Johnny Winter R.I.P.

[chrisby]

First concert I ever went to (I think, it was either him or Bowie)... my older sister somehow got roped into taking me (~1973?, 12 y/o?). I'm sure blackmail or bribery was involved. "Still Alive and Well" had just come out and was one of about the dozen or so 8-tracks I owned at the time. The good 'ol days..... thanks for the memories and RIP JW.

[annode]

Yeh, Johnny was sort of a paradox. Here`s a man with features as white a snow who played music invented by men black as coal. He was more or less a blues purest I would say. At that time, there were other bands doing blues...Cream,Savoy Brown,Canned Heat,John Mayall (BluesBreakers) Big Brother and the Holding Co. and so on...they could easily be attached to the counter culture movement or the English wave of blues bands...Yardbirds,Zeppelin. But not Johnny Winter.

Johnny didn`t dress cool... really. He didn`t suggest drugs or drunken behavior. He just played a rockabily/boogie-woogie sort of blues rock and did it very well.
He was happy to remain being a Texas good`ol boy.

I used to have a bit of a problem, although a small one, putting him into my record collection of rock and psychedelic music albums. He was sort of an anti-matter version of Jimi Hendrix. I`d go off on my psychedelic rock or English polish rock , and at some point i`d say, "oh yeah, there`s my Johnny Winter - 'Second Winter' album, should I put it on?" Hmmm
His music didn`t suggest to me that I light up a joint. I don`t even remember getting off on his music while high. Sure , I could get wasted and space on Jimi`s 'Machine Gun', but not Johnny Winter.

There was a place for Johnny`s music in my collection, but it managed to filter on towards the back and then one day i`d say.."Oh yeah!".

[annode]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ub2x9JWkVc
Makes me wonder...could Johnny have actually been a 'redneck'?