Re-Johnny Winter

"But most musicians are not well-adjusted, they play for the love of
the audience, they get high being on stage, and then being off is
positively awful. First, the comedown from the gig, then the endless
travel/boredom."

Yes. This sums it up perfectly in 2 sentences.

Just fantastic writing.

Landon Hendricks

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......great piece, bob..........(while I know many guitar players who were fans, I prefer Edgar for his musical contribution to my ears)...........

Tommy Allen
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You're so wrong. Paul Nelson kept Johnny clean and did good by him. You
need to fact check the last few years of Johnny's life

Jesse Lundy

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I agree with so much of what you put out there but you're surprisingly wrong on this.

It's hard to believe that your inbox is full of requests to write about Johnny as you seem to know very little about his essence.

And to throw overdose out there as cause of death is irresponsible at best. He had myriad and well-publicized health issues but he was cleaned up.

Johnny was a dynamic live artist who was a Texas blues guy at heart. Mike Bloomfield recognized this and so did Stevie Ray Vaughn. If you were a fan, you did own his albums and could name the tunes. You obviously weren't.

If Johnny Winter And (Rock And Roll Hootchie Koo) was a stylistic sellout in your opinion, couldn't you say the same of Mike Bloomfield and Electric Flag? That wasn't Chicago blues. Who cares?

"The sixties were different from today. All the energy came from the label..." Really? That certainly isn't how it felt at the Fillmore East when acts like Johnny and others too numerous to mention used their live performances to electrify crowds and create a rabid fan base. "Moving product" wasn't on anyone's radar screen other than the suits.

Johnny might have been over-hyped in some respects (thanks to Steve Paul and Columbia) but he had a unique and recognizable sound and he delivered live.

I saw him last August and while significantly diminished from his late sixties skill and energy level (who isn't?) he could still ratchet it up to kill Highway 61 Revisited on his Firebird.

William Nollman

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You can't say that. Damn.

Roxy Myzal

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Lovely tribute

Ihor Gowda

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Bob,

You cannot talk about Johnny Winter's career without talking about the albums he produced!

Muddy Waters "Hard Again" alone with the iconic & ballsy version of "Mannish Boy" is enough to secure his place in both Blues & Rock'n'Roll history!

I feel you on the albums though, but damn if he wasn't one of the best slide guitarists ever! And I'm stoked he had a resurgence in the past few years. Like Leon Russell, he earned it!

RIP Johnny Winter

P.S. I'm 33, the first time I saw or was aware of Johnny Winter was in 1993 (I was 12) - Johnny did his (killer) version of "Highway 61" at the Bob Dylan 30th anniversary concert (which my dad ordered on pay-per-view) and Johnny scared me to death...he looked like Freddy Krueger (from Nightmare on Elm St)...I didn't sleep that night because of him! But I still remember watching & hearing him shred that tune!

P.P.S. If you are unaware of the albums Johnny produced for Muddy (which I hope to god you're not!), you are truly missing out on some of the greatest electric blues ever recorded!
And I'm not some blues freak! Listen to "Mannish Boy", "Hoochie Coochie Man", "I'm Ready" or "I'm a King Bee" from those records and tell me you don't feel like the toughest, baddest mother-fucker in the world!
You can hear Johnny screaming in "Mannish Boy" and yelling "got that mother-fucker" at the tail end!

P.P.S.S. The albums to check out are "Hard Again", "I'm Ready" & "King Bee"

Best,
Tom Cusimano

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Hi Bob,

I read your column and enjoy your writing but...

Johnny Winter was a musician's musician. You are not a musician so you didn't get him. I doubt he read your column. Johnny Winter was as authentic as it gets. Was he tortured and his health a wreck? Hell yes. We're lucky we had him as long as we did. This video of Johnny playing Highway 61 Revisited at the MSG Dylan Tribute is an example of why musicians study his technique. A master has passed away. Have some respect.

http://www.bobdylan.com/us/news/video-johnny-winter-performs-highway-61-revisited-bob-dylan-30th-anniversary-concert-deluxe-edi

Lorenza Ponce

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Good one.

Fly away...

Tony Brummel

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Too old? Or too young. Winter was the whitest black guy of the generation, but not the age, that the Rolling Stones covered.

