yours and I'm Hers" (Winter) – 4:31
06. "Mean Mistreater" (James Gordon) – 3:54
07. "Dallas" (Winter) – 2:47
08. "Be Careful with a Fool" (Joe Josea, King) – 5:16
From The Woodstock Experience (recorded 1969, released 2009):
09. "Leland Mississippi Blues" (Winter) – 4:51
From Second Winter: Legacy Edition (1969; Legacy Edition 2008):
10. "Memory Pain" (Percy Mayfield) – 5:30
11. "Highway 61 Revisited" (Bob Dylan) – 5:07
12. "Miss Ann" (Enotris Johnson, Little Richard) – 3:40
13. "Hustled down in Texas" (Winter) – 3:32
14. "Black Cat Bone" (Winter) – 5:36
15. "Johnny B. Goode" (Chuck Berry) – 3:33

Flac Size: 530 MB

10.  Disc 2

           

Recorded at the Atlanta Pop Festival (1970) – previously unreleased:
01. "Eyesight to the Blind" (Sonny Boy Williamson) – 5:03
02. Johnny Winter's intro – 0:43
03. "Prodigal Son" (Winter) – 5:12
Recorded at the Atlanta Pop Festival (1970) – previously released on The First Great Rock Festivals of the Seventies (1971):
04.  "Mean Mistreater" (Gordon) – 5:48
From Johnny Winter And (1970):
05. "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo" (Rick Derringer) – 3:31
06. "Guess I'll Go Away" (Winter) – 3:27
07. "On the Limb" (Derringer) – 3:35
From Live Johnny Winter And (recorded 1970, released 1971):
08. "It's My Own Fault" (Hooker, Jules Taub, King) – 11:45
09. "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) – 4:26
From Live at the Fillmore East 10/3/70 (recorded 1970, released 2010):
10. "Good Morning Little School Girl" (Don Level, Bob Love) – 4:40
11. "Mean Town Blues" (Winter) – 17:31

Flac Size: 520 MB

11.  Disc 3

         

From Still Alive and Well (1973):
01. "Still Alive and Well" (Derringer) – 3:44
02. "Rock Me Baby" (Arthur Crudup, Big Bill Broonzy) – 3:50
03. "Rock & Roll" (Winter) – 4:45
From Saints & Sinners (1974):
04. "Rollin' Cross the Country" (Dan Hartman, Winter) – 4:33
05. "Hurtin' So Bad" (Winter) – 4:40
06. "Bad Luck Situation" (Winter) – 2:50
From John Dawson Winter III (1974):
07. "Self Destructive Blues" (Winter) – 3:28
08. "Sweet Papa John" (Winter) – 3:10
09. "Rock and Roll People" (John Lennon) – 2:45
From Together: Edgar Winter and Johnny Winter Live (1976):
10. "Harlem Shuffle" (Bobby Relf, Earl Nelson) – 3:38
From Captured Live! (1976):
11. "Bony Moronie" (Larry Williams) – 6:42
12. "Roll with Me" (Derringer) – 4:53
From Nothin' but the Blues (1977):
13. "Tired of Tryin'" (Winter) – 3:41
14. "TV Mama" (Winter) – 3:12
15. "Walkin' thru the Park" (Muddy Waters) – 4:06
From Breakin' It Up, Breakin' It Down (recorded 1977, released 2007):
16. "I Done Got Over It" (Guitar Slim) – 6:01

Flac Size: 523 MB

12.  Disc 4

          

From The Essential Johnny Winter (released 2013):
01. "One Step at a Time" (Winter) – 4:00
02. "Honest I Do" (Ewart Abner, Jimmy Reed) – 4:21
From White, Hot and Blue (1978):
03. "Nickel Blues" (Winter) – 3:34
From Raisin' Cain (1980):
04. "Talk Is Cheap" (Jim Liban) – 4:42
05. "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" (Jon Paris) – 5:33
06. "Bon Ton Roulet" (Clarence Garlow) – 4:45
From Guitar Slinger (1984):
07. "Don't Take Advantage of Me" (Lonnie Brooks) – 5:25
From Serious Business (1985):
08. "Master Mechanic" (Steve Prestage, Joe Shamwell, Walter Godbold) – 3:38
From Third Degree (1986):
09. "Mojo Boogie" (J. B. Lenoir) – 4:52
From The Winter of '88 (1988):
10. "Stranger Blues" (Clarence Lewis, Elmore James, Morris Levy) – 6:56
From Let Me In (1991):
11. "Illustrated Man" (Fred James, Mary-Ann Brandon) – 3:40
From Hey, Where's Your Brother? (1992):
12. "Hard Way" (T-Bone Walker, Grover McDaniel) – 4:00
From The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration (recorded 1992, released 1993):
13. "Highway 61 Revisited" (Dylan) – 6:12
From Roots (2011):
14. "Maybellene" (Berry) – 2:48
15. "Dust My Broom" (Robert Johnson) – 6:02

Flac Size: 542 MB