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Shotgun Sawyer return with their blissfully heavy new album – Bury The Hatchet. The album is a mix of Hard Rock, Stoner Rock, Blues and Psych Rock with a pissed off attitude to match. What makes Shotgun Sawyer stand out is their undeniable thirst to have FUN with their music. However you know from this listening to his album, the guys know how to handle themselves as their music has quite a volatile attitude in places especially on the first few songs with Ain’t Tryin’ To Go Down Slow, (Let Me) Take You Home and Backwoods Bear.
The album has elements of “Americana” style rock within it’s DNA and Shotgun Sawyer don’t shy away from that fact. The music is very raw but at least it’s honest and the guys know how to write and play a mean loud riff. The band do sound like early era All Them Witches in parts of the album and it’s a style of Blues Rock I’m a big fan of.
The production is excellent and the songs contained on the album sound superb. The vocals and music are pitch-perfect with the band proving they’re quite adapt at switching musical genres on certain songs on the album such as: You Got To Run, Son Of The Morning, Love You Right and When The Sun Breaks.
Maybe the album does run out of steam towards the end. However that hasn’t stopped Shotgun Sawyer paying homage to their musical heroes of the legendary 70s Hard Rock scene and putting their own spin on the standard Stoner/Hard Rock sound.
If you’re a fan of ZZ-Top and Led Zeppelin then Shotgun Sawyer have all bases covered with this album and they still have a few tricks of their own to impress people with. This is not only another excellent release from Shotgun Sawyer but also from Ripple Music who are proving why they are one of the best independent Hard Rock labels within the scene today.
Overall, Bury The Hatchet is superbly entertaining album and one that packs an almighty punch.
Excellent and Highly Recommended.
Two years on from their debut album, California’s Shotgun Sawyer return for Round Two. Now signed to Californian label Ripple Music, this has seen them attack the studio brimming with confidence and the result is raucous affair which gets your attention from the opening riff and doesn’t let up until silence arrives at the end of Track 9. The song writing is great and the trio of Brett Sanders on bass, David Lee on drums and Dylan Jarman on guitar/vocals all deliver their parts in equal measure.
Now, back to that opening riff – the riff to ‘Ain’t Tryin’ To Go Down Slow’ is a hybrid mix of ‘Stranglehold’ and ‘Whole Lotta Love’ – it’s a thing of beauty and if there is a Riff Of The Year award, consider it won. The rest of the song doesn’t disappoint either as the rhythm section batter the song into submission behind Jarman’s impassioned vocal and screaming solo.
‘(Let Me) Take You Home’ follows and it’s a slower number that chugs along in a bluesy way, stops for a breather and then serves up a tasty instrumental passage before returning to the original riff.
‘Backwoods Bear’ sees the acoustic guitar come out of its case. The song is underpinned by an acoustic slide riff and solo and it is probably the closest this album gets to the Blues. It’s a nice contrast to the opening salvo it follows and shows that Shotgun Sawyer isn’t just about playing loud.
However ‘You Got To Run’ can only be described as loud. Released as a single last year, it works even better as part of an album and is a full on rock song pure and simple.
‘Son Of The Morning’ is the longest song here (just) and it starts with a lengthy instrumental passage before the vocals kick in I think this has the potential to be a big track in their live set as it build to be their own ‘Bridge Of Sighs’ or ‘Dazed & Confused’ – it gives the guys the chance to stretch out and show their musical abilities and could be a real showcase number.
Talking of 70’s influences, ‘Hombre’ follows and it is the best song ZZ Top never wrote with a similar riff and shuffle to the mighty ‘La Grange’. Hats off to Sanders & Lee on this one as they lock into the groove whilst Jarman sings of his woman troubles.
The hum of an amplifier greets ‘Love You Right’ and it’s a loud slice of blues rock that will appeal to Bonamassa and Rival Sons fans alike. Whether Shotgun Sawyer reaches the commercial level of those two remains to be seen but musically that’s the territory they work in, so there is no reason why not.