Had he been thirty years older he would have been "Whitey" Winter and Keith would have him in the autobiography.

Cheers,
Jay Currie?

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Could you be any more smug? I know, it makes for a more interesting read to have a strong opinion, but you really wanted to have it both ways. You don't want to speak ill of the dead, but, what the hell, you will anyway. You think(s) he O.D.'ed, but a few paragraphs down you sort of meekly retract your blustery opening line--maybe he didn't. Who knows?

Knowing everything is cool and all--but sometimes a touch of human kindness is what is required. Surely you can be uncool for one fucking day, no?

Kyle Osborne

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You never mentioned the way he helped rejuvenate Muddy Waters career. Hard Again put Waters back on form and introduced him it audiences once again. Perhaps that was Winters' greatest gift to us. Though having mined what's available of his on Spotify yesterday, there were doubtless many more. We just didn't always see past the wrapping paper.

Steve O'Hear

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Come on Bob. Highway 61 Revisited? I loved johnny Winter. I will miss him he was a national treasure. H could play the shit out of a guitar and he had that gift that separates the haves from the have nots. No one will ever play like Johnny Winter. No one. I can't even count how many hours I have spent listening to his music. I loved "2nd Winter," the three sided album. He is and will always be the man.

PS. I am a black man in love with the blues and Johnny Winter was one of the baddest 'MFs ' I ever heard on guitar. Color did not matetr one iota. He was and will always be the blues. I am a little high right now so excuse my typos and grammatical errors.

Montry Carroll

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Dear Bob,

I was saddened to hear about the death of Johnny Winter and like you I thought it was drugs. Currently I'm suspicious of anyone's death. Nonetheless, I was enchanted by Winter. Second Winter had the chutzpah to have had released a double album with only three sides! His concerts were like a synagogue for rock and roll. Every song he covered he stole and made it his own. He was a true bluesman and had he gone a different route he might have been remembered of as Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Jeff Laufer

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Bob,

I didn't even finish reading this.

Can't you you leave anyone alone?

If you played guitar, if you toured, if you even tried, you wouldn't write such crap.

Learn how to get in the game or stay the fuck out.

Bill West

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Good post, thanks. RIP Johnny. I have fond memories of paying $5 at the door in the early 70's at Panther Hall in Ft. Worth. Memory Pain is a classic cover Johnny used to do, making an SG Custom scream like nobody else could.

Thanks,
Brian Casstevens

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Wow, that really captures the essence of not only JW but those artists who inhabited that world between pure musicianship and stardom. Fat people have been stars, but not so much albinos. If you don't look like Morrison or Mick or Jimi, you can't be a true rock star based on talent alone. A few exceptions. I hadn't even heard he died.

John Brodey

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Stick to writing what you know. You have no idea how far off the mark you are with Johnny, beginning with the drugs. Shame on you.

Michael Witthaus

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Saw Jonny Winter at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1973. Probably 14,000 at the show.

Played Lauderdale last year in a 400 seater. Twenty bucks a ticket and the place was packed...Edger played a couple of songs with him on his birthday.

The common thread 40 years later...Johnny loved what he did and he could play.

Kevin McCloskey

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I read your stuff. You are very vocal about sensationalist bull, yet the Garcia thing in the Johnny Winter piece is just that. What are you saying? Not only are you speculating that Winter overdosed but you are also saying that Gerry's death was a result of drug use. Sure, he loved drugs, but these are two different things/circumstances man. I'm not saying you are wrong, I'm just wondering why you're jumping the gun. You are better than this. Get back to that and stop farting around. Fuck.

Dennis Ellsworth

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We went and saw him last spring in our town in South Orange New Jersey. It was tragic. He was literally carried on stage. Then his band carried him for the first hour. We couldn't stay it was impossible to hear him. What we could hear was that his playing was nowhere like what it was when he was younger. As a lifelong guitar player who had seen him twice before on the joint, it was hard to watch a man who could hardly keep his head up and should not have been on the road. He was not well at that point. I said to my wife as he walked out it'll be a miracle if he survives the summer. She said it'll be a miracle if he survives this gig. He was just plum wore out.

God bless you Johnny Winter. I listened to six hours of you yesterday on Spotify. Very few people ever get to play that well.

