On his 1977 release Nothin’ But the Blues, he teams up with Muddy Waters and his band: comprising guitarist Bob Margolin, harp wizard James Cotton, Pinetop Perkins on piano and drummer Willie “Big Eyes” Smith. However, it was his take of Jumpin’ Jack Flash that caught them all by surprise, transforming the familiar running riff into one of his most famous solos to date. Winter covered (and improved) numerous numbers by the Rolling Stones, like the razor-sharp Let it Bleed, a much dirtier Stray Cat Blues, and Keith Richards’ Silver Train. It opens on a solo bass line then Winter ‘slides’ in and puts his ax to work on the overdubbing that beautifully serves the duelling guitar feature of the song. Some clear examples of this are on pieces like I’m Yours and I’m Hers, with Winter on lead and slide guitar, Tommy Shannon on bass, and drummer Uncle John Turner keeping the beat. His sizzling fingerwork rode the guitar like a champ. Another slower rock/pop track is Hurts So Bad, as well as Dirty, a dusty soulful slide blues offering, with the sweet flute floating in the back contrasting with his raunchy voice singing, “I’ m gonna make a change for the better baby, I’m gonna kill my goddamn wife.”Īs with many astounding guitarists, he struggled to find a fit between his emotional and technical prowess, but at the end of the day, he could spray notes down like rain on the hot Texas black-top. On one of his early albums Saints and Sinners, (1974, Columbia) he flashes his Gibson Firebird V on several numbers including Bad Luck Situation, which contains some of his finest rhythm riffs and a glorious solo to enhance his powerful voice. Here the throbbing cadence behind incendiary riffs and barking vocals mix to blues/rock perfection, so delicious that Dylan himself adapted the style for his live performances.

Not unlike what Jimi Hendrix did to Bob Dylan’ s All Along the Watchtower, (made it his own), Winter brings the Beaumont Texas (his hometown) blues punch to another of Dylan’s masterpieces: Highway 61 Revisited. And it worked out great.” Derringer also did his own version along with a host of other bands the song has been covered by Van Halen, Suzi Quatro, Canadian rockers Bootsauce, Nashville Pussy, and the Japanese band Superfly. Rock and Roll to satisfy the rock ‘n’ roll that I was supposed to be bringing to the picture, and Hoochie Koo to satisfy the king of blues sensibility that Johnny was supposed to maintain.

As told by Derringer, “ The first song I wrote for Johnny was Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo. It was one of Winter’s first shots at rock, (being a Texas bluesman thus far). It became standard radio play throughout the 70s and still howls across the airwaves today. Let’s kick off events with the classic Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo, written by Rick Derringer, who was in the band, and appears on the Johnny Winter And album (1970). Today we take a look at some of what we think was his best solo work on songs that sizzle and crack, material that puts him shoulder to shoulder with the elites like Tony Iommi, Jimi Hendrix, Roy Buchanan, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Page, Gary Moore, and Eddie Van Halen to name just a few.la crème de la crème. In a career that started in 1968, releasing almost twenty studio albums, and nine live copies, he played up until the very end of his life, in 2014, on tour in Zurich, where he was found dead in his hotel room, it was thought to have been a medical accident. The “ Texas Tornado ” Johnny Winterdid to rock/blues what bees do to honey make it dripping delicious.

Johnny winter silver train