‘When The Sun Breaks’ is next – musically has a Led Zeppelin influence all over it and to my ears it’s their take on ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’. There’s no attempt to mimic Plant’s vocals style though (a good thing), so it still sounds like a Shotgun Sawyer song though the blues solo is one Jimmy Page would be pleased with – that’s meant as a compliment by the way. It’s another song that could be a live showcase number as its finesse provides a nice contrast to the power of the faster songs.
Whilst I love my fast rockers, I think ‘Son Of The Morning’ and ‘When The Sun Breaks’ show the true depth of the Band’s abilities, though closer ‘Shallow Grave’ ups the pace again and features some great slide guitar before slowing things back down as it plays out to the end.
Shotgun Sawyer played a lengthy European tour in 2018 which missed the UK and they are hopefully going to finally make it here in 2020. I think their live performances will be the key to a UK following and if they get the opportunity who knows what they might achieve. In the meantime they have waved away those ‘difficult second album’ worries to deliver a fantastic set that deserves to do well.
01. Ain't Tryin' to Go Down Slow 03:16
02. (Let Me) Take You Home 04:44
03. Backwoods Bear 03:29
04. You Got to Run 04:55
05. Son of The Morning 05:31
06. Hombre 03:44
07. Love You Right 05:15
08. When the Sun Breaks 05:30
09. Shallow Grave 04:24
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The Insect Trust was an American based rock band that formed in New York in 1967.
The members of the band were Nancy Jeffries on vocals, Bill Barth on guitar, Luke Faust, formerly of the Holy Modal Rounders, on guitar, banjo, fiddle, and harmonica, Trevor Koehler on saxophone, and Robert Palmer (1945–1997) on clarinet and alto saxophone.
Elvin Jones and Bernard Purdie both drummed with the group at times. Bill Falwell on bass and trumpet and Warren Gardner on trumpet and clarinet were part of the band by the time they recorded their second album.
According to The New York Times, the band took its name from William S. Burroughs's novel Naked Lunch, detailing a race of giant insects bent on world domination. However, according to Bill Barth, the name came from the poetry journal Insect Trust Gazette, published by William Levy. Levy took the name from Burroughs, Warren Gardner then gave it to the band.
One of the more interesting one-shot bands in rock & roll, the Insect Trust's most famous member was writer/critic/ethnomusicologist Robert Palmer, who played alto sax and clarinet. Less famous, but still a notable member, was guitarist/songwriter Luke Faust, who went on to add creative input for the Holy Modal Rounders' string of wonderful early- to mid-'70s records.
The Insect Trust released two albums, their self-titled 1968 debut on Capitol, and their second and final LP, Hoboken Saturday Night. Along with the loose-limbed music, Hoboken Saturday Night features musical contributions by heavy hitters (no pun intended) such as drummers Elvin Jones and Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, guitarist Hugh McCracken, and novelist Thomas Pynchon.
The music ranges from surreal folk-rock (à la the Holy Modal Rounders and Fugs), to Booker T.-like pop-soul, to flat-out free jazz. Decades after its release, Hoboken Saturday Night sounds a bit dated, but its charm is irresistible, especially when Nancy Jefferies sings and the band cranks up its raucous onslaught of reeds and percussion. Never intended to be a traditional pop act, the Insect Trust should be best remembered for extending rock's boundaries and taking the genre to a much hipper level without resorting to a lot of banal technique. Good luck locating their records.
Back in the '60s, most white blues fans trying to play the music took the approach of struggling to sound as serious and authentic as possible, and a big part of the charm of the Insect Trust's debut album is that, by accident or design, they went in an entirely different direction.
While the Insect Trust were clearly and affectionately influenced by classic blues and folk, they were also eager to mess around with it, and Robert Palmer and Trevor Koehler's horns and woodwinds often throw this music into a loopy, atonal, and acid-infused direction while the loose, slightly rickety sound of Bill Barth and Luke Faust's guitars and banjos honors the styles found on vintage 78s just as their rock-oriented chops keep the results from sounding as if they spent much time actually learning the original riffs.
Given the loose but insistent backporch funk of this music -- perhaps held in place by guest musicians Bernard Purdie, Hugh McCracken, and Chuck Rainey -- the sweet tone of Nancy Jeffries' vocals seems a bit out of place, but she never seems less than committed, and she gives "World War I Song" and "Declaration of Independence" a full-bodied reading that fits their meaning, if they don't sound especially "bluesy."
