Guitar Slinger

Performer: Johnny Winter
Producer: Bruce Iglauer; Dick Shurman
Distributor: Ryko Distribution

Notes: Remarkably pale and frighteningly skinny--some artists shouldn't be allowed to pose for album covers with their shirts off--Johnny Winter is still a hell of a guitar player, and 1984's GUITAR SLINGER is among his best efforts. Showing up after a string of lackluster albums to reclaim his crown from a similarly butt-ugly young Texas buck name of Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Beaumont native fired back with his most focused blues rock effort since 1970's JOHNNY WINTER AND. The difference this time is that instead of using another hot guitarist as his musical foil, Winter sets his compact, knife-sharp solos against a full Memphis Horns-style brass section. That soulful combination pushes these songs, including a sinuous version of the blues standard "Iodine in My Coffee," over the edge, making GUITAR SLINGER one of the all-time classic albums of Johnny Winter's long and varied career.

Texan blues guitarist Johnny Winter, surely the first albino blues guitar hero, was already a convincing artist in the '60s when still in his teens. At the dawn of the '70s, he embraced the sound of the time, adopting a louder, more frenetic blues-rock style. Backed by the McCoys, including guitarist Rick Derringer, he released a series of classic blues-rock albums, while his keyboard-playing brother Edgar, with whom Johnny played on and off over the years, achieved stardom in his own right. At the end of the '70s, Winter produced Muddy Waters, helping him make a triumphant comeback. In the ensuing decades, Winter maintained a prolific schedule of touring and recording.

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