John Dawson Winter III (February 23, 1944 – July 16, 2014), known as Johnny Winter, was an American blues guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and producer.
Best known for his high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances in the late 1960s and 1970s, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues singer and guitarist Muddy Waters. After his time with Waters, Winter recorded several Grammy-nominated blues albums. In 1988, he was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame and in 2003, he was ranked 63rd in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Johnny Winter was born in Beaumont, Texas, on February 23, 1944. Winter, along with his musician brother Edgar (born 1946), were nurtured at an early age by their parents in musical pursuits. Johnny and his brother, both of whom were born with albinism, began performing at an early age. When he was ten years old, Winter appeared on a local children's show, playing ukulele and singing Everly Brothers songs with his brother.
His recording career began at the age of fifteen, when his band Johnny and the Jammers released "School Day Blues" on a Houston record label. During this same period, he was able to see performances by classic blues artists such as Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and Bobby Bland.
In the early days Winter would sometimes sit in with Roy Head and the Traits when they performed in the Beaumont area, and in 1967, Winter recorded a single with the Traits: "Tramp" backed with "Parchman Farm" (Universal Records 30496). In 1968, he released his first album The Progressive Blues Experiment, on Austin's Sonobeat Records.
1968 The Progressive Blues Experiment
1969 Johnny Winter
1969 Second Winter
1970 Johnny Winter And
1973 Still Alive and Well
1974 Saints & Sinners
1974 John Dawson Winter III
1977 Nothin' But The Blues
1978 White, Hot And Blue
1980 Raisin' Cain
1984 Guitar Slinger
1985 Serious Business
1986 Third Degree
1988 The Winter Of '88
1991 Let Me In
1992 Hey, Where's Your Brother?
2004 I'm A Bluesman
2011 Roots
2014 Step Back
Based on its selection of elemental blues and rock material, Johnny Winter’s Step Back is a logical extension of his previous record, the more literally conceived and executed Roots. The late Texan’s final studio album lives up to the broad perspective at which its title hints with diverse arrangements that illustrate his versatility.
Step Back also offers a litany of guests, not the least of whom is Aerosmith’s Joe Perry, which serves as ample marketing fodder, but more importantly reaffirms the high level of inspiration Winter himself generates as he pays further homage to seminal influences that shaped his career. The baker’s dozen tracks begins in rousing fashion with the horn-laden “Unchain My Heart,” during which Winter and his regular accompanists—Scott Spray on bass, Tommy Curiale on drums, and Paul Nelson on guitar— mix with Hammond B3 organ, trumpet, trombone and sax plus background singers. A similar arrangement in which Dr. John appears on vocals and piano, bookends the album, investing as much logic in the track sequencing as the home stretch placement of the Winter solo track “Death Letter.”
Here the Texan-born albino not only reminds his skill on acoustic instruments (here a National steel) equaled that on electric, but also that, while he was not gifted with a great voice, his has deepened with age so that his singing on this record sounds naturally emotive, especially on this Son House tune where his phrasing is so insinuating. Sounding every bit as comfortable (but not too much so) as he did with blues harp master Charlie Musselwhite, Ben Harper appears to sing and play slide on “Can’t Hold Out (Talk to Me Baby),” his role purely complementary with Winter’s, as is Eric Clapton’s own on guitar on “Don’t Want No Woman.” The slightly more melodious tone Slowhand proffers makes for effective contrast to the edge emanating from Winter’s instrument.
As cleverly designed as it is handsome, the packaging of Step Back includes all the necessary credits of the musicians’ contributions on each track, and this attention to detail extends to the Paul Nelson production where the sound, as clear as it is, nevertheless maintains an earthy sheen. And as familiar as are some of the song choices, such as “Killing Floor” and “Long Tall Sally,” there’s no denying the lively interaction among the players: Frank “KingBee” Latorre sounds as inspired on his harp on the former as Leslie West does with his electric guitar on the latter.
Along those same lines, “Who Do You Love” never descends into rote recitation, but rather takes a noticeably self-referential turn as the lyrics unfold prior to the smoldering rideout Winter offers as the track fades. “Okie Dokie Stomp” turns absolutely uproarious with the entry of the Blues Brothers Horns again, their appearance set up largely through the guitar work of Stray Cat Brian Setzer that imbues the instrumental cut with a lively spontaneity for its duration.