And the final two cuts, "Mountain Song" and "Going Home," take off into a never-never land of pastoral avant-garde whimsy that exists in a world all its own. The Insect Trust refined their worldview on their second, last, and finest album, 1970's Hoboken Saturday Night, but their debut has more than its fair share of lovely moments and is an engaging example of roots music fans letting their freak flag fly with righteous joy.
The Band:
• Bill Barth - Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Knife Guitar, Bottleneck Guitar, Swiss Warbler, Percussion.
• Bob Palmer - Alto Sac, Alto & Soprano Recorders, Clarinet, Percussion.
• Trevor Koehler - Baritone Sax, Piccolo, Sewer Drum, Thumb Piano, Upright Bass.
• Nancy Jeffries - Vocal Percussion.
• Luke Faust - Banjo, Banjo Guitar, Vocals, Percussion.
• (Special Thanks: "Steve Dubuff - Conga Drums, other Percussion, & Electric Nail Biting." Electric Bass is also present)
01. The Skin Game 04:07
02. Miss Fun City 05:04
03. World War I Song 03:18
04. Special Rider Blues 07:45
05. Foggy River Bridge Fly 01:07
06. Been Here and Gone so Soon 03:29
07. Declaration of Independence 02:30
08. Walking on Nails 03:12
09. Brighter Than Day 02:31
10. Mountain Song 02:49
11. Going Home 05:10
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Mr Bison is a rock band that formed in 2009 in Cecina (Tuscany, Italy) made up of Matteo (guitar/vocals), Federico (guitar/vocals) and Gabriele (drums) (I don't have last names). They play high-octane rock that is unpretentious and a blast to listen to at high volume.
Their most recent album entitled We’ll Be Brief has 10 high-energy songs that quite often actually reminded me of Rage Against The Machine. Let me clarify that the music sounds like Rage while the vocal work couldn't sound further from that.
The album opens with a rocker that brings down the house called “Today” (No it’s not a cover of the Smashing Pumpkins). They hit the right tonal palette, as the distortion is just about perfect for the music they are playing and the snare sounds like a machine gun.
What might be the best part of the song is the last minute where the go full drone metal and encase the song with an ominous white noise that Sunn O))) would be proud of. If you didn't hear the Rage Against The Machine influence on the first song it is hard to go unnoticed on the first couple of seconds on “Just One Time.” However, this seems a lot less apparent as the vocals are introduced. The song slams hard and has some brutal guitar tones that tantalize the senses.
“Grocery Store” was one of the highlights. I couldn't help but chuckle a bit when the chorus hits and he sings about a grocery store.
The dichotomy of a hard rock song that is sung somewhat aggressively and the vocals making me think that I needed to pick up ham later today was certainly appreciated. Mr Bison brings home the bacon again on “Wake Up,” which is another thumper that makes me want to take a shot of whiskey and watch Sons of Anarchy.
Throughout the duration of this album Mr Bison never slows down. There are no breaks where the singer breaks out his acoustic and sings in a soft voice. This is a hard rock album with no lulls. If you are ready to rock out take a listen to We’ll Be Brief.
We don't like love songs EP 2011
01. Thin line 03:27
02. Wake up 02:47
03. Mr Bison 03:09
04. Dirty bitch 02:57
We'll be brief Album 2012
05. Today 03:40
06. Just one time 02:26
07. Grocery store 03:02
08. Wait 02:10
09. Thin line 03:35
10. Wake up 02:42
11. R&R cobra 02:41
12. Sweet music 03:09
13. Milady 03:12
14. Beat you down 03:13
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Shanda & The Howlers is a Rhythm & Blues revivalist band from Las Vegas, NV playing 50s-60s influenced R&B, Blues, & Soul reminiscent of the Stax Sound. Influences in their sound can be traced to such artists as Big Maybelle, Ruth Brown, Otis Redding, The Crystals, LaVern Baker, and James Brown.