With Gratitude,

Matt Peyton

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good one.

Denise Mello

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Last few years he literally had to be carried to a chair where he would play...might've OD'd but nobody surprised he is gone...

Tom Clark

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Johnny Winter IS a legend.

Mark Towns

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Well this was the final straw for me . Just because you didn't listen to him he was no body fuck you little snob I'm glad this has come up been looking for an excuse to drop you pathetic ass and this was it. Oh how you have changed for the worse .

Randell Pepler

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Not very responsible to mention drugs when it has not been mentioned anywhere else ..

Sorry but he was bigger than you believe

Wnew played hoot hie coo must
Not to mention Johnny winter and.. Live!

He was a musicians musician..

casbag2000

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It's pretty fucking harsh to use a man's obit as a "lesson" about career timing and how insignificant you felt his career was to music. I have never listened to his records, but show him some respect as a human being. Remember the old saying, "if you can't say something nice..." I would think that it goes double when summing up a man's life. I would say much more, but I think I'll abide that old cliche' and say good night.

Tom Minarchick

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Well done.

Rob Wolfson

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I call bullshit on your glib analysis of a talented guitarist. His connection to the blues was through his "otherness" being an albino judged on the color of his skin . His performances were transcendent. His music business acumen was not. So what.
I remember the transcendent experience of listening. I was not counting his record sales or arena counts. If I got to listen to him in a bar with thirteen other people, I felt privileged.
Fuck your snarky glib evaluation.

Alex wright

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I did not know him ,but I don't think he OD'ed. I think he died of a life lived. He was a great player.

Michael Tomasek

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Don't forget about _Hard Again_ (1976) -- a truly great latter-day blues record Johnny Winter organized and recorded for Muddy Waters. Who cares about rock 'n' roll anyway! Friggin' permanent music, that is.

Marshall Armintor

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Hi Bob,

in the film "Johnny Winter - Lowdown and Dirty" one of his band mates (Paul Nelson I think) talks about getting Johnny off methadone and cleaning him up.
So I really, really doubt it was an O.D.

He was seventy and not in the best shape physically to say the least. He'd been on the road since he was 15. That would kill anybody.

BTW - the film is great.

here's the clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=195nrG_bHlk

cheers

Kieran Stafford
Birdland Records
Sydney Australia

ps
the movie was shown about a month ago at the Sydney Film Festival. It's worth seeing

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Good perspective bob...not fluffy. One can't ignore his time with the master though, Muddy Waters. Heroin is a very powerful drug ... I can't believe he lived as long as he did...

Lavon Pagan

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Thanks for this, Bob.
If all Johnny Winter had ever done was help Muddy Waters make 'Hard Again',
he'd be my hero. 'Oh yeah!' indeed. Is there a more forceful opening to an
album? Never fails to get me.
Best
John Pidgeon

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It would have been better that you hadn't written anything.

Your opening with a comment that "Methinks he O.D.'ed" underscores your abysmal inability to understand Johnny Winter or his music. His use or non-use of drugs or alcohol at seventy years is really a non-sequitur. The commentary about drugs is just pedestrian journalistic fluff, patronizing and a metaphor for your failure to understand anything here.

You are not a blues fan and you obviously know nothing about white Texas blues musicians. Do tell how ZZ Top or Stevie Ray confused the blues and rock and roll in their quests for radio and career success. Moreover, tell us how JW mangled other Stones' songs like "Jumpin' Jack Flash" or did some other terrible "rock and roll" covers like "Highway 61 Revisted" and "It's All Over Now".

At least be honest when you use this one as a flatbed for yet another one of your dreary lectures about how it worked in the good old days.

What a disgrace.

Bruce Rosenberg

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Edgar Winter! was Hoochie Koo. This is not like you to get it so wrong.

