Johnny Winter Talks about the Clapton Crossroads Festival

by Rick Landers.

For over five decades, 63-year-old Texas guitar ace Johnny Winter has weathered the fierce crosswinds of rock ‘n' roll with the rumblings of a Port Arthur-Beaumont Texas blues style that was scraped together from the hard tack vibes of old time country music, zydeco, gospel, New Orleans’ R&B, Cajun, swamp blues and swamp pop. His recording career began around 1959 when he and his younger brother, Edgar, laid down the tracks to “School Days Blues” and “You Know I Love you” with their group Johnny (Macaroni) and the Jammers. Living in Beaumont, the boys must have heard of early local blues circuit runners like musicians Lonnie Brooks (Guitar Junior), Long John Hunter and Ervin Charles of the Hollywood Bearcats, Clarence “Bon Ton” Garlow, zydeco’s accordion king Clifton Chernier and, of course, a young spectacled Texan rocker named Buddy Holly.

One fond memory Winter recalls tells of the time he persuaded B.B. King to let him join King on stage at a small club called the Raven. "I was about 17 and B.B. didn’t want to let me on stage at first. He asked me for a union card, and I had one. Also, I kept sending people over to ask him to let me play. Finally, he decided that there were enough people who wanted to hear me that, and no matter if I was good or not, it would be worth it to let me on stage. He gave me his guitar and let me play. I got standing ovation, and he took his guitar back!”

By 1968, Johnny had hooked up with Tommy Shannon (bass) and Uncle John Turner (drums) and by 1969 the trio cut some deep blues tracks on his first album The Progressive Blues Experiment. Winter wrote four of the tracks, but set aside grooves for songs by notable blues masters Muddy Waters, Slim Harpo, Sonny Boy Williamson, and B.B. King. Shannon would later join another Texas blues giant, Stevie Ray Vaughan, as a member of Double Trouble. Two years later, Winter had a new group called Johnny Winter And that included guitarist and songwriter Rick Derringer whose 1974 hit song appeared as the title track of Johnny Winter And's 1971 album Rock ‘n’ Roll Hootchie Koo.

Winter's career and personal life would take him to new highs and spiral down to deep lows, but no matter, his fame and fan base proved resilient and loyal, and Winter would do his part by releasing a series of highly acclaimed albums including Live Johnny Winter And (1971, Sony) that is considered a hallmark blues album and a “must have” for blues guitarists. Years later, Johnny's 1986 album 3rd Degree (Alligator Records) would be nominated for a Grammy proving that his guitar skills could still inspire.

We can all give thanks to Johnny Winter for introducing the great Muddy Waters to future generations of blues fans when he produced and played guitar on Muddy’s Grammy award albums Hard Again (1977), I’m Ready (1978), Muddy “Mississippi" Waters Live (1979), as well as Muddy’s last album, the critically acclaimed and commercially popular King Bee (1981).

Johnny kept his own blues on the scene by releasing albums of his own including White Hot and Blues (1978) and Raisin’ Cain (1980). After a four year hiatus, Winter would sign on with Alligator Records and offer us the Grammy nominated Guitar Slinger and the next year produced Serious Business that was also a Grammy nominee. Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame Archivist Robert Santelli named Johnny’s 1986 album 3rd Degree as one of the “101 Essential Blues Albums.” By 2004, Winter would have another Grammy nominated album out on Virgin Records called I’m a Bluesman.

Modern Guitars met Johnny a few days after he'd played at Eric Clapton's Crossroads concert. We stepped into Johnny's RV just before he went on stage at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia. A small television offered up the only lighting in the place and the white-haired guitar titan had just finished watching one of his favorite shows, South Park, over dinner. After a brief introduction, it was Johnny who started the interview.

Johnny Winter: How long is this gonna take?

Not very long, I promise! [Both laugh] Do you have any musical theme on this tour, like a focus on the blues or rock?

JW: Just the blues, totally blues. We start out with “Highway” then “Sugar Coated Love” and some Ray Charles and mojo boogie. Pretty much just the blues and maybe a few surprises. [Laughs]

Touring can be a real grind – what aspects of touring are still fun for you?

JW: The playin’ part. I hate flying. I can’t stand flying, but bussing there is okay. I like bringing my music to the people.

Do you find time to noodle around on the bus and come up with new songs?

JW: No, not really. I used to, but now I pretty much don’t. I do most of my writing at home in my home studio

Who’s with you on stage?

JW: Tony Beard on drums, Scott Spray on bass and Paul Nelson plays guitar. I met and played with Tony at the Jimi Hendrix birthday tribute at B.B. King’s. Scott’s been with me for three years and Paul’s been with me for seven years.

I hear you and Edgar are going to be playing at B.B. King’s in New York together tomorrow night – together on stage?

JW: He’ll sit in on a song or two. We play on "Johnny Guitar." Edgar’s band does a set and we alternate. I think it will be just me and Edgar. We have been doing a lot of shows with Rick Derringer as well and just did a string of those in Germany. That went over great!.

During the summer you played with Clapton and fellow guitar legends at the Crossroads concert. What were the highlights of that show?

JW: That was really fun. I played “Highway 61” with Derek Trucks and “Sweet Home Chicago” with Eric and Buddy Guy. The best part though was meeting a lot of nice people. I knew B.B., and Hubert Sumlin was there. So was Stevie Winwood, Los Lobos, and John Mayer. Buddy and I played together at the end of the festival and a lot of other people. Buddy, Robert Randolph and Stevie Winwood all came to my bus. Seeing those people was nice. It’s all coming out on DVD very soon. I think in November.

Did you hang out at all with the emcee Bill Murray?

JW: He was there as a host but I didn’t talk to him. Bill did say “Hello” and he posed for a picture with me.

Have you recently discovered any blues musicians that you’re intrigued?

JW: No, not really. Derek Trucks is my favorite young guy. Like I said, I played with him at Crossroads but also this year at the Beacon Theater in New York City when I sat in with the Allman Brothers. He’s a real nice guy. He plays an SG re-issue that I signed for him.

On the business side of things, over the years have you found it necessary to gain more control over the management side of your work?

JW: Things were quite bad for awhile there with my old management. A lot of crazy stuff going on and my health from all the partyng was taking its toll. Paul Nelson’s doing a great job guiding my career now and is a hell of a guitar player as well. Paul has many albums out himself.

What is it about Gibson Firebirds that make you prefer it over other guitars?

JW: I just like the way it plays and the way it sounds. I like the way it looks too. It’s a great looking guitar. Mine’s a ’64. I’ve got a lot of Firebirds. My favorite is the one I play now. It’s the oldest. The pickups are original Gibson pickups and they sound real good.

A lot of people have the blues licks down, but they don’t always have a genuine feel for it. What guitarists or singers seem to have locked into the soulfulness of the blues?

JW: That’s the main thing too. Magic Slim and the Teardrops are real good. They’re a Chicago band. They’ve been around for 40 years. As far as old blues I like Robert Johnson and Little Walter.

What plans do you have for the near future?

JW: We’ll keep playing on the road. We’re also working on a new CD called Roots that will be old blues music. Gibson is releasing a Johnny Winter Firebird and a new series of my live recording over the years is out called Live Boot Leg Series, Vol. 1 on Friday Music. It just hit number 15 on the Billboard charts. You can visit it at my website and at Friday Music’s website. There’s more information on that and a whole lot of other cool stuff.

Related Links
Johnny Winter
Friday Music
Review: Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival Concert
W.A. Williams Photography
Paul Nelson

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