(not sports related) The Passing of a Bluesman (long)

Jul 17, 2014, 12:30 PM

On the way to another of my now innumerable doctor appointments, I heard on NPR of the death of Johnny Winter. His story is both typical and brilliantly unusual.

Winter,the son of college educated parents suffered from albinism as did his brother Edgar. "Discovered" by Steve Paul, his early recordings were marked by blindingly fast guitar solos as he re-invented East Texas Blues. His first album was released in 1969 (produced by blues legend Willie Dixon) accompanied on varying tunes by Walter "Shaky" Horton, Willie Dixon and Edgar and is a benchmark in electric blues....but, like so many musical artists, he went through a period of pop commercialization to sell records including collaboration with Rick "Hang on Sloopy" Derringer...and his health was ravaged by a serious heroin addiction. Taking long periods of time away from the studio and stage to recuperate, his reputation as a headliner waned as the fickle American music market changed continuously--seldom for the better.

Early in his career, Winter cut quite a visual figure onstage dressed in black with long flowing white hair and pale skin. But once the songs cranked up, few in attendance took note of his strange appearance. The first time I saw Winter was in July of 1969 at the old Atlanta Motor Speedway. During his performance, a typical Southern evening storm passed through and knocked out the power for about 20 minutes. Though his longtime band (Tommy Shannon and Uncle John) ceased playing, Winter, standing at the front of the stage never stopped the incredibly long solo in the middle of "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" and as the power slowly came back up, so did the sight and sound of him never having moved and still ripping through 8th and 16th notes on his Stratocaster. To say the scene was overwhelming would be a disservice.

I was fortunate to see him several times later in his career as a soloist--most recently a few years ago at the Handlebar in Greenville. While he never looked particularly healthy, he looked quite bad that evening and because of failing eyesight, had to be led on and off stage.

If you've never listened to his very first album entitled simply "Johnny Winter", I strongly recommend it. Further collection of his large discography will depend on your own taste.

Suddenly feeling very old.

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(not sports related) The Passing of a Bluesman (long)

Re: (not sports related) The Passing of a Bluesman (long)

My favorite album was the one he did with Muddy Waters

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