Mark Cubey

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Hi Bob,

I played a festival with Johnny Winter last May 31 in Belgium. It was not the first time our paths had crossed in Europe where for some mysterious reason they treat rock 'n roll and the blues and jazz like it was serious music and age has not yet become the all-defining factor. We were playing on two different stages and I managed to catch part of his show right before I went on myself. Two signs of an aging rocker - we wear hats and eventually we sit down on stage. I've been wearing hats a while but still am on my two feet. Johnny was sitting down but it didn't matter because his light shone brightly and his voice was powerful with that biblical intensity only a true bluesman can possess. I remember when the late Steve Paul got Johnny his huge deal at Columbia back in the sixties. Read about it in Rolling Stone when it was folded up twice like an underground newspaper. Honestly, that deal made an impression! A few years later I got a chance to audition for Rick Derringer, a true
gentleman, and he let me down easy. Guitar hero was not my destiny and I started writing songs about the white, middle class blues instead. America made me and Europe embraced me and I've got no complaints. Well, there is the tinnitus ...

Figured I'd see Johnny back at the hotel after the show but he'd gone on to another gig, down the road. I've got over 2000 shows under my belt and I'm sure he had two or three times that. Road warrior is a misused term but Road survivor says it all.

From Paris,
Elliott Murphy

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Creeping Jesus! A little cold hearted, today.

Fausto Johann Lopez

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you my friend are an idiot....

Michael Mule

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Hi Bob

This is a fabulous analysis and obituary.

Thank you.

John Parikhal

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Nice job Bob.

Bob Grunow

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Bob,

I grew up in Texas during the late 60's where Johnny Winter was larger than life on the local music scene. His reputation was earned by numerous live performances in small clubs scattered between Houston, Austin and Dallas. My first experience seeing Johnny Winter was at the Cellar club located below KBOX radio in the McLendon radio building in Downtown Dallas. It was a dingy joint with not much more than a stage and a bar. He was "the man" for blues in Texas around 1968. We later caught many shows as his career blossomed- somehow always in Texas. We moved to Florida in 1985 and lost touch with his live gigs until recently.

A couple years ago I noticed that Johnny Winter playing a gig at a small theatre in Lakeland, Florida. My son accompanied me as he had been introduced to Johnny's music through listening to my old vinyl. At the gig Johnny appeared to be quite feeble. Someone had to assist him to walk from the side of the stage to a chair where he played. He had a three or four piece backup band. Behind him some one had stretched a ragged banner with his name in some sort of electric logotype. It was pretty cheesy and my thoughts were that he must have bad management.

Miraculously, once he was positioned with guitar in hand, he playing was fluid and voice was strong. This was not the Johnny Winter of 1974 jumping around the stage playing Johnny B. Goode but he still had the roots of his music. After two hours of guitar genius someone took his arm and assisted him offstage. I turned to my son and said "you have just witnessed a real Texas Bluesman."

RIP John Dawson Winter

Bill Powell

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Statins? Not a good recommendation in most cases.

"The Great Cholesterol Myth: Why Lowering Your Cholesterol Won't Prevent Heart Disease-and the Statin-Free Plan That Will": http://amzn.to/1rrcXCH

Marc Coleman

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Kudos for your discerning objectivity as you address request's Johnny Winter's passing. As the late Lowell George sang (and he knew all too well), it's easy to slip, so the facts of the man's death may indeed be sordid, but no more so than the period late in the decade when (see MaryLou Sullivan's Raisin' Cain).he was deliberately kept out of touch with his career and himself. I saw Johnny in 2007 and while I did not expect the hyper-wraith of '69-'70, I was nonetheless saddened to watch his fingers a nano-second behind his thoughts when he played (except for a blazing "Highway 61 Revisited to close). Earlier this year the fiery moments of that tune were the rule not the exception so my hope for him is that as departed this material world, he brought some sense of peace with him

anodyne7

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Well said.

Russ Mixer

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"But today no one's lonely, you can always find your tribe online."

---do you really believe this? You think the basic human emotion of feeling alone---which we are---is solved by reddit or 4chan? You think those folks don't feel lonely or alone?

Technology is great at solving problems (or creating new ones), but I don't agree that it has altered the basic human condition yet.

John Cunningham

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Bob -

I have followed your musings for some time. Little did I know how willing you were to write about matters of which you have little to no knowledge.

Johnny Winter's is possibly the greatest story I have has an opportunity to be associated with in my professional career. A precautionary tale, yes. But one of redemption and second chances. Depsite what tidbits you may have picked up from social media, Johnny was not "found in his hotel room in Switzerland." Hours after his final performance, a cough that had started to surface he was diagnosed at the hospital as walking pneumonia. A 7o year-old albino with very high-mileage years behind him and a litany of health issues, each day that he stayed with us was a blessing. He died in the arms of the personal physician that accompanied him on tour and in the company of his crew.

