by Robert Wilkinson
Today and tonight we celebrate the life and works of one of the greatest guitar slingers Texas has ever produced, the legendary Johnny Winter! You’re about to hear some of the best slide guitar ever recorded! We’ll also have a short set from a legendary keyboard player, Nicky Hopkins!
Johnny Winter (February 23, 1944 – July 16, 2014) was one of the original blistering Texas bluesmen. Amazingly high energy, he’s ranked as one of the top 100 guitarists of all time, and won 3 Grammys for producing albums for Muddy Waters.
So let’s get it on with the remarkable guitar work of the legendary Johnny Winter! If you dig electric blues and haven’t ever seen this guitar wizard work his magic, here’s your chance to check out some of the best Texas blues ever served up by a master of his craft!
We’ll begin with Johnny Winter "taking us to church" at Woodstock in 1969! Here his fingers start smokin' on “Mean Town Blues”
We now go to 1970 and a 22+ minute video of Johnny Winter Live in Copenhagen
He rips it up in this 41 minute set at the 1970 Montreux Jazz Festival! Johnny Winter Live at Montreux – 1970 (Set list: “Johnny B Goode,” “Mean Mistreater,” “Black Cat Bone,” “Help Me, “Talk to Your Daughter,” and “Mean Town Blues.”)
When he released Johnny Winter And in 1970 he was backed by the McCoys. Rick Derringer wrote this monster, and Johnny took it into the stratosphere. For your enjoyment, ”Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo.”
I found it again! Here’s the full 24 minute set on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert television show in 1973, with Johnny on the guitar attack from the first note! Johnny Winter at the Palace Theater - 1973
From sometime in the 70s, Johnny giving us ”Stone County”
Here’s a great performance from 1974 on The Old Grey Whistle Test of Johnny’s blistering take on ”Jumping Jack Flash,” though this year the entire 35 minute show disappeared.
This 22 minute clip doesn’t stipulate where it is, but this video is great! Johnny Winter 1974 Jukebox TV Show
An hour and 53 of Johnny live at Rockpalast! Johnny Winter Live at Rockpalast 1979
Live in Toronto in 1983, Johnny serves up a rousing version of Rick Derringer’s iconic tune “Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo” and “Mean Town Blues” and “Rollin’ and Tumblin’”
Here’s the entire 48 minute video of the 1983 Toronto show! Johnny Winter Live in Toronto
From that show, showing off his chops, Johnny cranking out a blistering live performance of "Highway 61 Revisited."
From Sweden in 1987, some screaming guitar pyrotechnics! “Sound the Bell”
Johnny’s having fun wailing on the Stones classic “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”
Here’s Johnny and Derek Trucks cutting loose on “Highway 61”
In Canada 2009, here’s the great Leslie West and Johnny paying homage to the One in “Red House”
From 2012 on Letterman, Johnny cuts loose on a smokin’ version of the Elmore James classic, “Dust My Broom”
We now go to a some great audio-only clips! First, here’s the album that introduced Johnny to the World in 1968. Simply awesome! This is what he was playing when he was the house band at the Vulcan Gas Company in the late Summer of 1969 when I first came to Austin! “The Progressive Blues Experiment.” They’d close and lock the doors at 2 am, the electricity was passed around, and the party would start!
Also from that musical era, we still have over an hour of his entire set list at Woodstock in 1969! The clip from last year disappeared, but this one has the set beginning on the 9th track, with the first 8 great Winter! For your enjoyment, The Best of Johnny Winter and Johnny Winter at Woodstock 1969 (The original set list order: "Mama Talk To Your Daughter," "Leland Mississippi Blues," "Mean Town Blues," "You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now," "I Can't Stand It," "Tobacco Road," "Tell The Truth," and "Johnny B Goode.")
From February 1968, here’s Johnny and Steve Burgh on guitars, with Jimi on bass and Buddy Miles on drums in an audio of Johnny Winter and Jimi Hendrix doing “Ships Passing in the Night” blues jam
From a year later, in May 1969 at the Record Plant, Johnny and Jimi got together! Here’s a 15 minute audio clip of Johnny and Jimi on bass doing “Hey Joe.”