In the bands’ short history, they have played on bills with such legendary acts as The Blasters, Wanda Jackson and Rev. Horton Heat. Their debut album "Trouble" delivers 11 soul seared songs that speak directly of breakups, heartaches and moving on after surviving both.
Lead singer Shanda Cisneros' raw vocals seem to claw their way through your speakers as the band locks tight behind her with gritty saxophone riffs, a Motown inspired rhythm section and the occasional slide guitar.
Rhythm and blues, lounge, soul. I’m not sure what Shanda & the Howlers do. I just know that it’s FUN and that’s reason enough to give it a listen. Besides, I gather from their Facebook page that they recently played on a bill with Big Sandy & His Fly Rite Boys, an absolutely great rockabilly revival band. And if they’re good enough for Big Sandy, they have to be pretty damn good.
Big Sandy was right, of course, and Shanda & The Howlers’ Trouble is both powerful and engaging. “Keep Telling Me” is a great opener and makes it immediately evident that Shanda can REALLY sing. “She Don’t Want a Man” settles into an awesome groove and will remind you of old Motown or Stax recordings. God, how I love the horns here.
If David Johanssen‘s alter-ego, Buster Poindexter, had a sister, ever wonder what she’d sound like? Give “Don’t Need Your Love” a listen. While I typically don’t gravitate toward slower songs, “Born With a Broken Heart” showcases how really great a vocalist Shanda is. This track is killer.
Shanda & The Howlers won’t hit the spot with every power pop fan. It’s a sixties revivalist thing and not every song falls neatly into a pop category. But if you like 60’s soul (not unlike last year’s Charley Faye & The Fayettes) and emotive songs executed damn near to perfection, I suggest you give Trouble a listen. I’m surely glad I did. Now there’s only one thing left to do. See them perform live...
• Shanda Cisneros - Vocals
• Luke Metz - Bass
• Trevor Johnson - Guitar
• Mich Lapping - Carr Sax
• Keith Alcantara - Drums
01. Keep Telling Me 02:32
02. She Don't Want a Man 03:53
03. Trouble's Out to Play 03:08
04. Don't Need Your Love 02:37
05. Born With a Broken Heart 04:16
06. Don't Wait Up 02:43
07. Stay Awhile 03:57
08. Mind Made Up 03:18
09. Li'l Operator 03:33
10. You're Gonna Cry 03:35
11. Bad Love 04:29
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San Francisco glam weirdos Glitter Wizard have signed to Heavy Psych Sounds for the release of their next album, Hollow Earth Tour. The alliance continues the label’s successful run of Californian hookups — see also: Wild Eyes SF, Farflung, Hot Lunch, Fatso Jetson, etc. — and when it comes to Glitter Wizard, they strike me as the kind of band who are way too busy writing the next album by the time the current one has been released to worry about the particulars.
Nonetheless, their strange, vaguely subversive and often catchy heavy rock and roll was most recently heard from on the earlier-2016 7″ Life Under Traffic/Circle of Kings, neither song from which will be featured on Hollow Earth Tour, which is out Oct. 21 with preorders going live Sept. 30.
Glitter Wizard is an American band, influenced by Hawkwind, Deep Purple, Motorhead and the Young Ones episode with an appearance by The Damned. So it shouldn't be a real surprise that this band gently flows along the currently highly acclaimed wave of vintage rock and old school psychedelics. With fingerlicking riffs, often epic synths and a nag for experimentation, Glitter Wizard certainly delivered something interesting.
So why did it need several listens before I was finally ready to write this thing? Well, mostly because it's not an easy digestible piece of work. True, from the very first riffs of 'The Smokey God', they drag the listener back to the seventies. However, they do it with an experimental touch, which results in some strange sounds and jam-passages. The drums in 'Mycelia' certainly are something you need to get used to but it's worth it.
My favorite tracks are the 'Stoned Odyssey Part 1, 2, 3', a brilliant rocker that combines Hawkwind with 'Driver's Seat' by The Carrs and the party rocker 'UFOLSD'. Well, pretty much all the songs here are party rockers, sometimes even reminding me of the whole glam rock scene with bands like Motley Crue and even Iron Maiden in their early days. Hey, now I know why this collective is called Glitter Wizard, because they're a glammed up version of vintage hard rock.