You wouldn't have to look far to learn that since 2005 Johnny has enjoyed the protection and support of a manager, Paul Nelson, who truly cared about the man and his legacy. A man that helped wean him off of every thing that was doing him harm. Johnny no longer smoked. No longer drank. No longer abused prescription meds. He was weaned off of the methadone that he had leaned on for years. No longer indulged in any drugs that were not part of the regimen of prescribed remedy common to a man of his age. He added years to his life and allowed him to reclaim many of the talents. As somebody who had the opportunity to work and travel with Johnny extensively of late, I can speak first-hand to this transformation. It's a heart-warming story that in no way resembles what you published.

You'll see some of these revelations in the documentary "Down and Dirty: The Johnny Winter Story" the documentary that debuted at this years SXSW Fest and is making rounds this summer in the film festival circuit. And your speculation and conclusions that you found it so easy to jump to will be revealed as bullshit, and your writings will be revealed as little more than the sensationalist, phoned-in dreck that we have come to expect from tabloid writers. The music industry needs more from its "insiders."

Say what you will about his talent, his career. But shame on your for sullying the accomplishments of someone, anyone who has come so far against the odds in recent years and dropped every bad habit that was doing them harm. Shame on your for publishing and throwing dirt on the deceased before doing any research or vetting your sources. Shame on your for turning a story of redemption into dark speculation, because its easy for you. A rock star dies in a hotel room. Probably O.D.'d. Easy isn't it? Column done. Check.

I hope that you are revealed to the world, as you have been to me, for the two-bit keypunch that you are. And in spite of your pathetic column, I hope that Johnny Winter's true story will be, too.

Casey Scott, Piedmont Talent
Agent: NE US & Overseas

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Excellent Bob, thanks.

Ken Sebesky

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I just relived the last 40 years. Thanks

Tim Hurst

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Bob,

Despite the ending note, mostly inappropriate and I'm not sure all that factual. Why you would rate a musician's life and popularity on record sales alone is beyond me. And, all just because You didn't care for his music that much.

Of course you have the career arc about right, but I think that had a lot more to do with the drugs than anything else. By the way, if you watch the new documentary you will see that after many many years of drug, and post addiction problems, Johnny was pretty much clean and on his way back to some semblance or normality. Stoli seemed to be his one remaining vice.

I'm not saying he may not have relapsed, but he had so many other health problems that I think it would have been much fairer to go there than the OD 'ed comment. Not that I think you/we should be openly commenting on it at all at this point.

I have no way of imparting just how big a part Johnny was to our circle of friends, admittedly mostly musicians, and how we hung on every blazing note just as much as we did for Clapton, Beck, Muddy and Buddy. And, I suspect from some of the responses you might get that you may begin to realize that he was much more important than you thought, hits or not.

Stan Budgell

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Bob- if you weren't a Johnny Winter fan then you just shouldn't write about him rather than write such a disrespectful piece. And your opening line? Shameful. If you had done one iota of research you would know that Johnny has been in poor health for quite a while. His death was not a surprise to those who followed him and you are the first person I've read suggesting it was a drug overdose.
Did he have a history of drug abuse? Yes and that certainly contributed to his health problems.
I wish I hadn't read this post because it was so disappointing.

Angel roeder. Just a music lover in Burke va

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Nice work but a piss poor cheap shot at Pearl Jam. You need to write about them and perhaps discover their brilliance. Keep it up.