The molten sounds ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons adds to “Where Can You Be” illustrates the care with which such high profile collaborators, like Joe Bonamassa on the slow twelve-bar “Sweet Sixteen,” were chosen to match the material. Just as Johnny Winter’s live performances in recent years reaffirmed the legitimacy of his influence on generations of musicians, so does Step Back add final punctuation to a life-long statement of musical purpose.
Genre: Rock
Subgenre: Electric Blues Rock
Bitrate: 320 k
Size: 1.93 GB
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FILE LIST
Filename
Size
1968 The Progressive Blues Experiment/01 Rollin' And Tumblin'.mp3
7.4 MB
1968 The Progressive Blues Experiment/02 Tribute To Muddy.mp3
14.6 MB
1968 The Progressive Blues Experiment/03 I Got Love If You Want It.mp3
9 MB
1968 The Progressive Blues Experiment/04 Bad Luck And Trouble.mp3
8.5 MB
1968 The Progressive Blues Experiment/05 Help Me.mp3
8.7 MB
1968 The Progressive Blues Experiment/06 Mean Town Blues.mp3
10.2 MB
1968 The Progressive Blues Experiment/07 Broke Down Engine.mp3
6.5 MB
1968 The Progressive Blues Experiment/08 Black Cat Bone.mp3
8.7 MB
1968 The Progressive Blues Experiment/09 It's My Own Fault.mp3
16.8 MB
1968 The Progressive Blues Experiment/10 Forty-Four.mp3
8.1 MB
1969 Johnny Winter/01 I'm Yours And I'm Hers.mp3
10.3 MB
1969 Johnny Winter/02 Be Careful With A Fool.mp3
12.1 MB
1969 Johnny Winter/03 Dallas.mp3
6.4 MB
1969 Johnny Winter/04 Mean Mistreater.mp3
8.9 MB
1969 Johnny Winter/05 Leland Mississippi Blues.mp3
8 MB
1969 Johnny Winter/06 Good Morning Little School Girl.mp3
6.3 MB
1969 Johnny Winter/07 When You Got A Good Friend.mp3
8.4 MB
1969 Johnny Winter/08 I'll Drown In My Tears.mp3
10.9 MB
1969 Johnny Winter/09 Back Door Friend.mp3
6.7 MB
1969 Johnny Winter/10 Country Girl (bonustrack).mp3
7 MB
1969 Johnny Winter/11 Dallas (with band) (bonustrack).mp3
8.2 MB
1969 Johnny Winter/12 Two Steps From The Blues (bonustrack).mp3
6 MB
1969 Second Winter/01 Memory Pain.mp3
12.6 MB
1969 Second Winter/02 I'm Not Sure.mp3
12.3 MB
1969 Second Winter/03 Slippin' And Slidin'.mp3
10.7 MB
1969 Second Winter/04 The Good Love.mp3
6.3 MB
1969 Second Winter/05 Miss Ann.mp3
8.4 MB
1969 Second Winter/06 Johnny B. Goode.mp3
6.4 MB
1969 Second Winter/07 Highway 61 Revisited.mp3
11.7 MB
1969 Second Winter/08 I Love Everybody.mp3
8.6 MB
1969 Second Winter/09 Hustled Down In Texas.mp3
8.1 MB
1969 Second Winter/10 I Hate Everybody.mp3
5.9 MB
1969 Second Winter/11 Fast Life Rider.mp3
16.1 MB
1969 Second Winter/12 Early In The Morning (bonustrack).mp3
8.8 MB
1969 Second Winter/13 Tell The Truth (instrumental) (bonustrack).mp3
10.3 MB
1970 Johnny Winter And/01 Guess I'll Go Away.mp3
7.9 MB
1970 Johnny Winter And/02 Ain't That A Kindness.mp3
8 MB
1970 Johnny Winter And/03 No Time To Live.mp3
10.5 MB
1970 Johnny Winter And/04 Rock And Roll, Hoochie Koo.mp3
8.1 MB
1970 Johnny Winter And/05 Am I Here.mp3
7.8 MB
1970 Johnny Winter And/06 Look Up.mp3
8.2 MB
1970 Johnny Winter And/07 Prodigal Son.mp3
9.8 MB