In the end, this album is an interesting journey through the childhood days of the hard rock industry. It seems to contain a number of songs the big names from back in the day forgot to write, and that is exactly why I welcome these heavy psychedelic bands nowadays. So while the album closes in a folky way with 'Sightseeing with Admiral Byrd', followed by the brilliant 'Death Of Atlantis', I'd like to close my review by recommending this to all you stoner rockers out there. This definitely is something up your alley.
This has to be one of the records I was most looking forward to this year and it does not disappoint. It is great to see the band grow with each release. The main things you love about this band are intact but they have grown a bit more progressive. Still strange and funny lyrics and stories, great guitar riffs, bass lines and solos mixed with some spacey sounds at times. The album starts off with the Smokay God. Drums and a bass line start things off before the guitar line kicks in, followed by vocals and then a great groove. A sparkling of synths adds to the stew and then a longish instrumental part and a great guitar solo!
Mycalia has some cool lyrics and this sort of epic rock tone to it! The Hemtar is a more punky rocker with a sound going back to the bands early records but then becomes more classic hard rock, prog… Scalas has you banging your head and a great organ line and phased out guitar. The mid-end section is really intense and psychedelic the way the keyboards are mixed. Far out and included a bong hit at the end! Stoned Odyssey is a long 3 part track. Part one is slow and spacey and then kicks into high gear right away and off we go. I like the more laid back vocal with some delay on it.
3rd album from this San Francisco band who play hard psychedelic rock with some brilliantly raging guitar licks and heavy throbbing chords. Organic keyboards and rock ‘n’ roll vocal harmonies help give the songs a clean, heavy retro-thump of power. Blistering chug-a-lug riffs rip around the cranked-up melodies like the God of auto-fire spitting bullets through a kaleidoscopic sound tunnel.
The music flexes a dramatic muscle of accessible grit; it rocks hard through prog-jams and tripped-out tangents. Recalls bands like Deep Purple, The Sword, Uriah Heep, Sea Of Green, Muse, Stray, Opeth. There’s a definite 60s/70s potency here that locks onto a groove and kicks out in multiple directions. “Hollow Earth Tour” delivers a metallic old-school punch with class & guts. Recommended for those who get “the rock”.
Apolgd is another uptempo fast track, actually every song on the record is a fast rocker! It ends with some nice violin! Sightseeing with Admiral Byrd is a short instrumental track. The CD ends with the great Death of Atlantis, which the band played on their European tour. A totally killer track.. CD only lists 8 song but there are 9 on the CD… I look forward to see the gatefold vinyl for this one. I hope they include the lyrics. I miss that in the CD wallet. A very cool album…
01. The Smokey God 05:33
02. Mycelia 03:21
03. The Hunter 04:08
04. Scales 07:13
05. Stoned Odyssey Pt.1 Pt.2 Pt.3 (Fungal Visions) 05:45
06. UFOLSD 04:37
07. Death of Atlantis 09:56
Bonus Tracks:
01. Abaca (2011) 03:29
02. Sacrifice (2011) 06:03
03. I Don't Like You (2011) 03:03
04. Mirror Man (2011) 07:21
05. Warsawng (2011) 07:19
06. Summertime (2011) 06:03
07. Blood of The Serpent (2012) 04:06
08. Motörider (2012) 03:31
09. Space (2012) 07:57
10. Ragdoll Deux (2012) 05:07
11. Wizard Wagon (2012) 03:04
12. Sunlight Wolves (2012) 02:51
13. Big Sur (2012) 08:45
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This Spanish band has surprised everyone with their second EP full of groovy riffs as well as some voices and choirs that trap you through 5 songs in which they incorporate enough melodies to lower your guard before kicking your arse with a good dose of powerful and effective riffs. Without ever losing the groove, their work grabs you with a bet that revitalizes old-style hard-rock.