Kurt Lambeth

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Bob,

I was blessed to have met Johnny two years ago doing freelance television booking and consulting producer work. My understanding from conversations prior to taping that day was that Johnny, a former substance abuser, fought his most difficult battle with Methadone. Fortunately, Paul Nelson and others were able to help Johnny transition from substances to being clean and sober. Johnny was now healthier and could stand while performing a few songs which many fans thought in prior years was attributed to his age. Unless Johnny relapsed within the last two years, I find it hard to believe he "O.d.'ed." Seems his rigorous touring schedule at age 70 would play more of a role. As you often note in your writings, relentless touring is required of musicians to build and keep a fan base and to survive financially. Johnny's long and packed tour schedules converted him into a touring machine with some parts worn but others refreshed and effective. And that's what you often say a dedicated and
professional musician does or, if we view Johnny from your perspective, a "Rock Dog" does to survive in this business. With regard to Johnny being a blues or rock musician, he left the impression he was a true fan of the blues greats and the genre of blues. Johnny mentioned how he would sometimes pay out of his own pocket to travel and perform with Muddy Waters, his idol. Johnny did express a disdain for what he considered the use of blues music by some of the British greats such as Led Zeppelin without giving due credit to the blues writers. However, he seemed overall to be happy the genre was kept alive in mainstream music.Your point with regard to Baby Boomers fantasizing and wishing the past were present resonated when I learned that at meet and greets after Johnny's shows some older fans would comment on how they were disappointed in Johnny's playing speed and that he didn't play as fast as he did in his younger days. These comments would be made thinking Johnny could not hear
them but actually could. Of note, Johnny mentioned Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks as two artists he felt represented today's blues greats which is a significant honor to both. While I know there are many people who knew Johnny much longer and closer than my short encounter would allow and who have incredible personal stories about their friendships and experiences with him, I can say that my life was truly enriched from my time spent with him and Paul. My thoughts and prayers are with Johnny's family, his band, and everyone who knew him including his fans.

Chris Petras

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Not sure if it was drugs or not. I'd heard his health hasn't been good. Of course he's had drug problems over the years, but since he's not in the front lines TMZ doesn't tell us.

I was a Johnny Winter fan. Interesting how different parts of the country got things and others didn't in the 60's and early 70's. Here in the midwest lots of us heard Johnny on Beeker Street on KAAY out of Little Rock Arkansas.

Beaker Street intros:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykjcrlK7gxo
Beaker Street Wikipedia--fairly accurate from my memory:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaker_Street

It came on in the evenings from 11 until 2 AM and played all the things that top 40 radio didn't, and before FM was huge here.

We heard Blind Faith before it was released, The Amboy Dukes, All the Hendrix, Cream, and other things that still aren't out on CD. (grin) It all blasted through on that 50,00 Watt AM station with host Clyde Clifford.

So many of us DID know who Johnny was. I certainly can't deny that his over all popularity may not have been as high as some other folks, but many many of us knew of him and really loved his playing. We loved the fact that he'd take a Stones tune and really Rock it up. Heck the Stones did it with their share of tunes over the years. How 'bout Johnny's live version of Jumpin' Jack Flash, or Dylan's Highway 61?, or his version of Rock Me BAby?
He was earthy, Rocky, and soulful.

The girls might not have known him but the guys did, and I'd say it's largely due to Beaker Street. Drugs? Not for me, I was 9 when it went on the air, but stayed up every night to listen.

The Beaker Street intros deffinitly sound dated. (grin)

Bill Scherer

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Bob,

I owned Johnny Winter And. I still do. Bought the CD reissue. Wore out 4 copies of the vinyl. I know the tunes.
I know the amazing guitar interplay between Winter and Derringer. I know the majesty of Winter's cover of "No Time To Live".
As if "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo" was the only song worth remembering.
Just another "rocker" ?
I'd kill to wear that mantle if it meant I'd produced a work of that stature.
Maybe it's because I heard the rumor that the album was recorded in a single day, live in the studio with minimal overdubs.
Or maybe it's because it's a fucking killer album.
Yes...he was overhyped in the beginning.
Second-rate stardom. ?
Go back and read some of your own Lefsetz Letters and get a gander at some of those you've overhyped.
Some of the shit you insisted was the "tits".
Acts whose longevity is measured in months, if not days or weeks....whose deaths will impact your inbox nary a bit.

Scott Sechman

P.S. - "Ain't Nothing To Me". Just another rocker, eh?

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Johnny was a guitar hero of mine, introduced by my old man's vinyls which I still have. Mean Town Blues baby!! He could play. Thanks for the blurb on him.

