Artist: JOHNNY WINTER
Album: SCORCHIN' BLUES RE-RELEASE (DIGI)

Year: 2008
Media type: CD

In November 1968, the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band released their latest album, ‘The Doughnut In Granny’s Greenhouse’, in which they posed the question, ‘Can Blue Men Sing The Whites’. Since the song was about British blues bands, it’s unlikely they were aware of Texas albino Johnny Winter, who was destined to achieve more renown than the musicians so effectively satirised by the Bonzos. Winter’s popular career initially soared then floundered before he re-established contact with the blues and R&B that had been his inspiration from the beginning. If for no other reason, his glorious resurrection of Muddy Waters’ career with a series of punchy, barnstorming albums was enough to earn him the gratitude of those who relished the blues as a life force. In assisting one of his mentors, Winter also re-discovered his own blues instincts, mining fresh seams of invention through a series of best-selling albums.

It was 1969, the year when a host of unknown groups were paid inordinate amounts of money to sign with major labels. Within weeks, Johnny Winter was playing the Scene Club and the Fillmore East, and after a well-publicised bidding war, signing with CBS.

The slide feature ‘Dallas’ and ‘Mean Mistreater’, with Walter Horton on harmonica and Willie Dixon on bass, are taken from Johnny’s first eponymously-titled CBS album. ‘Walter gave me all kinds of trouble,’ he told Ben Sandmel. ‘(One) problem was he didn’t want to record anything but one time, and to him just checking levels for the engineer was like doing a final take. ‘Mean Mistreater’ was the only song we could use out of five or six tunes but Walter was something else, he was in rare form that day.’ ‘Bladie Mae’, ‘Mad Blues’ and ‘It Was Rainin’’ were recorded with the Muddy Waters band in March 1977. ‘Those guys were great to record with, regular blues guys who’ve been doing it all their lives, so we just went in and knocked it out in no time at all.’

‘Walking By Myself’, ‘Divin’ Duck’ and Johnny’s ‘One Step At A Time’ were cut a year later, with longtime bassist I.P Sweat in attendance, along with brother Edgar on piano, guitarist Pat Rush, drummer Bobby Torello, and on ‘One Step’, harmonica player Pat Ramsey. ‘Mother-In-Law Blues’ is from 1979, with Torello and bassist Jon Paris, while ‘Mean Town Blues’, recorded live at the Fillmore East, goes back to 1971, when Johnny was supported by ex-McCoys, Rick Derringer (guitar), Randy Jo Hobbs (bass) and Bobby Caldwell (drums). They’re also behind Johnny on a live 1970/1 version of B.B. King’s ‘It’s My Own Fault’, one of four bonus tracks here. Drummer Randy Z replaces Caldwell on ‘Rock And Roll, Hootchie Koo’, while flautist Jeremy Steig augments a 1973 recording of Robert Johnson’s ‘Come On In My Kitchen’, and brother Edgar, Tommy Shannon and Uncle John Turner propel ‘Johnny B.Goode’ from the 1969 album, Second Winter.

TRACKLIST:

01 Walking By Myself 03:32
02 Divin' Duck Blues 03:27
03 One Step At A Time 04:01
04 Bladie Mae 03:37
05 Mad Blues 04:08
06 It Was Rainin' 05:06
07 Mean Mistreater 03:54
08 Mother-In-Law Blues 02:56
09 Dallas 02:46
10 Mean Town Blues 08:58

Bonus Tracks:
11 Johnny B.Goode 02:45
12 Rock And Roll, Hoochie Koo 03:31
13 Come On In My Kitchen 05:05
14 It's My Own Fault 11:54

Total Timing: 65:48