Vertical - Vertical Is the first EP from the Spanish rock band Vertical. (2017)
01. Nothing To Lose 04:13
02. Country Random 03:19
03. Godspeed you, Desert 03:40
04. Nº 6 03:57
05. Payback 04:21
Vol. 3 is the second EP from the Spanish rock band Vertical. (2019)
06. Sweet Pills 04:10
07. Train Station 05:24
08. Acute 06:25
09. White Dust 04:15
10. Wolves 04:25
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As it was with their 2015 debut, Detroit, the forthcoming second album from Roman trio Killer Boogie, titled Acid Cream and set to release March 9 via Heavy Psych Sounds with preorders up now, is an entirely unpretentious romp through classic fuzz influence given a modern stylistic update.
Shades of The Stooges and the MC5 are of course consistent, but to listen to the new single “Atomic Race” or a later piece like “The Black Widow” and one can hear elements pulled from Hawkwind and at-their-most-blues-shuffling Black Sabbath as well, and the signal is clear: Killer Boogie are growing, have grown. They’re becoming a more versatile band.
I’m hoping to have a full review up before the album hits, so I don’t want to go too deep into it now, but “Atomic Race” represents the record pretty well and the new dynamic forming between guitarist/vocalist Gabriele Fiori, also of Black Rainbows and the head of Heavy Psych Sounds, newcomer bassist Nicola Cosentino and returning drummer Luigi Costanzo is palpable in its relatively quick four-and-a-half-minute run. It doesn’t necessarily represent all the ground their songwriting covers throughout on songs like “Let the Birds Fly” and the 7″-worthy fuzz rocker “The Day of Melted Ice Cream,” but in its undeniable hook and heady vibe, it definitely speaks well for its surroundings.
“Acid Cream” marks the fuzzy comeback of KILLER BOOGIE, with Gabriele Fiori, Luigi Costanzo and new bassist Nicola Cosentino on board for this 11-track long trip. Inspired by the craziness of the late 60s-70s, with a pinch of proto-punk and proto-metal feeling to make it sound even more unique, “Acid Cream” is filled with riffs that will please all Fuzz & Big Muff lovers! Vocals have both a vintage melodic touch and an aggressive punch. Fast and heavy songs get mixed with catchy and happy ones. From shorter and straightforward tunes to some with long and changing parts, the trio provides the listener an intoxicating rock’n’roll experience following the footsteps of MC5 and Cream.
“Acid Cream” was recorded in the summer of 2017 and mixed in the fall, includes new riffs and grooves together with a bunch of exclusive and previously unreleased live songs. All the tasty licks, the raw sounds and light-hearted atmospheres are perfectly depicted by the trippy artwork of Swedish artist Robin Gnista. “Acid Cream” will see a limited Clear Blue and Black vinyl, and will also be available on CD and digital format.
Killer Boogie is
* Gabriele – Vocals & Guitar
* Nicola Cosentino – Bass
* Luigi Costanzo – Drums
01. Superpusher 01:29
02. Escape From Reality 03:05
03. Atomic Race 04:35
04. Am I Daemon 04:47
05. Let The Birds Fly 04:39
06. Dino-Sour 02:46
07. Brother In Time 04:25
08. Mississippi 01:01
09. The Black Widow 05:13
10. The Day Of The Melted Ice Cream 02:40
11. I Wanna A Woman Like You 03:53
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10 FACTS YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT JOHNNY WINTER:
Johnny Winter's incredible career yielded some great music over four decades. But how much do you really know about the guitarist, who died in 2014? We dug deep to uncover a number of facts that you might not know about one of the most respected guitar players of all-time.
As you'll see, Winter lived quite an amazing life and overcame many challenges in order to sustain a long career and earn himself a spot in any serious conversation about the greatest blues-rock guitarists in history. So let's get to know him a little better with 10 Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About Johnny Winter: Used the same piece of plumbing pipe as a slide for his entire career.
Winter is widely recognized as being one of the greatest slide guitar players of all-time. And while many guitarists utilize odd items to run up and down their fretboards – Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band famously used old Coricidin glass pill bottles – Winter’s choice was similarly unique. “I used to play slide before this, but could never find a good slide,” he told Tom Guerra. “I'd use everything from a wristwatch crystal to broken-off test tubes to lipstick cases, bottles ... I tried everything, but nothing would work, until I found this conduit pipe, and I've used the same piece of pipe for 30 years for both acoustic and electric slide. Its just a piece of plumber's pipe that just fits my finger real good.”