Mike Monosky

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Hi Bob,

Thanks for your words about Johnny Winter. However, there is one contribution that you may have forgotten. Because of my long association with Pinetop Perkins, Muddy's piano player, and because you are so knowledgeable about the music business, I earnestly ask you to remember what Johnny did for Muddy's career in the mid to late seventies. In my opinion, Muddy was a national treasure. It was at Johnny's insistence that Muddy's records, Hard Again, I'm Ready, and King Bee, were released on the Blue Sky Label, which, if my limited knowledge is correct, was distributed by Columbia. Without Johnny's tireless efforts including playing on and (I think) producing these records, Muddy Waters music would not have been heard by millions of people. He could have possibly lingered in obscurity as many other great treasures have. I certainly tip my hat to Johnny for his effort. RIP.

Keep writing, man,

George Kilby Jr.

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You nailed Winter's career and impact but didn't go far enough. He was responsible for arguably the best Muddy Waters album, "Hard Again". By recording at Muddy's house with no hype and no pressure, Winter produced one of the finest blues albums ever.

Martin Rowell

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Bob
Johnny was a big influence on Triumph -
His take on the blues was unique to say the least-
When Johnny left Beaumont to bring his music north he never lost that bluesy-grit we discovered touring the southern states
... as a musician I think you savor the previous gen -those you learned from
One night in ~84 before our show at Market Square Arena in
Indianapolis I watched from backstage as Johnny launched his set /rail thin and frail.. Escorted onstage by his wife -barely able to walk unassisted..
Jumpin' Jack Flash .. then R&R Hoochie-Koo..his signature guitar solos - it was mesmerizing
Johnny rocked that crowd even though he was past his prime - we should be grateful for his music and spirit

Gil Moore

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Johnny Winter is simply one of the all-time greatest guitar players I ever saw--and also one of the most charismatic. In his heyday he could sell out arenas and keep audiences spellbound with just his performance alone-no fancy light shows needed.

The reason was, not only was his left hand lightning fast, but he also did a lot of finger picking with his right hand at the same time. This caused many more notes to explode out of the guitar at once, like sparks streaming out of a pinwheel. But what really sent everything over the top was when he put a slide on. He played slide parts with one finger and kept the other fingers free to play even more notes. So, you heard all the finger picking with the right hand, all the regular licks with the left, and now all the slide parts added on top, and all together at once! Magnificent! It sounded like he had ten fingers on each hand playing on a dozen strings--and it was positively euphoric! Put that together with his Texas blues voice, his on-stage presence prancing around with slinky style movements while playing all these licks, and you've got real magic.

In fact, click on the link below to hear the fast version of "Mean Town Blues." IT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND!

http://youtu.be/MYGtopgc46Y

"Mean Town Blues" is my all time favorite Johnny Winter classic.

I have fond memories of Johnny, as he was one of the first artists I got to know pretty well while working at Columbia Records. I tell these couple of stories not for the "kiss and tell" aspect, but because it was a real moment in time, and perhaps they capture a little bit who he was.

He used to always greet me the same way, "Paul, my favorite promotion man!" I was never sure if that was true or if he said the same thing to all the promotion guys, but I like to think it was. At least he knew I was a player myself, so when I complimented him, he knew I knew what I was talking about.

In those days Johnny was a wild man-sometimes I was afraid, a bit too wild. Although, that may not be fair to say, as it's not for me to judge and he played great every night no matter how f*cked up he was. I guess, kind of like Keith if you think about it-so who can argue when the art comes flying out like that.

I remember being backstage once, and Johnny and the band, which at the time also featured Rick Derringer, were warming up and jamming at lighting speed in a back room. I got close so I could peak in and listen. They finish this blistering jam and Johnny (his head swaying back and forth, eyes half closed) says, "Wow, that was grrrreat!! What was that man?!!" And Derringer looks up and says, "Johnny, that was 'Highway 61' you're gonna play it in 5 minutes when we hit the stage." "Awesome man!!"