Last year I had an amazing 8 minute audio-only clip from that session featuring a jam of Johnny, Jimi, Stephen Stills, Dallas Taylor, and possibly Buddy Miles and Billy Cox doing “Earth Blues Jam” but this year it’s gone. But, I did find this gem as well! This is an entire 36 minute clip from that Record Plant session, featuring Johnny, Jimi, Stephen Stills, and the others cranking it up in what sure sounds like a jam!
Here’s 37 minutes of Jimi Hendrix, Stephen Stills, and Johnny Winter Live in the Studio - 1969
And from Boston in 1969, Janis and Johnny in an audio-only clip of “Help Me Baby”
I found it again! Here’s the entire 1970 1 hour 6 minute audio-only concert Johnny Winter – And/Live at the Fillmore East.
Last year I had the entire 1 hour 22 live album recorded in 1971 featuring Rick Derringer on one clip. This one autoloads the tracks in order. Johnny Winter – And/Live
The classic one hour clip of Johnny Winter with Muddy Waters, Mike Bloomfield, and a lot of incredible stars on Soundstage’s 1974 Chicago Blues Summit featuring Harry Chapin, Mike Bloomfield, Willie Dixon, Nick Gravenites, Buddy Miles, Dr. John, Junior Wells, Koko Taylor, Randy Newman, the Pointer Sisters, Tom Waits, Roberta Flack, and Jose Feliciano is still gone. While you can always purchase it, there are no more individual song links on the web.
This one’s 9+ minutes of serious blues! For your enjoyment, Johnny and Son Seals getting’ down in Chicago ’78 to "You Can’t Lose What You Never Had.”
To close today’s set, I found a live performance in 1978 of Johnny backing Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker along with Otis Blackwell, Eddie Bluesman Kirkland, Dave Honeyboy Edwards, Foghat and others doing "I Just Want To Make Love To You”
For the encore, a great video concert featuring Johnny and Muddy! Here’s a classic 55 minutes of smokin’ blues by the two masters in concert in Chicago. For your enjoyment, Muddy Waters and Johnny Winter – Live at the Chicago Blues Festival - 1981
Find out more at Johnny Winter’s Website
Happy everything, Johnny, and wish you were here! Thanks for all those nights at the Vulcan Gas Company waaaaay back when Austin was still a small town and the heart of the blues in that part of the world! Awesome memories! RIP guitar man!
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February 24 was the birthday of the great piano player Nicky Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994). While I can't do a full tribute, here are several of his more famous offerings.
First, playing with Quicksilver Messenger Service, the iconic piano of Nicky Hopkins in "Edward the Mad Shirt Grinder."
He also played on a lot of Rolling Stones material in the late 60s, including the frantic piano of the Rolling Stones’ psychedelic hit "We Love You," as well as the entire albums Their Satanic Majesties Request and Beggar’s Banquet
He also did the piano and organ work on these cuts from Let It Bleed:
From Sticky Fingers,“Sway” and “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking”
We’ll close his Stones work with their classic double album, where he’s on most of the tracks! Exile On Main Street
He was the keyboard player on the legendary album by the Jeff Beck Group, Truth and after they broke up, found himself on stage with the Jefferson Airplane at Woodstock! The Jefferson Airplane at Woodstock - "Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit”
He was 19 when he got his start in 1963 playing with the legendary Cyril Davies R&B All Stars! (Cyril was a pioneering blues harp master who died young of leukemia.) Nicky’s the piano on “Country Line Special”
This is a good mix of stuff he’s played on for a variety of artists. Nicky Hopkins Music Mix
We’ll close with his extraordinary piano playing for Quicksilver Messenger Service in their classic "Fresh Air" off their album Just For Love where he’s featured on every tune with piano.
For our encore, a jam album featuring his piano during his Stones period (He did the cover art too!) This is Nicky, Mick, Bill, and Charlie with Ry Cooder on guitar! Jamming With Edward
© Copyright 2024 Robert Wilkinson
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