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Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter: The Woodstock Experience
(Columbia / Legacy)
First Appeared in The Music Box, October 2009, Volume 16, #10
Written by John Metzger
Wed October 28, 2009, 06:30 AM CDT
Johnny Winter’s performance at Woodstock was as overlooked then as it is now.
He lacked the name recognition of Jefferson Airplane, and he never found fame as
great as Santana. Likewise, his unabashedly straightforward approach left no
room for gimmicks, such as Country Joe McDonald’s "F-U-C-K" cheer, which has
been etched in stone for decades, even though it also has mutated from an act of
rebellion into a farcical moment of novelty. Still, it’s quite clear that when
he took the stage in Bethel, New York in August 1969, Winter’s star was on the
rise.
There is no denying the fact that the dirty truth about Woodstock has long
been clouded by the utopian ideals that have since been projected onto the
event. To put it bluntly, Woodstock was designed with capitalism in mind. Like
many of the artists on the bill, Winter’s appearance was intended to elevate his
profile and plug his new albums. His blues-soaked, self-titled debut for Columbia had been issued in June, and his rock ’n‘ roll-infused sophomore set Second Winter was being readied for release in October. Winter, then, was
flying high as he parlayed his youthful exuberance into a forceful, sonic
assault.
It didn’t matter whether Winter was barreling through J.B. Lenoir’s Mama,
Talk to Your Daughter or stampeding through Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode.
All of the tunes that he tackled at Woodstock collectively exhibited an
off-the-cuff quality that was as raucous and raw as a bar band with everything
to prove. Not only did Winter combine the urban grit of Chicago with the eerie,
rural holler of Texas, but with help from his brother Edgar, he also spiked his
headstrong concoction with southern-fried boogie beats, jazzy textures, and
swinging R&B grooves.
At times, Winter’s freewheeling, take-no-prisoners approach inevitably
devolved into the monotonous, impromptu flurries of his egotistical
improvisations. His flashy technique may have been dazzling, but the momentum of
Mean Town Blues was severely deflated when his backing band faded from
the picture. In a similar fashion, the steamy heat of J.D. Loudermilk’s Tobacco Road was undercut by its extended segment of scat singing.
For the most part, however, drummer John Turner and bass player Tommy Shannon
leant Winter exactly the kind of support he needed by altering the scenery that
unfurled behind their front man’s stinging lead. On Leland Mississippi Blues,
for example, Turner and Shannon accented Winter’s explosive outbursts of guitar
with well-timed cymbal crashes and peals of rolling-thunder bass. Elsewhere,
augmented by Edgar Winter, the collective transformed Bo Diddley’s I Can’t
Stand It into a Muddy Waters-inspired stomp.
The highlight, however, undeniably was Winter’s stirring rendition of B.B. King’s You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now. Although it began as a solo
showcase for Winter, the tune soon evolved into a slowly smoldering emotional
outpouring that trekked through the heart of the blues’ urban revival. In one
fell swoop, Winter traced an arc across several generations of musicians — from
Robert Johnson’s tortured backwoods howl to the amplified essence of ’60s
revivalists such as the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Cream. Winter would soon
expand his horizons and embrace a different persona, one that was dominated by
rock ’n‘ roll, but the exploration of old blues songs was always his true
passion. It’s no wonder he sounds so at home here. He succumbed to the music and
stopped trying to be anything more than a conduit for the sources of his
inspiration. 
Of Further Interest...
Jefferson Airplane - Volunteers: The Woodstock Experience
Santana - Santana: The Woodstock Experience
Sly and the Family Stone - Stand!: The Woodstock Experience
Johnny Winter: The Woodstock Experience is available
from Amazon. To order, Click Here!
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2009 The Music Box
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