Since the passing of the man born Jonathon Dawson Winter III a few weeks ago, there has been an enormous outpouring of appreciation from his many fans. The true heartfelt affection people had for the man and his music is a testament to his unique approach to his guitar playing which could be identified immediately upon hearing the first note. The man and that sound were woven together so tightly that they became one in the hearts and minds of anyone who heard Johnny Winter.

His fans felt like their guitar slinging hero must have been cursed from the start as he was born with albinism and all the health related problems that go with that, not the least of which is seriously impaired vision. His muscular, bombastic attack on the guitar flew in the face of his physical vulnerability.  

Johnny Winter started playing guitar and singing at a very young age in the music rich environment of the upper Gulf Coast region of Texas and Southwest Louisiana. He made some blues, r&b, soul, swamp pop and period style rock and roll guitar instrumentals as a teenager for small regional labels with extremely limited distribution.

He recorded steadily from 1960 through 1967 before he was groomed to be a rock God. These are the best recordings of his career. It showed that he could actually put the song before the solo. He also demonstrated that he had a natural and versatile singing voice before he went with the rather one dimensional, overly affected growl that became one of his trademarks. This material has been available on a series of mostly ill-conceived compilations, but is now available on a marvelous two disc, 40 song package entitled Johnny Winter Beginnings 1960-1967. At the time however, very few people had ever heard these recordings or of Johnny Winter. That was about to change.

He was in the right place at the right time when Michael Bloomfield invited him up to the stage in 1968 to play with him at the Fillmore East in New York City. In the audience that night were some executives from Columbia Records.

Winter first attracted attention of mainstream audiences in December of 1968 when he signed with that label and received what at the time was widely reported to be the largest record advance in the history of music, $600,000. He became an “overnight” sensation. Winter’s in your face brand of guitar histrionics and over the top vocals had a broad appeal to young people to which his music was marketed. Over parts of the next five decades this large baby boomer audience aged right alongside the rail thin man from Beaumont, Texas.

By 1969, Winter sported long flowing platinum blonde hair which was perfectly suited for the Woodstock generation. In fact his instantly recognizable buzz saw, electric slide guitar sound could be heard at that famous festival in Bethel, New York, and perhaps other parts of the state as well. If Johnny Winter had a calling card it was, ‘lots and lots of notes played really, really loud.’ For fans of that school of guitar playing, Winter never disappointed.

After recording more rock oriented material in the early part of the 70’s, Winter returned to the blues. His most enduring contribution to the form took place not as a guitarist, but as producer of the “comeback” albums of Muddy Waters. Starting with 1977’s Hard Again, Winter produced Waters on a series of four albums which also included, I’m Ready, Muddy Mississippi Waters Live and King Bee. It was Winter who convinced his label, Blue Sky Records, a Columbia Records subsidiary, to sign the legendary bluesman to a record deal.  They were the last four recordings Muddy Waters ever made.

Fans of blues music will always be in debt to Johnny Winter for spending his celebrity capitol in the record business to have these albums made. It made for a very dignified career ending series of outstanding recordings that helped to shape the legacy of one of the most important figures in American music.

Winter also produced albums by James Cotton and Sonny Terry.

After Muddy Waters passed in 1983, Johnny Winter would record for Alligator, Point Blank, Virgin and other labels. He would continue to be a popular concert and festival draw despite his increasingly frail appearance and failing health.  Johnny Winter died on tour in Europe with his boots on, as they say.  He was doing what he had done virtually his whole life, playing American music his way or in at least the way his old fans came to expect.

- David Mac