Smashed Led Zeppelin’s record for largest advance from a record label.
In 1968, Jimmy Page’s blues-rock outfit Led Zeppelin inked a contract with Atlantic Records for a then-record advance of $200,000. As they say, however, records are meant to be broken and just one year later, Winter obliterated the old mark when he inked a deal with Columbia to the tune of $600,000.
Once sued DC Comics for defamation.
While his contributions to the world of music cannot be downplayed, Winter also inadvertently made a significant contribution to the world of comic books. In 1996, Johnny and his brother Edgar Winter sued DC Comics for defamation after an issue of Jonah Hex: Riders of the Worm and Such featured two worm-like villains named Johnny and Edgar Autumn. The Supreme Court of California ultimately found that “although the fictional characters Johnny and Edgar Autumn are less-than-subtle evocations of Johnny and Edgar Winter, the books do not depict plaintiffs literally,” and that, “the characters and their portrayals do not greatly threaten plaintiffs’ right of publicity.” It was a landmark case that, essentially, gave comics free reign to parody and lampoon figures in the public eye.
On just his second album, Winter had the guts to fire a legendary rock producer.
Producer/engineer Eddie Kramer has worked with some of the biggest names in rock from Kiss to Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix to the Rolling Stones. One person who wasn’t quite impressed with Kramer’s pedigree was Winter, who was forced to fire the producer midway through recording his solo album, Second Winter. “He wasn’t doing his job,” Johnny said. “He was outside the studio recording rainstorm sound effects. So we fired him midstream leaving me and Edgar to finish the job of producing and recording the album.”
Was one of the few artists to get paid for performing at Woodstock.
The Woodstock Music and Arts Festival might be one of the most notorious examples of money mismanagement in the history of rock, with many of the artists never seeing a cent from the promoters for their work. Johnny Winter proved to be an exception and received $3,750 for his time, but lost out on a bigger payday later due to a lack of forethought from his manager. “Steve Paul didn’t want us to be in the movie because he thought we wouldn’t make any money,” he recalled in his biography. “He thought it was gonna be a drag so he didn’t want us to be on it. Of course it helped a lot of people’s careers. I wish I could have been in it. Later on he admitted he f---ed up.”
Recorded with Jimi Hendrix
When Winter first arrived in New York City, he became a fixture at a club frequented by the rock elite called the Scene. One of those who would come around the club was Jimi Hendrix, who occasionally invited Winter to come down to the studio to jam a bit. “He’d tape everything and listen to it the next day,” he remembered in his biography. “I usually gave him the reins pretty much—I mostly played rhythm. But on the song we recorded, "The Things that I Used to Do," we traded off -- I played slide guitar and he played regular guitar. It came out real well. I believe that was the only song that was recorded. I played with him about 10 times maybe and thought he was the best guitar player around.”
Jammed with B.B. King at age 17
In 1962, while only 17 years old, Winter was beginning to make a name for himself around the Texas and Louisiana blues scene. One night, he and his brother Edgar went down to a club in Beaumont, Texas to catch B.B. King. After a bit of cajoling, the bluesman allowed Winter to come on stage to show off what he could do. “He didn't know if I could play or not and I showed him,” Winter recalled to Jam Magazine. “I got a standing ovation for it. It was the first time I had ever played the blues in front of a black audience. I, my brother and a couple of our band mates were the only whites in the audience.”
Intense anxiety hounded Winter throughout his life
Winter has been candid about his earlier struggles with anxiety through his life, but the issue really came to a head in 1990 at a tribute show for blues legend John Lee Hooker. “I was feeling horrible for that show,” Winter recalled to Guitar World. “I didn’t think I was going to get through it. I just wanted to die, and I was thinking, Now I have to play? I really wanted to do the show, too, because of my love for John Lee Hooker, but I was feeling really horrible. And I have no idea why. I was just having terrible panic attacks. So that’s when I started taking medication to deal with the anxiety, and it did help, but I took it for way too long.”