The next part is a bit funny, but again in the end, you can't argue with the art.
For those of you not familiar, go back to YouTube and check some live performance footage out. Johnny was very tall and thin, an albino with long blond hair, so he had this unique look. On stage he used to slink around while he played-looked really cool. But, when he got really high he used to slink around back stage too, playing air guitar while yelling at the top of his lungs in that gravely Texas voice, "Rock and Roll! Rock and Roll!!" So, there is Johnny just coming out of a jam where he's so fueled on God knows what that he doesn't even know what he's playing, now feverishly slinking around back stage playing air guitar yelling "Rock and Roll! Rock and Roll!!" A roadie says it's time to go on. So, they lead him up the stage stairs with his arms still stretched out in air guitar mode, and drop a real guitar in his hands (Johnny played a Gibson Firebird—it was his trademark). Without missing a beat he just starts playing the real guitar and slinks right up to the microphone
(head still swaying back and forth) and continues to yell "Rock and Roll! Rock and Roll!!" Nothing had changed from backstage to onstage except now he had a real guitar in his hands and all the mics were on-amazing. And the volume was turned up to eleven I might add (a Johnny Winter show was always a very loud show). But damned if that wasn't one of the best performances I ever saw him do! So, again, for all the times we have seen musicians pretty loaded before they go on stage, and no matter how much we may worry, or think this can't be cool, it's very hard to argue with a brilliant performance.

One of my other favorite stories is when Johnny played the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City,Utah. It was the early 70's and the people who lived in Salt Lake at the time were very straight, middle America, kind of folk (I figure most were Mormon).
Johnny looked strange enough as it was naturally, but at the time he also liked wearing a big black, magician like, top hat. So, he and his girlfriend at the time, the rest of the band and I, decided to go out to dinner the night before the show. We walk into a family style restaurant, Johnny dressed in black with his top hat, the road manager who had extremely long wild hair and a big beard (and who also wore big furry boots), me with a giant Jew fro with mustache and goatee at the time, and the rest of the crew who were all assorted hippy freaks. To the rest of the people in the restaurant we must have looked like we just landed from Mars. Certainly, they'd never seen anything like this before. So, we walk in, and the entire restaurant full of parents and their kids, put their silverware down, looks up and just stare at us-everything just goes quiet. It was like those old E. F. Hutton commercials where everyone stops what they're doing, go silent, look up and they say, "When EF
Hutton talks, people listen." Just bizarre. The maitre de walks up and says, "You guys in a band or somethin'?" Of course we nod our heads and wisely he showed us to a table in the back.

We sit down and Johnny says to me, "Paul, my favorite promotion man (ha, ha), do me a favor and go across the street and buy me some whiskey set ups-we won't be able to get any in this restaurant". The alcohol laws in Utah were insanely strict at the time (still are I figure) and for some reason, at convenience stores they only sold hard liquor in these little airplane type bottles that Johnny called set ups. So, I go and knowing how much Johnny likes to drink (and how tiny those bottles are) I buy everyone the guy will sell me. But there's a limit to how much they will sell. At any rate, I came back with a paper bag full to the brim.

The next morning I go to pick Johnny up from his room to take him for an interview. The room is totally trashed with these little empty bottles strewn all over the place-in the living room, bedroom, bathroom-just everywhere! Clearly one of those famous rock and roll parties had taken place but the aftermath just looked funny because of all the little bottles it took to fuel the party.

This was a moment in time when a lot of rock musicians just "were." They didn't think much about marketing, maybe not even enough about their careers-they just lived the life of rock and roll, and lived to play.

Whatever anyone wants to say about Johnny Winter, his legacy is one of pure musician, and showman too I suppose. One thing is for sure, I've never seen anyone play guitar like that before or since.

Paul Rappaport

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Not sure if you've done your research on this or not, but Jerry Garcia did not die of an overdose.

He died of a heart attack, caused by years un-filtered cigarettes, chili dogs and Hagen-Dazs and a lack of physical inactivity. Did the heroin contribute to this decline? Probably, but your newsletter goes out to thousands and implies he died of a overdose, which he did not.

Andrew

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Subject: Garcia -- your personal Jesus: thanks for saying that Bob!

This is a subject I cannot broach among my Deadhead friends, even 25 years after the fact. They don't want to hear it, but his fans killed him. If you went to Dead shows in the 80s and you refrained from drugs, and if you had ears, you could hear the dysfunction Garcia led. But the audience kept dancing, kept buying tickets to shitty shows, kept applauding, kept following the bus. They didn't see the dealers lining up backstage to sell Jerry drugs.

Every junkie's like a setting sun.

Judy Smith


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