1970 Johnny Winter And/08 On The Limb.mp3
8.2 MB
1970 Johnny Winter And/09 Let The Music Play.mp3
7.4 MB
1970 Johnny Winter And/10 Nothing Left.mp3
8 MB
1970 Johnny Winter And/11 Funky Music.mp3
11.3 MB
1973 Still Alive And Well/01 Rock Me Baby.mp3
8.8 MB
1973 Still Alive And Well/02 Can't You Feel It.mp3
6.9 MB
1973 Still Alive And Well/03 Cheap Tequila.mp3
9.3 MB
1973 Still Alive And Well/04 All Tore Down.mp3
10.4 MB
1973 Still Alive And Well/05 Rock And Roll.mp3
10.9 MB
1973 Still Alive And Well/06 Silver Train.mp3
8.1 MB
1973 Still Alive And Well/07 Ain't Nothing To Me.mp3
7.1 MB
1973 Still Alive And Well/08 Still Alive And Well.mp3
8.5 MB
1973 Still Alive And Well/09 Too Much Seconal.mp3
10 MB
1973 Still Alive And Well/10 Let It Bleed.mp3
9.6 MB
1973 Still Alive And Well/11 Lucille (bonustrack).mp3
6.3 MB
1973 Still Alive And Well/12 From A Buick Six (bonustrack).mp3
6.1 MB
1974 John Dawson Winter III/01 Rock And Roll People.mp3
6.3 MB
1974 John Dawson Winter III/02 Golden Olden Days Of Rock And Roll.mp3
7 MB
1974 John Dawson Winter III/03 Self-Destructive Blues.mp3
8 MB
1974 John Dawson Winter III/04 Raised On Rock.mp3
10.8 MB
1974 John Dawson Winter III/05 Stranger.mp3
9 MB
1974 John Dawson Winter III/06 Mind Over Matter.mp3
9.7 MB
1974 John Dawson Winter III/07 Roll With Me.mp3
7.1 MB
1974 John Dawson Winter III/08 Love Song To Me.mp3
4.8 MB
1974 John Dawson Winter III/09 Pick Up On My Mojo.mp3
7.8 MB
1974 John Dawson Winter III/10 Lay Down Your Sorrows.mp3
9.6 MB
1974 John Dawson Winter III/11 Sweet Papa John.mp3
7.2 MB
1974 Saints & Sinners/01 Stone County.mp3
8.2 MB
1974 Saints & Sinners/02 Blinded By Love.mp3
10.3 MB
1974 Saints & Sinners/03 Thirty Days.mp3
7 MB
1974 Saints & Sinners/04 Stray Cat Blues.mp3
9.8 MB
1974 Saints & Sinners/05 Bad Luck Situation.mp3
6.5 MB
1974 Saints & Sinners/06 Rollin' 'Cross The Country.mp3
10.5 MB
1974 Saints & Sinners/07 Riot In Cell Block #9.mp3
7.3 MB
1974 Saints & Sinners/08 Hurtin' So Bad.mp3
10.7 MB
1974 Saints & Sinners/09 Bony Moronie.mp3
6.1 MB
1974 Saints & Sinners/10 Feedback On Highway 101.mp3
10.1 MB
1974 Saints & Sinners/11 Dirty.mp3
9.2 MB
1977 Nothin' But The Blues/01 Tired Of Tryin'.mp3
8.5 MB
1977 Nothin' But The Blues/02 T.V. Mama.mp3
7.3 MB
1977 Nothin' But The Blues/03 Sweet Love And Evil Women.mp3
6.8 MB
1977 Nothin' But The Blues/04 Everybody's Blues.mp3
10 MB
1977 Nothin' But The Blues/05 Drinkin' Blues.mp3
8.5 MB
1977 Nothin' But The Blues/06 Mad Blues.mp3
9.5 MB
1977 Nothin' But The Blues/07 It Was Rainin'.mp3
11.7 MB
1977 Nothin' But The Blues/08 Bladie Mae.mp3
8.3 MB
1977 Nothin' But The Blues/09 Walking Thru' The Park.mp3
9.4 MB
1978 White, Hot And Blue/01 Walkin' By Myself.mp3
8.1 MB
1978 White, Hot And Blue/02 Slidin' In.mp3
11.6 MB
1978 White, Hot And Blue/03 Divin' Duck Blues.mp3
7.9 MB
1978 White, Hot And Blue/04 One Step At A Time.mp3
9.1 MB
1978 White, Hot And Blue/05 Nickel Blues.mp3
8.2 MB
1978 White, Hot And Blue/06 E.Z. Rider.mp3
9.2 MB
1978 White, Hot And Blue/07 Last Night.mp3
12.8 MB
1978 White, Hot And Blue/08 Messin' With The Kid.mp3