Almost single-handedly saved Muddy Waters' career
By the latter half of the ‘70s, not too many people really gave much thought to Chicago blues legend Muddy Waters. But Winters, who offered to produce a record for him in 1977, never forgot him. The ensuing album, Hard Again, was a critical and commercial hit, and Winter would work with Waters on two studio follow-ups and a live album. The pair grew so close that Winters was one of only a few people to appear at Waters' wedding to Marva Jean Brooks. Near the end of his life, Muddy would grow to think of the guitarist as a son.
Discovered the blues because of Hollywood
Around the age of 12 or so, Johnny went to a theater in San Antonio, Texas, to check out the Roaring Twenties mob period piece film. In his biography, Raisin’ Cain: The Wild and Raucous Story of Johnny Winter, the guitarist recalled it as a defining moment in his life. “I remember that movie making me want to be a musician,” he said. “It was real bluesy music with songs I could relate to, a lot of songs I had grown up singing. I didn’t like Pete Kelly’s part so much; the shootin’ part of the movie didn’t appeal to me. It was the music that got me.”
The leaves hadn’t even started turning red in Texas in late October 1969 when Beaumont-born bluesman Johnny Winter released Second Winter, arguably the pinnacle of his long and storied career.
Technically speaking, this was the guitar great's "third Winter," if you take into account 1968's Progressive Blues Experiment, which was released by Austin’s tiny Sonobeat Records before Winter signed with the mighty Columbia -- a label so powerful, it evidently had no qualms about revising historical accounting.
Either way, the talented six-string phenom grasped this opportunity and let loose a powerful display of fret prowess across all three vinyl sides of Second Winter. As anyone with a prized original copy, or a long memory, can tell you, the album was released as a rare three-sided set, the product of an inspired Nashville recording session that yielded too much great material to be pared down into a regular two-sided LP but not quite enough for a four-sided double.
So, rather than short-change fans or themselves, Winter and his bandmates -- bassist Tommy Shannon (who later joined Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Double Trouble), drummer Uncle John Turner and keyboard-and-sax-playing little brother Edgar -- released the bulk of the sessions and left side four blank.
Winter starts it all off by showing off his soulful voice on a cover of Percy Mayfield’s "Memory Pain," before he surrenders the spotlight to Edgar’s nimble keys on the self-penned "I’m Not Sure." It wraps with a strangling of his Gibson Firebird’s neck on Dennis Collins’ "The Good Love."
Side two, somewhat surprisingly, turns into an old-time ‘50s rock 'n' roll dance party, as Winter wails his way across classics like "Slippin’ and Slidin"’ and "Miss Ann" (both made famous by Little Richard), and Chuck Berry’s ripping "Johnny B. Goode."
But the biggest surprise was saved for last: a reinvention of Bob Dylan’s "Highway 61 Revisited" featuring a slide-guitar tour-de-force that would go down as a highlight of Winter's career.
Side three shifts the focus back to Winter's songwriting, including the amusingly contradictory "I Love Everybody" (another slide-swathed standout) and "I Hate Everybody" (a jazz-based departure) sandwiching the tongue-in-cheek "Hustled Down in Texas," and the experimental "Fast Life Rider."
Second Winter may be the late Winter's masterpiece. It made it to only No. 55 on the chart (both The Progressive Blues Experiment and 1969's self-titled debut charted higher). But he never sounded more assured and seasoned than he does here.
Johnny Winter , 1974-03-30 , San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego, California, FM Broadcast (Very good soundquality)
Disc 1
01. The Good Love 11:20
02. Bad Luck Situation 04:55
03. Bony Maronie 08:01
04. Stone County 07:33
05. Rollin' Cross the Country 07:13
06. Be Careful With A Fool, It's My Own Fault 16:30
07. Treat Me Like You Wanta 05:13
Disc 2
01. Silver Train 19:36
02. Jumpin' Jack Flash 07:14
03. Johnny B. Goode 05:32
04. It's All Over Now 05:01
BBC (London, England) 1978
05. Hey Joe 16:07
06. Mississippi Blues 15:35
Bonus:
07. It's My Own Fault [Live At the Fillmore East] - 22.24
08. Rollin' and Tumblin' [Live At the Fillmore East] - 4.14
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